Goethe on Accounting
Goethe on Accounting

Summary/Abstract: It was five years ago that we had doubts about the question why Henry R. Hatfield, „the pioneer of accounting theory”, quoted Goethe’s view on accounting in his classical work „Modern Accounting”. A.C. Littleton and Yuji Ijiri did so, too. Some Japanese accounting books mention the fact that Hatfield went to Germany to meet Johan F. Shaer, who is called „the father of modern accounting”, in Germany. Shaer may be the first accountant who decorated several of his books with Goethe’s words. Hatfield said he was indebted to Shaer in the preface of his work. On the other hand, Hideo Hisano, an accounting historian in Japan, pointed out in his book that Goethe did not always praise the part which double entry bookkeeping performed (Hisano, 1992). Other Japanese accountants also had doubts about the interpretation in question, but they did not reexamine the point at issue further. Our aim is to find Goethe’s true view regarding accounting. The analysis is carried out in the following sections: 1. Introduction, 2. They quoted from Goethe, 3. Goethe and accounting, 4. His career and philosophy, 5. His real intention, 6. Conclusion.

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