University of Virginia Library

William G. Shenkir

Accountant Studies Jefferson's Ledgers

Profile

By SANDRA DIVINE

The welded sculpture of a
mouse that sits on the window
sill does not characterize the
man whose office he occupies
The office is in Rouss Hall
home of the McIntyre
Commerce School, it belongs
to William G Shenkir, a
teacher there for the past five
years who was appointed full
professor this year.

The tall Texan accountant
describes himself as a "sort of
history buff" and says one of
the main attractions of this
University is the history found
in this area

Mr. Shenkir co-authored an
article entitled "Jefferson:
Management Accountant,"
published in The Journal of
Accountancy last April.
Because of this article, the
Center for Advanced Studies
has appointed him a
Sesquicentennial Associate for
1972-73, allowing him full-time
research in the second
semester

He will use the time
researching records to examine
accounting practices during the
colonial period "I am not so
much interested in the systems
used, because you can never
find all the records, as in
studying how the people used
their information," he
explained

It was in reading the
biographies of Mr. Jefferson by

History Prof. Dumas Malone
that Mr. Shenkir noticed the
many references made to Mr
Jefferson's accounting books.

"The account books may be
more appropriately
characterized as a diary or day
book," Mr. Shenkir explained
in his article. Not only do they
contain entries for cash
receipts and disbursements,
they also include a wide range
of Mr. Jefferson's personal
writings from Latin quotations
to legal memoranda.

Classified Expenses

"Jefferson generated reports
classifying expenses,
production reports (profit/per
day/per worker), cost reports
and learning curve information,
he added.

"Learning curves are used
today, for example in aircraft
building," he said. "Managers
expect each successive plane
coming off the production line
to take a few months less than
the last one because learning
has taken place. Jefferson
made the same calculations on
his nail factory." he said.

"The books have never been
evaluated from the standpoint
of the information he (Mr.
Jefferson) was gathering." Mr
Shenkir said.

It is Mr. Jefferson's ledger
books that provide important
insights into his familiarity
with accounting They contain
for example, accounts of the
nail factory he had at
Monticello, in which "we find
many things that coincide with
modern accounting practices,"
Mr. Shenkir said.

Management Schools

"As historian Julian Boyd
points out, the plantation was
an early school of
management," he noted. "The
planters were trying to
determine resource allocations,
and in this way they were
developing skills necessary to
lead the government."

"Management expertise
leads to government expertise,"
Mr. Shenkir explained.

In his research Mr. Shenkir
and his colleagues have found
other financial records from
the same period that belonged
to other plantation owners and
merchants in towns like
Williamsburg.

Financial Reports

"These books were just
records of sales and purchases.
They never brought together
the information into a
meaningful financial report."
Summarizing the results of a
transaction is the same thing
done today, Mr. Shenkir said.

"It was the fact that
Jefferson developed a crude
accounting system with
insights into modern practices
that set these different books
worlds apart," he said.

Mr. Shenkir received his
doctorate in Accounting and
Finance from the University of
Texas at Austin in 1964 and has
been a certified Public
Accountant since 1965 He
wrote this article on Mr
Jefferson with a former
Graduate Business Prof. Glenn
A. Walsh and the Monticello
curator James A. Bear Jr