The role of accounting in proceedings arising from irregularities in the management of income and claim for adverse balance. The accounts of the refitor Gonzalo Patiño in the Cathedral of Toledo (1582-1583)

Abstract

Much has been said about the use of double entry and charge and discharge, two of the ways of keeping track and reason, as stated by Diego del Castillo (1522) in his "Treaty of Auditors". Of them and of the so called third form of data and receipt has been said that with their advantages and disadvantages they both sought the same end.

As demonstrated, in accounting refitor (the collector and payer of income of the chapter table) and other receiverships of the Cathedral of Toledo the double entry and the charge and discharge were used together. The double entry was the most advanced method for communicating financial information about a entity and the status of the cash at any time. However, as recognized by the jurist Diego del Castillo, although the manager wrote the book where it had received and spent, then it was necessary that auditors should find out the truth. In this case the charge and discharge was necessary to quantify the accountability and liability of the manager, receiver or clerk. Thus, he personified the cash account, being debtors and ultimately responsible for the balance.

Regarding the charge and discharge, a more linked to the legal field to the accounting, was articulated a system of guarantees that safeguarded the interests of the owner of the entity. Thus, based on the accounting records of the refitor in the Cathedral of Toledo between 1582 and 1583, this work is intended as an example of the role played by accounting in proceedings arising from irregularities in the management of income and claim for adverse balance. This although the accounting method used daily in the office was the double entry.