Evolution of Accounting

 

Accounting is as old as money itself. It has evolved, as have medicine, law and most other fields of human activity in response to the social and economic needs of society. People in all civilizations have maintained various types of records of business activities. The oldest known are clay tablet records of the payment of wages in babylonia around 600 b.c. accounting was practiced in india twenty-four centuries ago as is clear from kautilya‘s book ‗arthshastra‘ which clearly indicates the existence and need of proper accounting and audit.

For the most part, early accounting dealt only with limited aspects of the financial operations of private or governmental enterprises. Complete accounting system for an enterprise which came to be called as ―double entry system‖ was developed in italy in the 15th century. The first known description of the system was published there in 1494 by a franciscan monk by the name luca pacioli.

The expanded business operations initiated by the industrial revolution required increasingly Large amounts of money which in turn resulted in the development of the corporation form of organizations. As corporations became larger, an increasing number of individuals and institutions looked to accountants to provide economic information about these enterprises. or e.g. Prospective investors and creditors sought information about a corporation‘s financial status. Government agencies required financial information for purposes of taxation and regulation. Thus accounting began to expand its function of meeting the needs of relatively few owners to a public role of meeting the needs of a variety of interested parties.