Double-entry bookkeeping by Pacioli and his European followers in XVI–XVII century

Abstract

Published in 1494, the Treatise on Double-entry Bookkeeping by Luca Pacioli was a comprehensive manual describing the principles of bookkeeping by the Italian method. The educational value of this work and its substantive merit made it quickly became a popular source of knowledge for merchants and students who wanted to learn the secrets of accounting. It presented, in a structured way and with numerous examples, a set of accounting principles developed over the years by Italian merchants. Later on, authors often modeled their manuals on Pacioli’s work, thus contributing to the dissemination of knowledge of accounting in Europe. In this way, double entry bookkeeping spread beyond the borders of Italy and thanks to, among others, the Dutch authors John Ympyn and Simon Stevin and an Englishman Richard Dafforne it came to Holland, England, Germany, France and other countries in the world. The purpose of this article is to present the works of these authors, and to compare the accounting rules described there to the rules that Pacioli set out in his treatise. The analysis showed that double entry principles propagated by Pacioli were reproduced in subsequent writings in an almost unchanged form. Modifications of the concept concerned only the technical issues,or were the result of the search for improvements in the field of keeping accounting records. However, the theoretical basis of bookkeeping has remained unchanged and provides the basis of modern accounting.

Keywords

• historia rachunkowości
• podręczniki rachunkowości
• rachunkowość kupiecka
• księgi rachunkowe
• Pacioli
• Ympyn