A Brief History of Accounting Pertemuan 01

Matakuliah : F0122 – Seminar AkuntansiTahun : 2009

More Than a Numbers Game: A Brief History of Accounting

Accounting SeminarWeek 1

Prepared by: Gatot Soepriyanto, SE., Ak, M.Buss (Acc)

WHO WAS THE FIRST ACCOUNTANT?

8000 BCE Jerry of Jericho First used "tokens" to accurately count the temple's wealth

3100 BCE  Marion the Sumerian Invented Cuneiform writing to determine the king's wealth & tribute payments

0  Jerome of Rome  Rich Romans kept financial records in memo form and on ledgers. Scribes kept detailed financial records of the Empire

1299 Amatino Manucci Florentine merchant, developed the first known financial records that included all major components of double entry bookkeeping

1494 Luca Pacioli Publication of Summa, which included the first full description of the Italian method of double entry bookkeeping

1772 Josiah Wedgwood Industrial Revolution entrepreneur that developed innovative cost accounting records following a severe recession

1854 William Cooper Early founder of a Big Six firm, important to the development of the British accounting profession

1920 Donaldson Brown GM CFO developed the "modern" cost accounting system used by industrial giants to control vast operations

The candidates are:

Source: http://acct.tamu.edu/giroux/FIRST.html

WHO WAS THE FIRST ACCOUNTANT?

• The winner: Amatino Manucci, – the writer of the earliest surviving complete

double entry bookkeeping system. • Modern accounting is not fundamentally

different from that of Manucci. • He's not likely to become a household name,

but should be recognized as the First Accountant.

Early Accounting

4000 B.C. (Tokens and Envelopes in Sumeria)

Accounting in the Middle Ages

Milestones in Accounting History

• 1330 northern Italian trading cities employ Visitatore to review the books of merchants

• 1494 Prof. Pacioli establishes the classic double accounting system

Milestones in Accounting History (2)

• 1581 founding of the „Collegio die Ragionati“, the first professional accounting organization

• 16th century- introduction of internal accounting in the larger trade and banking institutions (Fugger)

Milestones in Accounting History (3)

• British Companies Act of 1844- requirement of the annual appointment of auditors to examine the accounts and financial statements of all public companies

• 1849-1873 founding of the first audit firms (Deloitte, Price Waterhouse Coopers, Peat Marwick) in London

Milestones in Accounting History (4)

• 1929- Black Tuesday and the Great Depression

• 1933- Creation of the SEC with authority to regulate financial reporting of public companies (partially delegated to the AIA, predecssor of the AICPA)

• 1971 establishment of the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) as independent body

Milestones in Accounting History (5)

• Late 19th and early 20th centuries- development of multinational companies (origin of cross-border consolidated financial statements)

• Late 20th century- evolution of accounting/audit firms into multidisciplinary partnerships (MDPs)

• 1990s stock market boom and crash• Financial collapse of major US companies

(Enron, Worldcom, Tyco)

Milestones in Accounting History (6)

• Restructuring of accounting/auditing industry (divestiture of management consulting business, Final Rule on Auditor Independence)

• Financial collapse of major non-US companies (Parmalat, Ahold)

• Sarbanes Oxley Act (August 2002)

Sarbanes Oxley Act• Creation of the Public Company Accounting

Oversight Board (PCAOB)- end to self-regulation

• Additional restrictions on non-audit services provided by audit firms

• Enhanced role of audit committee (§301)• Increased financial literacy requirements for

audit committees („financial expert“ requirement §407)

• CEO certification of financials (§§ 302, 906)• Internal control review (§404)

Complementary Reading Materials/Papers

– See additional material/additional link:

• History of Accounting – by John R. Alexander (USA Association of Chartered

Accountants - 2002)

• Columbus's First Voyage: Profit Or Loss From A Historical Accountant's Perspective

– By David Satava, University of Houston, Victoria (The Journal of Applied Business Research – Fourth Quarter 2007)