Accounting in Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales

Abstract

The English poet Geoffrey Chaucer (c.1340‐1400) had a practical knowledge of contemporary accounting and made good use of it in The Canterbury Tales, both in his descriptions of the reeve and the merchant in the General Prologue and in the Shipman’s Tale, which can be read as a series of accounting events and transactions. These can be expressed in double entry form although it is highly unlikely that Chaucer was familiar with that technique.

Citation

Parker, R.H. and Meehan, M. (1999), "Accounting in Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales", Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Vol. 12 No. 1, pp. 92-112. https://doi.org/10.1108/09513579910260012