中西比较视野下的晚清官厅“三脚”簿记——以早期西方借贷复式簿记与东海关账簿为中心

The“Three-Legged”Bookkeeping of the Chefoo Maritime Tollhouse in the Late Qing DynastyA Comparison with Early Western Double-Entry Bookkeeping

借贷复式簿记于13世纪北意大利城市的信贷业中产生,并在商业实践中逐步完善。通过《簿记论》的总结可知,在借贷复式簿记“有借必有贷,借贷必相等”的形式下,蕴含着业主权责相等的商业精神。积极涉足商业、信贷活动的财政体制,使国债成为热那亚共和国的主要财政收入,政府与外界存在广泛的权责关系。当热那亚政府引入借贷复式簿记,这种权责关系成为主要的会计对象,“业主权责相等”的复式精神衍生出“政府权责相等”的意味。晚清东海关监督衙门的流水账采用“三脚”记账法,转账业务记录出现“有收必有支,收支必相等”的形式,与借贷复式簿记异曲同工。但清政府几乎不涉足商业、信贷活动的财政体制,使之与外界不发生权责关系,官厅簿记的主要对象仅为政府内部的资金流动与财计受托责任,簿记精神也表现为与热那亚不同的“财计受托责任下的内部资金控制”。中西双方的“貌合”与“神离”折射出二者财政体制的差异。

Western double-entry bookkeeping originated in the financial industry of northern Italian cities in the 13th century and matured in commercial activities.Luca Pacioli's treatise on bookkeeping shows that the early Western double-entry bookkeeping,under its bookkeeping form,contains the commercial spirit of equal rights and responsibilities.The government of Genoa was actively engaged in commercial and credit activities,and treasury bond was its main financial revenue,which made the government have extensive responsibilities and rights to the public.When the government adopted double-entry bookkeeping,these rights and responsibilities became the main accounting objects,and double-entry bookkeeping thus had the connotation of equal government rights and responsibilities.The Chefoo Maritime Tollhouse in the late Qing Dynasty adopted a bookkeeping method called"three-legged".It had a similar form to the Western double-entry bookkeeping.But the Qing government did not engage in commercial and credit activities,and there were no external responsibilities and rights in the government's fiscal system.The internal financial responsibilities and cash flows of the government were the main accounting objects,so its bookkeeping spirit-cash control under financial responsibility-was completely different from the Western.This comparison between China and the West shows the dfference between the two fiscal systems.