Bookkeeping and the probative value of accounting records: Savary’s legacy lingers on in the OHADA Treaty states

Abstract

This paper extends the work of Howard (1932) by using a content analysis of legal texts spanning several centuries to demonstrate that there are remarkable similarities between the bookkeeping provisions of Savary’s Code of 1673, the Napoleonic Commercial Code of 1807, and the recent OHADA Uniform Act on Accounting of 2000. In particular, the paper shows how some vestiges of seventeenth century bookkeeping law in the OHADA Act, which have intrigued accounting historians over much of the past century (see, e.g. Littleton, 1933, 1941; Howard, 1932; Parker, 1966; Forrester, 1997; and Richard 2005), continue to pose significant problems of interpretation and enforcement in a contemporary African setting with wider socio-political ramifications.