The economy and accounting sophistication: An overview of Transylvania:

Based on historiography and documentary research, this study juxtaposes the economic history of the Principality of Transylvania against the general evolution of accounting practice and thought, and makes comparisons with the general European context. Along with providing evidence for a less-researched area, the discussion on the sophistication of accounting through successive stages – from 1541 to 1918 – is useful for enabling other regional comparative studies. This study argues that there was a delay in the evolution of accounting in Transylvania compared to the development of European accounting, with the gap growing smaller towards the end of World War I. The pace of economic development, initially extremely slow, increased and triggered the emergence of capitalism, hence the development of double-entry bookkeeping and scientific accounting. In this way, Sombart’s ideas and the post-Sombart theses are supported. Imperial (Austro-Hungarian) political domination and the region’s social structure played...