You have brought the harvest home. How will you remember tomorrow how much is left? People of the past answered by scratching marks on a wall and tying knots in a rope. This note walks the road from those marks to accounts kept on a computer.
1. From marks on bark to books of accounts
From the dawn of civilization people kept track of important events and counts. They did it with marks on the bark of trees and lines drawn on stones in caves. Later, to keep account of the harvest and the stores, they learnt to cut marks on the walls at home and to tie knots in a rope.
See the whole road once first. Drag through time: what people kept accounts with, and how that changed.
marks to screensdrag the time
The road of record-keeping
The scenes are hand-drawn sketches. The figures in the account book are only there for the picture.
The steps in between hang on one thread. People first began to live together in groups, and after that they took up farming. Gradually the population grew, society spread, barter came into use, currency was introduced, and then trade and commerce began. Records of purchases and sales, income and expenses, debts and dues, and other transactions then began to be written down in books of accounts, in figures. Follow the road below, one chip at a time.
the roadpick a step
The road of record-keeping
From the start of civilization people recorded important events and counts as marks on trees, in caves or on stones.
People began to live together in groups. This is the first step of the sequence.
After settling in groups, people took up farming.
To keep account of the harvest and stores, people learnt to make marks on the walls at home and knots in rope.
As people and society grew, the barter system developed: goods exchanged for goods.
After barter, currency came into use.
Trade and commerce began after currency. The book gives the order of these steps, not separate years for them.
In 1494 the Italian mathematician Luca Pacioli wrote a book that explains double entry. It is the only year the book gives on this road.
Now put the five steps in order yourself. What each one needs before it is the clue.
which firsttap in order
From society to trade
Which is the first step? Start with the one that has to exist before people can do the rest together.
Right. And after that?
Not yet. Farming begins after group living, barter after society has spread. Currency follows barter, and trade follows currency.
Group living, farming, barter, currency, trade and commerce. The book states this order inside a single sentence.
2. Pacioli's book and double entry
In 1494 an Italian mathematician named Luca Pacioli wrote a book. Its title is “Summa de arithmetica, geometria, proportioni et proportionalita”. In this book he explained the basic principle of book keeping, the “double entry” system. Tap all four cells to see them.
gridtap a cell
Who or what?
Luca Pacioli
answer
identity
Italian mathematician
year
1494
book
Summa de arithmetica…
idea
double entry
Identity. Luca Pacioli was an Italian mathematician. The book names him directly.
Year. He wrote the book in 1494.
Book. The full title: Summa de arithmetica, geometria, proportioni et proportionalita.
Idea. The book explains “double entry” as the basic principle of book keeping.
Keep one bit of arithmetic. To name a century, take the hundreds of the year, 14 for 1494, and add one, which gives 15. So 1494 falls in the fifteenth century, and modern accounting began in the fifteenth century with Pacioli's book.
3. Science, technology and growing business
Time moved on, science, technology and business advanced, and accounting developed as a result. Its development is therefore tied to the development of science and technology. Business grew from small to large. Today accounting is used in personal and family life, and in commercial and non-commercial, government and non-government, profit-seeking and non-profit organizations alike.
The bigger the business, the more transactions. Drag to grow the business and see where hand-written books fall behind.
by hand or by computergrow the business
How much time, how many people?
A model: three minutes a transaction by hand, one on a computer, an eight-hour day. The book only says time and labour are saved.
The most visible change technology made is the computer. In big organizations the books of accounts are no longer written by hand but kept on computers. This saves time and labour and lets the organization take decisions fast. Sort the gains: which ones does the book state, and which does it not?
sort themchip, then box
What technology gives
Pick up a chip, then drop it in a box. The question: does the book name this as a gain of keeping accounts on a computer?
Right. Next one.
Not yet. The book speaks of time, labour and the speed of decisions.
All in place. Saving time and labour and faster decisions are the book's words. Higher profit is not stated by the book.
4. Check yourself
Three questions in the exam's style. Start with the first.
check yourselfpick one answer
Question 1
In ancient times, what did people keep track of by trying knots in ropes?
The book says knots in rope kept accounts of crops and stored goods, not fruits.
The book does not say hunted animals and birds were counted with rope knots.
Right. The book says people learnt to keep accounts of crops and stock with marks on walls and knots in rope.
Debts and receivables began to be entered as figures in the account books, not in rope knots.
For the second, bring the order to mind.
check yourselfpick one answer
Question 2
How did people keep accounts at the dawn of civilization?
Marking walls at home came after farming began; at the dawn they marked stones, caves and trees.
Right. The book says from the origin of civilization people marked records on trees, caves or stones.
Painting on mud walls is not in the book.
Rope knots came after farming began; at the dawn it was marks on stones.
Think the last one through once more.
check yourselfpick one answer
Question 3
Which is the name of Luca Pacioli's book?
The book names no such work. The book's answer: Summa de arithmetica, geometria, proportioni et proportionalita.
This title is not in the book. The book's answer: Summa de arithmetica, geometria, proportioni et proportionalita.
This title is not in the book. The book's answer: Summa de arithmetica, geometria, proportioni et proportionalita.
Right. The book names Pacioli's work by exactly this title.
The whole note on seven cards.
cut from the notetap to turn over
Seven cards
QuestionWhere did people mark their records at the dawn of civilization?
AnswerOn the bark of trees, in caves or on stones
QuestionWhat came into use after the barter system developed?
AnswerCurrency
QuestionIn the book's order, what began after currency was introduced?
AnswerTrade and commerce
QuestionIn which year did Luca Pacioli write his book?
Answer1494
QuestionWhich basic principle of book keeping did his book explain?
AnswerDouble entry
QuestionWhich century does the year 1494 fall in?
AnswerThe fifteenth century (1401 to 1500 is the fifteenth)
QuestionWhat benefits does an organization get from keeping accounts on computers?
AnswerSaves time and labour and allows faster decisions
Source: Accounting, Classes 9-10 (NCTB), Chapter 1 “Introduction to Accounting”, the “The origin and evolution of accounting” part.