Capitalism and accounting; the impact of the economic mentality of Tanzimat era to accounting reporting system

Nowadays not only the characteristics of capitalism that has acquired a global dimension, the mode of production and its dynamics but also the period that capitalism had emerged are crucial debates. It is important to determine the period that capitalism had emerged in order to make an extensive and accurate definition of capitalism and to understand the contemporary global economy. It is possible to comprehend the capitalist production and the related mentality by way of using accounting as a tool. Rob Bryer gave accounting such a function by means of his method synthesising Karl Marx's relations of production notion with Max Weber's capitalist mentality notion. Bryer tried to explain the debated capitalist transformation of Britain through this synthesis with the help of accounting history. In compliance with this method, accounting, being the result of relations of production and mentality, has also the evidential value. The industrialization efforts of the Ottoman Empire and its compatibility to the economic development are also disputed issues with regards to the historical period and its success. In this study, on the assumption that accounting could contribute to these debates, the accounting reports of Şirket-i Hayriye being the first joint-stock company of the Ottoman Empire that was formed after developments in the Tanzimat Era being accepted as a breaking point for the economic development, would be analyzed. Since therefore it is aimed to identify the mentality of a debated era and the success of the economic policies in the private sector.