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RELEVANCE
Amah Kalu Ogbonnaya
Email: kaluogbonnaya30@yahoo.com
(College of Management Sciences, Department of Accounting,
Michael
Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike
Abstract
This work traces the History of Accounting, how Merchants
developed a system of keeping record using what is known as
the Bollac. The stages of Development of Accounting, from the
Mesopotamia 3500B.C to the 21st century Accounting. This
study also talked about the Father of Accounting Luca Pacioli
his contribution in the Development of Double Entry
Bookkeeping and finally the relevance of Accounting History to
todays world.
Key Words: Accounting History, Bollac, Double Entry
Bookkeeping,
Mesopotamia, Luca Pacioli, keeping
record.
INTRODUCTION
Accounting is one of the oldest Professions. The history of
accounting dates back to the earliest days of civilization driven
by the trade system of crops and products necessary for
survival.
Accounting was born before writing of numbers exited,
some 10,000years ago, in area known as Mesopotamia this is
late Persia and now the countries of Iran and Iraq. Tigris
Euphrates River, a large fertile area with a large thriving
population and active trading between towns and cities are all
located within the area.
At that time Merchants faced many of the same problems
which business of today is facing .They had to ship their
merchandize up and down the river and that meant entrusting a
boatman with their goods. Unfortunately, not all the boatmen
were honest, and disagreement often arose how much was
shipped versus what was received at the other end. It is hard
for us to imagine a world without writing and numbers. Then to
imagine yourself in their position what will you do.
To deal with the problem, Merchants came up with a plan.
They made small clay token, of various shapes and with various
markings, to indicate different products. This was known as
bollac system, one shape might be used for a basket of grain
while another will be used for a pot etc. They had over 200
shapes to differentiate a large verity of common goods
including food, leather, clothing and utensils etc. The system of
using bollac continued for almost 5,000 years before the
invention of writing and numbers
More fundamental is the question, why should we care
about the history of accounting at all? Certainly a glimpse back
into this period helps not just the past, generally, it is a sort of
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ACCOUNTANT
OF
EGYPT,
GREECE
AND
THE
DEVELOPMENT
OF
MODERN
Pacioli wrote that there are three things needed by one who
wish to carry on business diligently. The most important of
these is cash or any other substantial power (aitra facuita
substatiale). The second is good accountant (Buon ragioneri)
and a sharp bookkeeper. The third is good order in order to
arrange all business to debit (debito) and crdit (credito)
Pacioli explained the opening inventory (inventario), but he did
not describe the closing inventory.
Paciolis account book systems are three account books is a day
book. The day book is the first book, the journal is the second
book and the ledger is the third book.
All things pertaining to a transaction must be written in the day
book, without omission. Pacioli wrote that no point be omitted in
the day book.
Pacioli described debit and credit that is per and A in the
jounrnal and die darc in the ledger(Garner and Tsuji 1995)
However, any view of accounting history that begins with Luca
Paciolis contribution will
Overlook a long evolution of accounting system in ancient
mediaeval times. In attempting to explain why double entry
bookkeeping developed in 14th century Italy instead of ancient
Greece or Rome, accounting scholar A.C.Littleton describe
seven Key Ingredient which led to its creation.
-Private Property: The power to change ownership, because
bookkeeping is concerned with fact about property.
-Capital: Wealth productively employed, because otherwise
commerce would be trivial and credit would not exit.
-Commerce: The interchange of goods on a widespread level,
because purely local trading in small volume would not create
the sort of press of business needed to spur the creation of an
organized system to replace the existing hodgepodge of record
keeping.
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CONCLUSION.
The basic premise underlying our conclusion that
accounting history matter is that as time unceasingly transfer
the present into the part it does so without erasing its
relevance. What has gone before remains important to
understanding and acting in the present and anticipating and
preparing for the future? As Mark Twain is said to have
commented-History never repeats itself but it rhymes. The path
to ensuring that accounting history matters and continues to
matter more over time is for accounting history scholars to
achieve the highest standard in their will and act as effective
advocates for it.
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REFERENCE
Hamenow, T.S. (1987) Reflection on History and Histories,
winconis; the
University of Wisconsin Press.
Parker, I.D. (1999) Historiography for the New Millennium:
Adventures
Accounting and Management, Accounting History,
Vol.4. No2.
Parker, I.D. (2004) Presenting the Past: Perspective on Time for
Accounting
History, Accounting Business and Financial History,
Vol.14 No1
PP1-27
Stanford, M, (1995). An Introduction to Philosophy of History:
Massachusetts
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Biacuurel.
Warden R.P.(1961) The legacy of the civil war, New York:
Random House.
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