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Norms of Professional Excellence and Good Conduct in Accountancy Manuals of the Mughal Empire

Bibliographic Data

ID9967384
AuthorsNajaf Haider (Jawaharlal Nehru University, corresponding author)
Year2011
Volume56
IssueS19
Pages263-274
Publication date2011-08-26
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueInternational Review of Social History (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0020-8590 • E-ISSN: 1469-512X
PublisherCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/s0020859011000447
OpenAlexW2014363336
LanguageEN
Citations received9
References cited2

In Mughal India, accounts were kept by individuals and institutions for purposes of reference and planning. Accountancy required a set of objectives and techniques for collecting, organizing, and presenting information so that it could then be put to use. It also fostered learning. Subsisting on formal or informal training, professional accountants equipped themselves with linguistic and mathematical skills, the art of notation, mnemonic devices, and the ability to translate loosely defined units into precise terms and numbers. Accountants were an important component of the state apparatus, village administration, and elite household management. In the seventeenth century manuals were produced in Persian by private individuals for the guidance of persons seeking to acquire proficiency in accountancy ( siyaq ) and clerical work. No study has been made so far of the manuals themselves nor of the people who compiled or used them. This introductory essay examines the manuals (generally titled Dasturu-l Amal ) and the information they contain about the system of accountancy as well as about the professional ethics and norms of ideal behaviour of the secretarial class

Business · Class (philosophy · Elite · Excellence · Ideal (ethics · Pedagogy · Political science · Set (abstract data type · Sociology · Accounting · Computer Science · Islamic Finance and Banking Studies · Law · Psychology

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Unique citing works9
Citations per year0,75
Citation span2014 - 2025 (12)
Citation velocityrecent
Highly citedNo
Citation typesNeutral: 9

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