CONTRIBUIÇÕES DO PROTESTANTISMO PARA O DESENVOLVIMENTO DA CONTABILIDADE: UMA APROXIMAÇÃO À LUZ DE MAX WEBER

Abstract

This paper aims to identify whether Protestantism contributed somehow to the evolution of Accounting. To answer the question of this research, it was attempted to evidence Christianity and the scenario in which accounting was in the beginning of the middle ages. In a second moment, it was analyzed the “Spirit of Capitalism”, according to Max Weber, and its correlation with economics; and afterwards, social and cultural impacts of Protestantism were identified as well as their relation with capitalism and the correlation with accounting. It was found that accounting is connected to sociology when it comes to the analysis and interpretation of social phenomena investigated in the realm of Sociology of Organizations. Thus, it was concluded that accounting in inserted in the context of the capitalist society and, therefore, is an object study of General Sociology. With a field of knowledge that interacts with social relations, accounting has resources which enable a transdisciplinary research in the realm of Social Sciences. It is a useful tool which can add to the demands for economic and financial information related to the business sector which, in turn, yields information that influence economic, social and religious relations. And for the development and growth of the capitalist economy the contribution made by accounting was essential, not being possible without accounting registration.