ABSTRACT

This study examines the relationship between labour and the accounting information disclosed by the South Seas Development Company (SSDC), one of Japan’s ‘special companies’, during the 1920s and 1930s. The primary focus is on the company’s financial statements and detailed schedules relating to its sugar business. These were submitted through the Oriental Colonization Company, the SSDC’s parent company, to the Ministry of Colonial Affairs, which served as the supervisory agency. In a broad sense, the study seeks to cast light on the role of accounting in resolving labour disputes in non-Anglo-Saxon settings by viewing the situation from a technology of government perspective. It is shown that the accounting information provided by the SSDC was used to frame the reality of labour life as related to Japanese colonial management and enabled the supervising government agency to monitor the adequacy of the SSDC’s proposed solution to the problem, i.e. the distribution of income between the company and its tenant farmers.

摘要

本研究考察了 1920 年代和 1930 年代日本“特殊公司”之一的南海开发公司 (SSDC) 披露的劳动与会计信息之间的关系。主要关注公司的财务报表和与其糖业相关的详细时间表。这些文件通过 SSDC 的母公司东方殖民公司提交给担任监督机构的殖民事务部。从广义上讲，该研究旨在通过从政府技术角度看待情况，阐明会计在解决非盎格鲁撒克逊环境中的劳资纠纷中的作用。结果表明，SSDC 提供的会计信息被用来描述与日本殖民管理有关的劳动生活的现实，并使监督政府机构能够监控 SSDC 提出的解决问题的方案的充分性，即收入分配公司与其佃农之间。