Women in accounting occupations in the 1880 US Census

This article critically examines the characteristics of women who self report as accountants, auditors, or bookkeepers in the 1880 US Census. Census schedule images are used to explore their early lives and later occupations. The year 1880 predates the earliest US Certified Public Accountant (CPA) legislation, thus devices professions traditionally use to achieve closure were not yet in place. By 1900 both legal and credential barriers to the accounting profession were enacted. It is shown that young women were drawn to these accounting occupations for relatively short periods of time. Evidences of coding errors in the census database related to women in accounting occupations are discussed.