The concept of fair value in French and German accounting regulations from 1673 to 1914 and its consequences for the interpretation of the stages of development of capitalist accounting

At the dawn of the 21st century, the appearance of fair value accounting is often presented as, if not a revolution, at least an innovation. The present article on the history of “value” as used in German and French accounting regulations from 1673 to 1914 will show that although valuation at cost would seem to predominate in the first European regulations (ca. 1673-1800), a special kind of fair value valuation was highly recommended by the legal community after 1800 and left its mark on German and French accounting regulations for the whole of the 19th century and even beyond that. On the basis of this statement it is shown that French and German capitalist accounting systems passed through four main stages of development from 1643 to 2003.