Short info from MacColl album:

[1990:] Written in 1964 as theme music for the BBC radio series 'Landmarks', this is a summing-up song, an accounts sheet. Its Brechtian style and deceptive simplicity mark it as unique among MacColl's compositions. (Notes Ewan MacColl, 'Black and White')

Lyrics are in the DT: The Ballad of Accounting