Learning from history. Deconstructing the charge-and-discharge system within an accountability context

ABSTRACT The charge-and-discharge system was widely used throughout previous centuries and in all types of institutions, but the variables that shape accountability arrangements have not been analysed systematically in a comprehensive way. This study provides an extensive survey of charge-and-discharge accounting across a wide time frame (from the Roman Empire to the nineteenth century), a range of institutions (government, aristocratic, church, business and so forth), and a range of countries. Such large-scale comparisons benefit researchers who are focusing on a single time period, region, or institutional type. Our main objective is to decompose the charge-and-discharge system and classify its elements in terms of cause-and-effect relationships. We adopt a qualitative methodology to identify the features, the cause-and-effect relationships, and the spheres in which meaning is perceived (accounting, institutions, and society). Based on our results, we conclude that the charge-and-discharge system is a multivariable and multicausal phenomenon used in the context of delegated management, which acquires greater relevance as a mechanism of accountability. Charge-and-discharge involves an obligation to explain and justify one’s conduct. Our objective is to open further discussion in an accountability context and facilitate future in-depth studies that reveal the development, processes, and effects of accountability within the accounting, institutional and social context across space and time.