Books that shaped the accounting world

The opening of Chartered Accountants’ Hall in 1893 was a powerful statement from the first chartered accountants about the impact they intended to have on their world. However, this wasn’t enough – they wanted to create a collection of rare books on accountancy as dazzling as the building that would hold them.

The challenge was enthusiastically taken up by ICAEW members who contributed to the treasure hunt, seeking out rare books in obscure locations. Some members purchased rare books to donate to the collection.

ICAEW was not alone in this collecting challenge, and a friendly rivalry was soon established between the institutes to build the best collection.

The biggest prize was the Kheil collection, the most important library of early books on accounting, built up by a father and son, both named Karl Peter Kheil, in Prague. ICAEW successfully negotiated the purchase of the collection for the bargain price of £690 in 1913, knocked down from an initial price of £2,500.

The collection as it stands today tells the remarkable story of how double entry bookkeeping spread from 15th century Venice across Europe and beyond, with books in more than 20 languages. It is still possible to see the roots of accounting practices familiar to us and can sometimes surprise us with its early focus on topics like business ethics.

You may have heard about the most famous book in our collection, the Summa de arithmetica (1494) by the monk Luca Pacioli, but it’s actually not that rare. Around 160 copies can be found in libraries around the world. Instead, the early works on accountancy in English are the rarest as most copies were used in counting houses until they fell apart. Many are thought to have been destroyed during the great fire of London in 1666.

Our rarest book is The Maner and Fourme How to Kepe a Perfecte Reconyng by James Peele, the earliest surviving original work in English (1553). This book was key to spreading the Italian method of double entry bookkeeping to the English-speaking world, along with a few innovations of his own. The copy held by ICAEW is the only complete copy in existence.

ICAEW maintained a hit-list of 13 vital books to buy if they ever appeared. One such title, thought lost during the Russian revolution, was rediscovered in the Lenin Library in Moscow in 1955. For two years ICAEW offered all manner of riches and rare books to the Soviet Union, but they could not be persuaded to part with the book. In the end, the British Embassy helped us obtain a microfilm copy.

Today, the collection is regarded as the most important collection of early books on accountancy in the world.

ICAEW has long sought to provide access to the academic community, and in 1978–80 it helped make the rarest books in the ICAEW collection accessible to a wider audience of academics and historians through a series of 78 facsimiles, which can now be found in libraries from Chicago to Yokohama. To view other titles, academics from around the world have made the journey to Chartered Accountants’ Hall.