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There are several traces that allow inferring the existence of the origin and evolution of accounting since prehistoric times, having the necessary or indispensable elements to conceptualize the existence of an accounting activity. Accounting is currently a necessity in each of the existing companies. Due to the complexity of their processes, companies constantly require professional personnel trained in finance to meet these needs. In this article we will see how this important science has been initiated.
Origin and evolution of accounting: primitive man, Mesopotamia and Egypt
Since 6000 B.C., man possessed the basic elements of mathematics and writing, had formed groups, initially as hunters, later as farmers and shepherds, and had already begun to use writing and numbers, necessary elements for accounting activities.
With the emergence of agriculture, livestock and trade, the need was felt to account for the transactions of these activities. The most remote vestige of accounting dates back to the Mesopotamian civilization, which existed thousands of years before the Christian era and, due to its economic growth, required some elements of accounting.
Accounting records have been found in Minoan palaces, Assyrian temples and Egyptian tombs. In the Semitic museum of Harvard University there is a clay tablet more than six thousand years old, on which there are signs printed. Historians interpret these symbols as the income resulting from the economic activity of this civilization.
In Egypt, between 5400 and 3200 B.C., barter-oriented actions were found in the red temple of Babylon. Around the year 3600 B.C., as a result of the Pharaoh Menach’s economic management, some orderly annotations of income and expenses were found by his scribes. The origin and evolution of accounting can be summarized with the most important periods, where the use of accounting is clearly seen.
The Sumerians
Accounting dates back to 6000 B.C. The Sumerians used fresh clay tablets. They recorded income, expenses and profits.
Rome
Accounting dates back to the year 4000 B.C. They kept accounting in two books, Adversaria: where cash operations (income) were recorded and the Codex with the other operations, the plebeians used them to keep the accounting records.
It is worth mentioning that they have found traces of accounting practices dating back to the early years of the empire, recorded in the writings of its most distinguished thinkers. The heads of families were obliged to write down their income and expenses on a daily basis and then record them in a register. The Paetellian Law, published in Rome in 325 B.C., was the first regulation approving accounting entries recorded in ledgers.
It was the Roman bankers, the empire’s privileged caste, who perfected accounting techniques in order to control the retribution they had to grant to the army for their territorial conquests and to the patricians for their political adventures.
Importance of accounting in Rome
From 235 A.C., with the death of Alexander Severus, accounting acquired great importance in ancient Rome. At the time of the republic, accounting was carried out by the plebeians, in the first instance. It was the privileged caste of the empire who perfected the accounting techniques, in order to control the allocations to be granted to the army for their territorial conquests and to the patricians for their political adventures.
Despite the fall of the Roman Empire, accounting practices were preserved and achieved remarkable progress throughout the Middle Ages. The Catholic Church had more persecutors every day, achieved the greatest economic and political power in history, which forced it to keep very detailed accounts of its economic activities, operations that were handled in the monasteries.
Although, there are no testimonies of the accounting practice in the feudal period, the high degree of development of commerce suggests that the practice of accounting was usual, which was exclusive to the feudal lord.
Assyria
Accounting dates back to 3300 B.C. They recorded on clay tablets. They controlled the taxes collected by the king. They also kept fiscal accounting records, printed on clay tablets.
Babylon
Accounting dates back to 1790 B.C. With King Hammurabi, a code was created with his name and accounting records began to be kept.
Greece
As a result of their commercial activities, the level of development of their navy and the remarkable pre-capitalist economic regime, the existence of a structured accounting system is evident, although we only have the testimony of Pagani, who affirms that, in 5th century B.C. Greece, merchants were obliged to keep accounting books.
Accounting dates back to 1500 B.C. They kept accounts in two books, the first one recording income and the second one recording expenses. This as a result of their commercial activities.
Genoa
Accounting dates back to 1340 B.C. Accounting was kept in three books: the first book recorded cash transactions, the second book recorded the current account and the third book recorded the profit and loss.
Florence
Accounting dates back to 1190 A.C. The basis for accounting was the book Adversario and the Codex.
Characters in the origin and evolution of accounting; Benedetto Cotrugli
Precursor of the double entry. He managed 3 books: journal, general ledger and draft or reminder. His contributions were: the outlines of the general ledger and the journal. It is worth mentioning that one of the most significant contributions of Cotrugli’s work is to raise the moral problem of business.
Double entry played a fundamental role in solving logistical problems in the evolution of commercial thinking. Cotrugli is credited not only as the precursor of double entry in the West, but also as the father of modern management.
What is certain is that Cotrugli’s work marked a milestone in the historical social evolution of accounting thought at the beginning of modernity, around the first half of the 15th century. Before Cotrugli, one had to rely on merchants’ books; after Cotrugli, an intellectual tradition of merchants’ manuals seeking to improve accounting techniques began.
Friar Lucas Paccioli
Father of accounting. Introduced the double entry theory in 1492 A.C. His contributions were: he considered that there should be 3 books: the memorial, the general ledger and the journal. He published a book entitled Geometric Arithmetic. In that publication he dedicated a chapter to accounting. It is worth mentioning that he was born in Borgo San Sepolcro, Tuscany, around 1445, without having been an accountant, he was a professor at the universities of Rome, Padua, Florence and Assisi. He wrote with great skill a treatise on accounting in which he argues that accounting requires mathematical knowledge for its application.
Mastering accounting in modern times
It is necessary to know the roots of any subject if we wish to master it in its entirety. For this reason, professionals in the accounting area dedicate themselves to study for years. This provides the basis for different processes and procedures that are currently in force.
Today’s professional must be in a process of continuous search for knowledge. It is necessary to facilitate this route, and TECH Technological University, has this clear. For this reason it designed the Business School Faculty, where it is possible to find different specializations focused on the needs of today’s market, such as the Master’s Degree in Information Technology Management and the Master’s Degree in Digital Business.
It also allocated one of its most important places to the Master’s Degree in Accounting Management. In this program, students will have the opportunity to delve deeper into the proposed information, accompanied by experts in the field.
