Conta

Historical Background of Accounting

Man, since early times, has struggled to satisfy his requirements for making a living. Little by little, these requirements became greater, and theinterchange of goods among individuals was necessary. As a result of this, trading began to appear. Simultaneously, numerical records of some kind began to arise, too.

Evidences of the abovestatement are the discoveries made by archeologists, such as bricks inscribed in cuneiform characters in Babylon, detailed accounts for farms and states, in Greece and Rome and tribute roll of Moctezuma,in pre-Columbian North America. This roll gave an account, in a pictorial way, of the beadwork, feather work, weapons, and food, which constituted the tribute of the Mexican nations to Montezuma.Nevertheless, these and many similar records are not accounting records in the modern sense. Accounting, from the modern accountant’s point of view, really began with the development of thecommercial republics of Italy. Massari of Genoa, in 1340, was the first to keep double entry books, this information being contained in Edward Peragollo’s book “Origin and Evolution of DoubleBookkeeping”.

However, the first printed text, containing accounting and including the double entry system, known to exist is that of Luca Pacioli (1445-1514), “Sum of Arithmetic, Geometry, Proportion andProportionalize. Pacioli was a true representative of the scientific culture at the time of the Italian Renaissance. He taught at the monasteries, universities, and royal courts, and he wrote thebook in 1494.

Some countries later, in 1776, the Industrial Revolution arose beginning in a large number of industries took place. It became necessary to improve accounting techniques andsystems and establish new ones.

At the present, changes in political and economic organizations based upon the interests and needs of society, have given rise to an important increase in...