Teaching “merchants’ accompts” in Britain during the early modern period

British-based studies of the education of aspiring accountants have confined attention to developments following the formation of professional bodies. This paper examines educational provision during the early modern period which broadly coincides with the rapid commercial expansion that occurred in mercantilist Britain 1550-1800. We reveal institutional and pedagogic innovations designed to meet the training requirements of aspirant accountants and bookkeepers. We also show how the gendered male orientation of teaching institutions and instructional texts in accounting did not entirely exclude young women from acquiring desired knowledge of the accounting craft