An Abbreviated History

of Accounting –Covering

the Cool Bits.

(you heard it right)

Brought to you by your pal,

Michael Weissenfluh

Lebombo Bone

c. 35000 BCE

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The Lebombo Bone is a piece of the fibula of a

baboon, found near Border Cave in the Lebombo

Mountains between South Africa and Swaziland.

It is marked with 29 clearly defined notches. This

suggests it may have been used as a lunar phase

counter. This also suggests it may have been created

by a woman. You know what I’m saying.

This is first accounting tool in the form of a

rudimentary “tally stick”.

2

Image Courtesy of Science Museum of Brussels

Ishango Bone Another baboon bone? The Ishango Bone shows that :

• Things progressed kind of slow the last 17000 years or so

• These notches representing numbers may not be purely random and

instead suggest some understanding of the principle of multiplication

and division by two.

• Prehistoric people love their baboon bones and conversely if you were

a baboon you might have wanted to stay in the damn tree.

c. 18000 BCE 3

Each shape represents a specific quantity of a specific

commodity. And were used to keep track of inventory.

The Mesopotamian tokens shown above were

found at Tepe Gawra, in present day Iraq.

The cone, spheres, and flat disc are measures of

cereals: smallest, larger, and Cocoa Puffs. The

tetrahedron is a unit of work, or the amount of

work performed by one man in one day.

c. 4000 BCE

Before writing, there were Accounting Tokens.

Image provided courtesy of Denise Schmandt-Besserat and the University of Pennsylvania Museum

of Archaeology and Anthropology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia.

4

. These tokens are from Tello, ancient Girsu, present

day Iraq. Top row from LtoR they represent: one

measure of wheat, one iPad, one jar of oil and one

length of textile.

c. 3300 BCE Image provided courtesy of Denise Schmandt-Besserat and Musée du Louvre, Département des Antiquités

Orientales.

bottom row

from L to R:

one sheep, one

length of rope,

one ingot of

metal, one

garment.

5

6

Courtesy of the British Museum

Cuneiform Pictographs Recording the Allocation of Beer -Iran

3100 BCE

c. 3000-BCE - 1450 CE

Quipus sometimes called talking knots, were

recording devices historically used in the region

of Andean South America. A quipu usually

consisted of colored, spun, and plied thread or

strings from llama or alpaca or 80’s rock

band hair. The cords contained numeric and

other values encoded by knots in a base ten

positional system. Quipus might have just a few

or up to 2,000 cords.

But this is only a theory,

no one knows for sure how

to decipher them.

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This seated cross-legged scribe,

with a papyrus on his knees, is from

the 5th dynasty of Egypt. Scribes

were considered part of the royal

court and did not have to pay tax or

join the military or have to perform

heavy manual labor (which

accountants still avoid today).

I used to have a haircut just like

this.

Scribe, the early accountant

c. 2500-2350 BCE

I knew

hieroglyphics.

This is the one

for a scribe.

Balance sheet of

a State-owned

farm, prepared

by a scribe and

showing a

detailed

accounting of raw

materials and

workdays for a

basket maker.

c. 2040 BCE

From

Mesopotamia!

9

Photo from the National Museum of Epigraphy,

Athens.

The Salamis Tablet

c. 300 BCE

The precursor to the abacus was a

“counting board” which is a piece of

wood, stone or metal with carved

grooves or painted lines between

which beads, pebbles or metal discs

were moved. The Salamis Tablet

is from Babylonia, dispelling the

common belief that the abacus was

invented by the Chinese.

10

Little known fact is that they used the

Tablet to make Salamis Sandwiches too.

By Photographer: Mike Cowlishaw (aus der englischen Wikipedia) [GFDL

(http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html) or CC-BY-SA-3.0

(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/)], via Wikimedia Commons c. 1 CE

The Roman Abacus

Used to keep track

of the finances in the

far flung Roman

Empire, the Roman

abacus, not

surprisingly using

Roman Numerals

could be used to count

in the millions.

This represents the Roman Numeral MMMMCMXCIX

…not really, I have no idea.

11

Roman marble slab showing a couple on the left with huge

vats of wine, slaves carrying amphorae and MOST

IMPORTANTLY an accountant at a counter.

Accountants in Art

c. Mid 2nd Century CE

12

The “Modern” Abacus

c, 11 CE

During the 11th century, the Chinese

abacus, or suan pan, was invented. It

may be the earliest abacus with beads

on rods. The Mandarin term suan

pan means calculating plate. A suan

pan has 2 beads above a middle

divider called a beam (a.k.a. reckoning

bar) and 5 beads below.

Article for "abacus", 9th edition Encyclopedia

Britannica, volume 1 (1875) {{PD}}

6,302,715,408

really this time!

So beautiful and

perfect it has not

changed in 2000

years.

13

Hey now, accountants

have a patron saint.

Who, you ask?

St. Matthew, one of

the original 12

apostles, that’s all.

c.30 CE

He was a tax collector

for the Romans until

Jesus gave him a new gig.

I’ve got

your back.

14

c. 75 to 100 CE

“Suppose one of you

wants to build a tower.

Won’t you first sit

down and estimate the

cost to see if you have

enough money to

complete it?”

Even the Bible tells you

to listen to accountants

Luke 14:28

15 By Byzantinischer Maler des 10. Jahrhunderts [Public domain], via

Wikimedia Commons

I’m an

evangelist, not

an accountant.

Don’t ask me.

16 ByCornischong at lb.wikipedia (Birmingham 1066-1625 Transferred

from lb.wikipedia) [Public domain], from Wikimedia Commons

The Domesday Book

This book is the record of a

survey of much of England and

parts of Wales completed for

William the Conqueror (or

sometimes more hilariously

known as William the

Bastard). One of the main

purposes of the survey was to

determine who held what and

what taxes had been liable

under Edward the Confessor

(The Bastard’s predecessor).

The object of the survey was

to record the economic rights

of the Bastard.

1086

17 http://prestwidge.com/river/piperolls.html

The Pipe Rolls

The oldest surviving

accounting record in the

English language is the Pipe

Roll, or

"Great Roll of the

Exchequer," which provides

an annual description of rents,

fines and taxes due to the

King of England. It was the

final record on parchment of

a "proffer" system of tally

sticks.

They are called pipe rolls

because when they were

rolled up they looked like a

pipe. Duh.

c. 1130-1830

©The National Archives, Kew. c. 1300

Tally

Sticks

Not made of baboon bones!!

18

More!!

©The National Archives, Kew.

Tally sticks served as records or receipts

for financial transactions such as the payment

of taxes, debts and fines. From the 12th century they

were officially employed by the Exchequer of England

to collect the King’s taxes. The depth and series of

notches on these sticks represented the value of the

transaction. In recording a debt, wooden sticks were

often split horizontally into two parts: the lender

receiving one part, the stock; and the debtor, the other

part, the foil. England abolished the use of tally sticks

approximately 1830. There is no record on the

abolishment of baboon bones.

19

This is Luca

Pacioli, the

“Father of

Accounting”

20

I am nobody,

I’m just

photobombing

the painting.

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This is the

book he

wrote.

The name

of this

masterpiece

is……

1494 21

Summa de Arithmetica, Geometria,

Proportioni et Proportionalita * –

English - (Everything about

Arithmetic, Geometry, and

Proportion) , written by Pacioli in

1494, is a massive tome containing

details of mathematics of the time,

of which a small part was about

accounting.

*side note, this was one of the first books mass produced on

the Gutenberg printing press 22

The 36 chapters in the Summa dealing

with double-entry bookkeeping is called:

De computis et scripturis – English -

(Of Reckonings and Writings)

This is the basic concept that he

codified, which was so perfect and

elegant that it has remained unchanged

for over 500 years……..

Wait for it…. 23

24

At this time the widespread use

of Arabic numbers made

accounting much easier than

using Roman Numerals.

Little known fact. Luca Pacioli was a close friend of

Leonardo da Vinci. They lived together and

collaborated on many projects over many years. da Vinci

did all the illustrations in Pacioli’s books, and Pacioli did

the mathematics and perspective studies for da Vinci

paintings, including The Last Supper.

By Creator:C.P.M. gay folla piedras (Web

Gallery of Art: Image Info about

artwork) [Public domain], via Wikimedia

Commons

Rhombicuboctahedron

was one of sixty

illustrations by

Leonardo da Vinci,

that appeared in the

Divina Proportione by

Luca Pacioli

25

Matthaus tried to one

up Pacioli, by coming up

with “Threefold”

accounting.

…it didn’t take.

c. 1500

This is Matthaus Schwarz, accountant for one of the richest banking clans

during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries.

He must have been a damn fine

accountant. His employer was

known as Jakob Fugger: The

Rich

26

I love to play

dress up. See

the next panel.

Matthaus commissioned pictures of himself at every stage of life and what he wore at the time. For no

known reason he also commissioned nudes (front and back).

Biography of M. Schwarz; Herzog-Anton-Ulrich-Museum Braunschweig[Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

27

“A man sitting in a room

doing his accounts”

Marten van Heemskerck

1529

Accountants in Art

28

There is

nothing wrong

with Swiss Bank

Accounts.

Accountants in Art

1655 29

“Untitled”?

How about

“Accounting

Stud”

Nicolaes Maes [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons 1656

Accountants in Art

30

Dear

Accounting

Stud……

Accountants in Art

c. 1725 31

I wish they

would invent

the mechanical

pencil already. Quill pens were used to

write the vast majority of

medieval manuscripts in

addition to the Magna

Carta and the Declaration

of Independence.

By Austin & Laurens, Charleston, South Carolina

[Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

“Charges and net proceed of

118 new slaves," bookkeeping

entry from ledger of the firm

of Austin & Laurens,

Charleston, South Carolina,

recording purchases and sales,

and including accounts relating

to sale of slaves by the firm.

An ugly side to accounting…

c. 1754-1755 32

Up to this point there was no professional

organizations , certification of abilities or

ethical oversight for accountants. That

changed with the formation of the Institute

of Chartered Accountants of Scotland

(ICAS), the world's first professional body

of accountants. Soon thereafter accountants in

most other countries followed suit. Not

unexpectedly, there is almost zero cooperation

between international associations, nor is there

any consistency with rules and regulations.

1854

In which Accountants get serious.

(well, more serious…)

Im

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33

Coca Cola Company. Coca Cola Logo. Accessed 10-5-12 http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Coca-Cola_logo.svg

Frank Mason Robinson was the bookkeeper for The Pemberton Chemical Company

which developed the soft drink formula. He gave it the name Coca-Cola, and it’s

distinctive Spencerian script which was popular with bookkeepers in the day. Side note:

There was always debate about that claim so the logo itself has no currently

copyrightable authorship since its exact creator is unknown. In any case, the

trademarked Coca-Cola logo was published numerous times in the United States

before 1923, and so is now ineligible for copyright.

1886

A creative accountant!!

34

2-13-1913

Yay, income taxes! Since the US

government created an income

source, they could now fund wars

and start building an enormous

bureaucracy. Years later, a

gentleman named Mitt Romney

would teach us about how to

minimize our tax liabilities. But in

the meantime….

35

Who took down

notorious bad boy Al

Capone?

….an accountant by the

name of Frank J. Wilson.

Elliot Ness was a pussy

compared to this guy.

04-08-1931

The letter

that did it.

36

By US Social Security Administration

(http://www.ssa.gov/history/acalcs.html) [Public domain], via

Wikimedia Commons

The U.S. Social

Security Administration

accounting operations

during the issuing of

Social Security

Numbers and the

creation of earnings

records on all

Americans covered by

Social Security was the

largest bookkeeping

operation in the history

of the world.

1936 37

Why no, this

“chair” is not

comfortable.

Kill

me...

“This is the

best job !” –

said no one

ever.

July, 1944

Even death can’t

reconcile his bank

account.

You do NOT want to

screw up his books.

38

By Ruben de Rijcke (Own work) [CC-BY-SA-3.0

(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via

Wikimedia Commons

It’s no baboon bone, but

the introduction of the

IBM- PC changed the

lives of accountants

everywhere, and in a good

way. No longer did

accountants have to use a

typewriter and adding

machine for everything.

It is the equivalent of

the invention of fire or

the wheel, or pocket

protectors. That is my

dog Chester.

PERSONAL COMPUTERS!!!!

1981 39

GNU General Public License 1983

This is VisiCalc, the first spreadsheet program.

When these were invented, accountants all over the

world knew there was a God.

40

You can

never

have too

much eye

snuff or

toe toner.

How to tie a Windsor Knot

Store of Pithy Tax Jokes

THE ACCOUNTANT’S BRAIN

List of every episode of

Babylon 5 with plot synopsis

Exciting Part

Sense of humor

Fashion Sense

Interest in Accounting History

Receding hairline

Creativity

The abacus is

the most

wonderful

device ever

Fascination with baboon bones

History and lore of the pocket

protector

41

Belief that Luca Pacioli is a God

Repressed Sexuality

1980-2011

I know you want to know about accounting scandals. However, it is too

painful to discuss. Instead, I present a Wordle© which sadly, emphasizes

accounting firms that sucked at being good accountants.

42

“So it has come to this. The

global biodiversity crisis is so

severe that brilliant scientists,

political leaders, eco-warriors,

and religious gurus can no longer

save us from ourselves. The

military are powerless. But there

may be one last hope for life

on earth: accountants.”

-The Guardian, 06-12 reporting about the Nayoga Biodiversity Summit

…and you thought

that Notary

Publics were cool.

43

44

Thanks for

reading.