History

Information about accounting has come down to us since the 4th century BC. In the initial period, records were kept on a scoreboard using dots and dashes. In ancient times, people kept simple property records using the physical units in which a particular property was expressed. For example, taxes, collected in the form of wheat, were calculated by weight, land area by surface units, etc. The ancient Egyptians kept their records on papyrus using red and black ink. Their primary accounting method was an inventory, which was conducted every two years between 3400 and 2980 BC to count all of the country's movable and immovable property owned by the pharaoh. In this sense, ancient Egypt can be considered the birthplace of inventory origins. Accounting was later developed in ancient Rome. Here the state controlled construction costs through accounting. According to the results of the calculation, reports were made and sent to Rome, where there was an institution of hearing (experts) of these reports. The word “auditor” came from the word to listen: аudiere. In Babylon, work supervisors also made reports that were checked according to work orders. Notably, the control extended to raw materials and supplies used to manufacture the products. Accounts of the spinning mills in Babylon have been preserved. Babylon was the first state where special legislation originated. The Code of Hammurabi stipulated that merchants should keep their own records, temples should keep state records, and delivery of drams without a receipt was considered invalid. Therefore, legislative regulation of accounting was aimed at exercising control over economic entities for timely and full payment of taxes. Obviously, it could not give a complete picture of the state of the economy, let alone revenues. Along with the development of mankind, accounting has also improved. The basis of modern accounting was laid by Italian Renaissance merchants, and in 1494 it was further refined by the scientist, and mathematician Fra Luca Bartolomeo de Pacioli, who was a friend of the genius Leonardo da Vinci. Pacioli developed the so-called double entry system, which became the fundamental principle of accounting and was used by accountants all over the world for almost 6 centuries. Double-entry bookkeeping became an integral part of accounting, and the application of the concept of bookkeeping accounts made it possible to record and control all farm assets, the sources of their formation, and the economic events taking place. Some scientists are inclined to think that the idea of double-entry bookkeeping originated much earlier. However, Pacioli's work is considered to be the first published book on double-entry bookkeeping, which spurred the development of a new accounting system.