Jenna Bringhurst

12/03/2015
Business 1050
Professor Klenk
My Renaissance
Particulars of Reckonings and Their Recordings- Luca Pacioli

The word Renaissance means a revival or a renewal of interest. From the

beginning of my Business 1050 class I was feeling a bit bored and frankly uninterested.
The readings up to the passage, Particulars of Reckonings and Their Recordings, didnt
interest me at all. I also found many of them a bit hard to understand. Although this
reading was a renewal of interest for me in two different ways. One, I was very interested
in this class and in Business before this class, then after beginning the reading of the book
that began to fade very quickly. Luckily though as soon as I began to read this chapter I
began to feel a renewal of interest because it was an ancient writing that actually talked
about things I felt like pertained to our day. Secondly, I am going to either be going into
Finance or Accounting, which are both business majors. I was very interested in these
things before this class, but reading this passage by Pacioli really sparked my interest
even more. He talks about how to successfully run a business, credits and debits, good
bookkeeping (accounting), and the importance of having order. These are things that
largely interest me in the business world. Also to make things even better he also made
his writing very intellectual, but still easy to understand. I would like to continue talking
about Particulars of Reckonings and Their Recordings further in my essay, in the hopes
that I may spark the same interest in someone else, that happened to me.

Luca Pacioli lived from 1447 to 1517, he was a mathematician in Venice. He was
known as The Father of Accounting and Bookkeeping. In his book Particulars and
Reckonings and Their Recordings he talks about the three most important things to any
business, he also gives an example of a very well written inventory, and lastly he also ties
in religion and some advice that he has.
The first thing that Pacioli talks about is what he believed to be most important in
a business, and that is having cash. He states that without it business cannot be carried
on. Although he does talk about someone who had no capital, but had faith in their good
credit. He states that because the person had faith they were blessed because of it and
they became very wealthy. He states that we are saved by faith, and without it is
impossible to please God. I find it very interesting that he brings in faith and religion
into his book but I personally believe it adds a good touch. You can tell that he was a very
faithful Christian man.
The second most important thing of which he doesnt expand much on is to be a
good bookkeeper and a good mathematician. The third he talks about is to arrange
transactions in a way that one may understand it at a glance. He gives an example of how
to put your credit and your debits. He very strongly emphasizes the need to be very
organized. He says that if you arent then they would have no rest and their minds would
always be troubled. He is from Venice and he believes that their system is the best way
to organize these things and suggests that that system should be used more than any other.
He again brings in a Christian, religious quote, Ubi non est ordo, ibi est confusio, or
translated means, Where there is no order there is confusion. Just like in the bible when
it talks about how when there is order there is peace.

After this since he is taught the principles, he gives an example of application. He

talks of procedures and how to make it. He says that you should first list what you have,
for example real estate, property, cash, silver. He says you need to list the things that
you could lose first. Then those things like property and real estate second. This reminded
me of something similar in our day like making a budget and listing your assets and
liabilities. He also says that one of the most important things to do is to begin with the
name of God at the beginning of every book, and to also have his name in their minds.
The last thing that he talks about is he gives out Good Advice to the Good
Merchant. Most of these are religious things, but I think that they are very good advice
and would agree with all of them. He starts by quoting the apostle Paul by saying no one
will be worthy of the crown except he who shall fight valiantly for it. This is great
advice because with all the things that he talked about to be successful you have to put in
lots of work. Lastly he gives a few other words of advice saying that above all it is most
important to remember God and your neighbor. He reminds the reader to attend religious
mediation every morning. He then promises that if you do these things you will never
lose your way. Also more applicable, by being charitable he states that you will never
lose your riches. He closes with the quote Seek you, Christians, first the kingdom of
God and then the other temporal and spiritual things you will easily obtain, because your
Heavenly Father knows very well your needs.