Abstract In the article, the available literature of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries has been examined to discover when the idea of controlling costs was first rather clearly expressed and to trace the steps which were subsequently taken in developing the function of cost control. This article is noteworthy because it presents two new ideas relating to the purpose of keeping cost records. These objects are to examine and explain past results and to form a guide for future trading. The first object is based upon historical cost analysis which is of minor importance in controlling costs, but the second object indicate a forward looking purpose for keeping cost records which is of primary importance today in planning and controlling business activities. Furthermore, it emphasizes the importance of preparing statements that contains useful data and also attempts to explain a remedy for the justifiable lack of interest on the part of management in accounting reports, as they are usually prepared.
P. Crossman (1953) studied this question.