For bi-lingual residents with a yearning for the history of accountancy, nirvana awaits as on November 17, at 3:00 p.m. in the Municipal Archive of Loulé, a further session in the "O Documento que se segue" series will be held.
"The municipal accounts of Loulé and the origins of accounting in Portugal (1200-1500)" is the knotty topic to be presented by the economic historian, António Castro Henriques.
The Council’s first ‘Book of Revenue and Expense of 1375-76’ is one of the treasures tucked away in the Municipal Archive.
This record not only is an important part of the history of Loulé, is also is the oldest register of municipal finances in Portugal and certainly the only one surviving from the 14th century.
Some of the ledgers refer to financial events as far back as the 1340s when all Portugal’s Councils were instructed by Afonso IV to get their accounts in order and correctly record municipal finances.
The ledgers record income and expenditure from a time when wars and conflicts were prevalent. They also show arguments between private interests and moves towards the local authority working for the common good.
António Castro Henriques is an economic historian. He currently is an assistant professor at the Faculty of Economics of the University of Porto.
Henriques got a PhD in History from York University in 2008, with a, no doubt riveting, thesis on Portuguese Tax History in the 13th, 14th and 15th centuries and has published articles in the specialty journals and has contributed to works such as the History of Accounting in Portugal.
The talk is free to attend.