Write a brief history of accounting

A Brief History of Accounting: Where Did it Start? But how did it all begin?

In particular, I remember taking two classes, the first was an introduction to financial accounting and the other course was in microcomputer business applications. It was during this time that my father became by academic mentor.

My father introduced me to the management philosophy of the Learning Organization; I remember his comments and laughs when in studying accounting we realized that even professional accountants and authors would not provide the needed ethical guidance for young business students 1.

I also remember that when studying the accounting component of the microcomputer business applications course he mentioned that accounting and computerized accounting should take a new direction altogether. Later, he showed me how another accounting package, Pacioli for Windows 3would treat all the accounts, be balance sheet or income statement accounts, as registers.

These experiences and my appreciation for new technologies have motivated the writing of this paper. Later, as man began to trade, we established the concept of value and developed a monetary system. Evidence of accounting records can be found in the Babylonian Empire B.

Eventually, with the advent of taxation, record keeping became a necessity for governments to sustain social orders. The Italian Renaissance brought the artistic accomplishments of man to new heights.

At this time, Venice was the business cradle of Europe, and it was here among merchants that double entry accounting was invented and practised. During this period Fra Luca Pacioli wrote his "Summa" dealing with record keeping and double-entry accounting, one of the very first published books of the time that would become the accounting "textbook" for the next years.

He was a mathematician and friend of Leonardo da Vinci. He wrote and taught in many fields including mathematics, theology, architecture, games, military strategy and commerce.

One section of this book was dedicated to the description of double-entry accounting. The Summa was one of the first books published on the Gutenberg press, became an instant success and was translated into German, Russian, Dutch, and English.

His ledger included assets--receivables and inventories--liabilities, capital, income, and expense accounts. He described the year-end closing entries and proposed that a trial balance be used to prove a balanced ledger.

In addition, his Summa made reference to the certification of books, ethics and cost accounting. The present day trial balance sheet did not get its form until and the income statement was developed before WWII 8.

In the s, statements of financial position were developed with the purpose to provide relevant "information about the operating, financing, and investing activities of an enterprise and the effects of those activities on cash resources" CICA The double-entry accounting system relied on historical information and has traditionally provided financial reports and statements two weeks after the month-end closing period The trends in the information age is to conceptualize and implement accounting as a data base information system gathering all the quantitative and qualitative events of all the areas of a company.

Oracle 11PeopleSoft 12and SAP 13 are world players in this re-conceptualization of accounting as a data base information system, and they provide services to large corporations There are also excellent accounting software packages which are available in the market place. Conclusion The knowledge economy along with the ongoing information technology changes are affecting the way we are doing business.

We are becoming customers of each other, and the economic value chain is integrating our businesses with our suppliers, customers, and governments. As accounting is concerned, these peculiar changes are being reflected in the present trends of shifting our attention from an obsolete quantitative approach to a qualitative obsession where quality, customer satisfaction, and innovation become the most important components.A brief accounting history - from to the present day Accounting history can be traced back to a book called Summa de arithmetica, geometria, proportioni et proportionalita, written by the Italian mathematician, Luca Pacioli, in A.D.

A BRIEF HISTORY OF ACCOUNTING: FROM PREHISTORY TO THE INFORMATION AGE By James deSantis Premise. In the Summer of I enrolled in courses sponsored by both the Society of Management Accountants of Saskatchewan and .

According to many scholars, accounting and writing evolved side-by-side in this way. The need to keep a record of both goods and currency was accelerated by a number of factors. One was the ability to accumulate personal wealth. History of Accounting.

For some, the first name that might come to mind when referencing early accounting history is Luca Pacioli. Pacioli described double-entry bookkeeping in his “Summa de Arithmetica, Geometria, Proportioni et Proportionalita” back in A Brief History of Accounting The history of accounting or accountancy is thousands of years old and can be traced to ancient civilizations.

The early development of accounting dates back to ancient Mesopotamia, and is closely related to developments in writing, counting and money and early auditing systems by the ancient Egyptians and Babylonians.

A BRIEF HISTORY OF ACCOUNTING: FROM PREHISTORY TO THE INFORMATION AGE By James deSantis Premise. In the Summer of I enrolled in courses sponsored by both the Society of Management Accountants of Saskatchewan and Athabasca University.