Ancient Double-Entry Bookkeeping: Lucas Pacioli's Treatise 1494 - the Earliest Known Writer on Bookkeeping) (Classic Reprint)

By Page Lawrence, C.P.A. Nearly all historians, when tracing the growth of an art or science from mere empiricism to the establishment of recognized principles, are confronted with an apparent insurmountable gap or complete silence during the period known in history as theD ark A ges. Archaeological and historical researches have convinced this civilization that in Ancient Babylon, Greece andR ome there was a high state of civilization both industrial and social. Today we may study Aristotle spolitics with great profit in our attempts to understand the political and economic conditions confronting this generation. An acquaintance with the Greek philosophers is essential in understanding our present philosophical thought. It would seem that, since we find so much help in consulting these ancient writers in an attempt to solve the political problems of today which are presented by this complex civilization, in a large measure at least our mentors must have been confronted with the same economic and industrial difficulties that we are attempting to solve now as accountants. One is convinced that the ancient writers on political economy and commerce were closely allied with the scribes or accountants who recorded the business transactions of those days. This allegiance seems to have been lost after the Roman supremacy (and the consequent growth and spread of commerce), and it is only within recent years that the modern economist and accountant has acknowledged that a truer understanding of modern commerce can be had with cooperation and that the two sciences (economics and accounting) are finding so much in common that each is dependent upon the other for a full understanding of modern business conditions. Mr. John P. Young, Editor of theS an Francisco Chronicle, ably presented accounting in antiquity before the convention of the American Association of Public A
(Typographical errors above are due to OCR software and don't occur in the book.)