Lakhasly

The Early History of Accounting The work of Denise Schmandt-Besserat suggests that that the origins of writing are actually found in counting.Subsequently, Schmandt-Besserat's research found that the tokens composed of an elaborate system of accounting that was used throughout the Middle East from approximately 8000-3000B.C. Each token stood for a specific item, such as a sheep or a jar of oil, and it was used to take inventory and keep accounts.3 Other accounting records dating back several thousand years have been found in various parts of the world.This assertion is based on the fact that at nearly every Middle Eastern archeological site, the researchers found little pieces of fired clay that they could not identify.These records indicate that at all levels of development, people desire information about their efforts and accomplishments.

The Early History of Accounting
The work of Denise Schmandt-Besserat suggests that that the origins of writing are actually found
in counting. This assertion is based on the fact that at nearly every Middle Eastern archeological
site, the researchers found little pieces of fired clay that they could not identify. Subsequently,
Schmandt-Besserat’s research found that the tokens composed of an elaborate system of
accounting that was used throughout the Middle East from approximately 8000–3000B.C. Each
token stood for a specific item, such as a sheep or a jar of oil, and it was used to take inventory
and keep accounts.3
Other accounting records dating back several thousand years have been found in various parts
of the world. These records indicate that at all levels of development, people desire information
about their efforts and accomplishments. For example, the Zenon papyri,4
which were discovered in 1915, contain information about the construction projects, agricultural activities, and
business operations of the private estate of Apollonius for a period of about 30 years during the
third-century B.C.
According to Hain, “The Zenon papyri give evidence of a surprisingly elaborate accounting
system which had been used in Greece since the fifth century B.C. and which, in the wake of
Greek trade or conquest, gradually spread throughout the Eastern Mediterranean and Middle
East.”5
Zenon’s accounting system contained provisions for responsibility accounting, a written
record of all transactions, a personal account for wages paid to employees, inventory records, and
a record of asset acquisitions and disposals. In addition, there is evidence that all the accounts
were audited.6
Later, the Romans kept elaborate records, but because they expressed numbers through letters
of the alphabet, they were not able to develop any structured system of accounting. It was not
until the Renaissance – approximately 1300–1500, when the Italians were vigorously pursuing
trade and commerce – that the need to keep accurate records arose. Italian merchants borrowed
the Arabic numeral system and the basis of arithmetic, and an evolving trend toward the doubleentry bookkeeping system we now use developed.
In 1494, an Italian monk, Fra Luca Pacioli, wrote a book on arithmetic that included a
description of double-entry bookkeeping. Pacioli’s work, Summa de Arithmetica Geometria