History Of Accounting In The World, Starting From Ancient Egypt To Indonesia

Illustration of Accounting (Unsplash)

YOGYAKARTA – In general, accounting is the activity of recording, summarizing, analyzing, and reporting data that occurs in the financial process either in a business or organization. Accounting is very important to manage finances. Apart from that, how is the history of accounting in the world?

History of Accounting in the Ancient World

The art of recording financial transactions became the forerunner to the birth of accounting science. This activity emerged in the era of Ancient Egypt or in 2920 AD until it developed and arrived in Indonesia. For more details, the following is the history of accounting science in the world in several eras.

Ancient Egyptian Era

Based on history, the practice of accounting began in the Ancient Meris era which was practiced in trade. At that time the people of Ancient Egypt made records for trade outside the region.

According to several sources, the recording was done on leaves or animal skins, considering that no paper had been found. This is evidenced by the existence of books written in Arabic spelling.

The records of the Egyptians included recording profits and losses by calculating the goods they carried while sailing and after they sailed. In addition, they are familiar with the warehouse system that contains various valuable items such as gold, wheat, cloth, and many more.

Babylonian Era

The forerunner of accounting is also found in the Babylonian empire. In 1893 an archaeologist who was on an expedition to America in Nippur found a type of rock in the form of a tablet. This tablet contains a record of information related to accounting such as the amount of money and goods received, the name of the recipient, the date of the transaction, and much more.

Ancient China Era

The art of note-taking was also found in ancient China when it was used to oversee programs and implement programs made by the kingdom. In this era, recording continues to grow until it reaches the best results, namely in the Chao Dynasty (1122-256 BC).

Ancient Greek Era

In this era, there is evidence that shows the existence of ancient accounting, namely a document made during the leadership of Alexander the Great, 4th century BC. The document records various money-lending transactions received by a department head.

In addition, the records also found a list of cash and disbursements grouped into the same record.

Ancient Roman Era

There is not much evidence of the existence of accounting in this era. However, some literature explains that the Romans were fond of forming organizations and administrations. There is also a note that records receipts and disbursements in which the code "a code accepti et expensi" is written, the same as the monthly cash book.

History of Accounting in Indonesia

The forerunner of accounting which started from the art of recording transactions was finally reformed. This moment occurred in 1494, where an Italian mathematician named Luca Pacioli wrote a book entitled Summa de Aritmatica, Geometrica Proortioni et Propotionallia.

Luca Pacioli's book describes the double-entry bookkeeping system. This system later became the foundation of accounting science that has developed until now. After the book was published, accounting science began to be applied in Italy and spread to various countries including Indonesia. Until now, Luca Pacioli has been nicknamed the Father of World Accounting.

The development of accounting science grew rapidly after the occurrence of World War II. In Indonesia, accounting activities were carried out massively during the Dutch colonial era at the end of the 16th century through the VOC and continued by the Dutch in managing their companies in Indonesia.

That's information related to the history of accounting in the world. For other interesting information, visit VOI.ID.