Sirotčí účty z prostředí královských měst. Příspěvek k dějinám účetnictví v 16. a na počátku 17. století

Administration of issues pertaining to orphans constituted a significant part of agendas of Bohemian and Moravian towns during the early modern age, as is evidenced by a number of preserved archival sources. The study focuses especially on entries pertaining to orphan’s accounting and it aims to present these materials in a new perspective, namely through the lens of accounting rules and principles that were characteristic of accounting records of that period. In addition to authentic documents produced by authorities (town councils) or guardians of orphans, the text also draws from various sources of normative nature such as codified town laws, expert treatises published in print and last but not least also from economic instructions. It is true that orphans’ accounts basically did not differ from accounting entries pertaining to other subjects of that time. However, the Czech Lands were known for its highly-developed system of guardianship at that time, which means that these documents carried certain specifics thanks to which they can be seen as de facto unique when it comes to research on the history of accounting systems. A typological classification of individual entries as well as a clarification of accounting mechanism on particular examples can help to shed light on limits of these entries for current researchers.