origin of accounting

Origin of Accounting Every culture starts developing some sort of "accounting" system when their division of labor reaches the point of requiring some kind of "money." Many people have the opinion that accounting has been developed in recent years.  But from the puranas we see that Chitragupta maintains accounts for qualities and vices.  In olden days if we see the kingdoms, in each Kingdom there was financial minister who used to look after the financial matters like cash transactions, taxes payable by people to king etc.  If we come to know about the chapter "The business of keeping of Accounts in the Office of Accounts" from the book named "Arthashastra" written by Kautilya, Minister of king Chandragupta, it becomes clear that Accountancy was practiced in India Twenty-Three centuries back Accountancy's infancy dates back to the earliest days of human agriculture and civilization (the Sumerians in Mesopotamia, and the Egyptian Old Kingdom). Ancient economic thought of the Near East facilitated the creation of accurate records of the quantities and relative values of agricultural products, methods that were formalized in trading and monetary systems by 2000 B.C. Simple accounting is mentioned in the Christian Bible (New Testament) in the Book of Matthew, in the Parable of the Talents.[4] The Islamic Quran also mentions simple accounting for trade and credit arrangements.[5] In the twelfth-century A.D., the Arab writer, Ibn Taymiyyah, mentioned in his book Hisba (literally, "verification" or "calculation") detailed accounting systems used by Muslims as early as in the mid-seventh century A.D. These accounting practices were influenced by the Roman and the Persian civilizations that Muslims interacted with. The most detailed example Ibn Taymiyyah provides of a complex governmental accounting system is the Divan of Umar, the second Caliph of Islam, in which all revenues and disbursements were recorded. The Divan of Umar has been described in detail by various Islamic historians and was used by Muslim rulers in the Middle East with modifications and enhancements until the fall of the Ottoman Empire. . Modern accounting's foundation is the double-entry bookkeeping system, which was in use as early as 1211 in Florence. In the 15th century, hand-written texts explaining the double-entry method were circulation in the city-states of Italy. In 1494 Luca Paciolo, an Italian mathematician, monk, and collaborator of Leonardo da Vinci, published a book on mathematics which included 36 chapters explaining double entry bookkeeping. His book, "Summa", is generally considered the first published work on the subject, and Paciolo is often tagged as "the father of accounting." The first known book in the English language on accounting was published in London, England by John Gouge (or Gough) in 1543. A short book of instructions was also published in 1588 by John Mellis of Southwark, England, in which he says, "I am but the renuer and reviver of an ancient old copies printed here in London the 14 of August 1543. A book described as The Merchants Mirrour, or directions for the perfect ordering and keeping of his accounts formed by way of Debitor and Creditor, after the (so termed) Italian manner, by Richard Dafforne, accountant, published in 1635, contains many references to early books on the science of accountancy. There were several editions of Richard Dafforne's book - the second edition in 1636, the third in 1656, and another in 1684. The book is a very complete treatise on scientific accountancy, beautifully prepared and containing elaborate explanations. The numerous editions tend to prove that the science was highly appreciated in the 17th century. From this time on, there has been a continuous supply of literature on the subject, many of the authors styling themselves accountants and teachers of the art, and thus proving that the professional accountant was then known and employed.