Guest guest Posted December 9, 2008 Report Share Posted December 9, 2008 Indo-Eurasian_research , " Lars Martin Fosse " <lmfosse wrote: Sudha Shenoy wrote: >4. Time-scale. Our illiterate Rabari milkman & Gloucestershire clothier had to remember only a single accounting/billing period. For longer time periods, some sort of notation becomes essential. Mesopotamian materials contain some of the earliest mercantile calculations of changes in capital value over longish periods of time. There is another aspect of this that I think is important: trust, or rather lack of it. Technically, I believe an individual can remember quite a lot of numerical data (including 50 year old skating records). But in a complex and large-scale operation, it might not seem advisable to trust individuals. They could, after all, lie or manipulate data for selfish reasons. This may have been a factor contributing to the creration of non-person-based accounting methods. That the problem was a real one, is clear when you read the Arthashastra of Kautilya. Officials stealing from public property was a problem in India then as it is now. As they say: noone knows when the fish is drinking. Lars Martin Dr.art. Lars Martin Fosse Haugerudvn. 76, Leil. 114, 0674 Oslo - Norway Phone: +47 22 32 12 19 Fax: +47 850 21 250 Mobile phone: +47 90 91 91 45 E-mail: lmfosse http://www.linguistfinder.com/translators.asp?id=2164 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 9, 2008 Report Share Posted December 9, 2008 Indo-Eurasian_research , " jkirk " <jkirk wrote: 4. Time-scale. Our illiterate Rabari milkman & Gloucestershire clothier had to remember only a single accounting/billing period. For longer time periods, some sort of notation becomes essential. Mesopotamian materials contain some of the earliest mercantile calculations of changes in capital value over longish periods of time. Sudha R. Shenoy Hon'y Associate in Economic History School of Policy University of Newcastle Callaghan NSW 2308 Australia ======================= Yes, for example the dabbawalas of Mumbai (the tiffin carriers) originally kept all their accounts by memory, then they used different color strings, then finally as their operation grew exponentially with economic development and business in the city they devised an accounting system based on number and letter codes: http://in.rediff.com/news/2003/oct/29vijay.htm " The system is similar to the postal system, " Medge explained. " The tiffins are collected, sorted out, and sent to their destinations based on a numerical and alphabetical code. Every station has a numerical code and each place has an alphabetical code. The tiffin carries the code of the source and the destination. The codes help us to identify each tiffin owner. The codes have been developed over the years, beginning with coloured threads and evolving to more systematic and logical codes, he said. " Our system being foolproof, we have no major competitors in the market, " Medge said. " Joanna Kirkpatrick -- Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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