Accounting in disaster and accounting for disaster: the crisis of the Great Kanto Earthquake, Japan, 1923

Abstract

This essay examines the role of accounting records in a crisis situation; namely, the Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923. Kanematsu, a trading business, did not suffer a physical loss of assets as a result of the earthquake but, nevertheless, the amount of financial loss it suffered was not small. Kanematsu had to take countermeasures to tackle the situation created by the earthquake. By using accounting and other records of Kanematsu, the authors examine the actions taken in the midst of confusion just after the earthquake and the role played by accounting. The authors show that the sudden natural disaster and the resulting crisis was a test of orderliness of the accounting record.