Luca Pacioli, Treatise on Accounts and Records. Luca Pacioli: biography

In the Middle Ages, two main types of accounting were formed:

1. cameral (budgetary), which proceeded from the fact that the main object is the cash register, i.e. accounting for income and expenses, and the condition and movement of property are considered as a consequence of budget implementation;

2. simple (commercial), which involved accounting for the state and movement of property, and income and expenses were recognized as a consequence of this movement.

Until the 13th century. accounting was carried out using unigraphic (simple) records, based on the idea of ​​accounting naturalism. The facts of economic life were reflected in those meters that exist in real life (natural meters). Abstract values, such as profit, were not recorded in the accounting system, but were calculated based on the results of the inventory.

Diagraphical (double) accounting boils down to the fact that equity accounts are entered into the list of simple accounting accounts. All facts of economic life are reflected twice, which gives the double entry a symbolic character. This is only possible if all accounting objects are recorded in one accounting meter, which is money.

The advent of double entry is a revolution in the thinking of business people, part of the microcosm of any organization.

The origin of double entry has not yet been reliably established, although various versions are given. Attempts have been made repeatedly to connect the emergence of double entry with the name of an inventor, but as a result they came to the conclusion that double entry has no author, just as the inventors of the alphabet, the wheel, money, etc. are unknown. It is believed that double entry began simultaneously in several cities in northern Italy between 1250-1350, from where the double-entry bookkeeping phenomenon spread to European countries and then to the whole world.

In its development, double entry went through several stages:

Born as a formal technique as a result of the evolution of methods for recording facts of economic life;

It is being developed as a technical technique that allows you to control the accuracy of records of business transactions;

With the introduction of the monetary meter, accounting becomes a single, closed system;

With the development of production relations, the manager is separated from the owner and not only the owner’s (capital) account appears, but also the financial results account (administrator’s account);

Until now, there has been an increase in the number of accounting objects (for example, in the late 70s of the 20th century, the object “intangible assets” appeared, a little later - “conditional facts of economic activity”, “events after the reporting date”, etc.).

The importance of double entry for modern accounting can hardly be overestimated. The first author to study the nature of double entry was Benedetto Cotrugli.

Benedetto Cotrugli) - Italian merchant of the 15th century. and Neapolitan diplomat, author of the book “On Trade and the Perfect Merchant” , one of the creators of Italian accounting. The book was written in 1458, but was published only in 1573, i.e. 115 years after it was written. Therefore, it is believed that Cotrugli was ahead of the world-famous Italian mathematician, a man of universal knowledge, Luca Pacioli.

The writings of Benedetto Cotrugli first speak of accounting as a science. Benedetto Cotrugli initiated the consideration of accounting as a tool for managing an individual enterprise, on the one hand, and as a universal methodological science, on the other. Cotrugli placed credit on the left and debit on the right page (side) of the account. To account for funds, it provided two columns, the first showing the original currency, the second showing its translation into local currency. At the same time, he did not give methods for calculating currency differences, but emphasized their importance, pointing out that anyone who does not understand the need for such recalculations does not deserve the title of accountant. Cotrugli also outlined the procedure for filling out the “Losses and Profits” account and indicated that the balance should be transferred to the “Capital” account.

Luca Pacioli - Italian mathematician (1445-1515), born in a small town in Italy. An artist lived here, to whom little Luka was apprenticed. In the artist's studio, Luka learned mathematics, for which he turned out to be more capable than painting. At the age of 19, he left the workshop and moved to Venice, where he raised the children of a merchant. There he also became acquainted with accounting, helping to keep books of accounts for a merchant.

In 1470, Luca Pacioli moved to Rome, where he educated himself, and two years later he became a Franciscan monk. The monastery provided time for scientific work and provided sufficient material resources. Soon L. Pacioli becomes a professor at the University of Perugia. In 1493 he completed his work “The Sum of Arithmetic, Geometry, the Doctrine of Proportions and Relations,” and in 1494 the book was published. Treatise XI “On Accounts and Records” contains the first description of double-entry bookkeeping.

The creative legacy of L. Pacioli suffered an unfortunate fate. The contents of the Treatise on Accounts and Records were copied from book to book, but the author was forgotten. Only at the end of the 19th century. The author's name has been restored. Since no other names were known, it was L. Pacioli who began to be considered the father of accounting science, although he himself wrote that he did not come up with anything new, but only described the current practice. Nevertheless, the significance of L. Pacioli’s work for the development of accounting is undoubtedly great. basic the ideas described by L. Pacioli boil down to the following.

For the first time, two accounting objectives were formulated:

1. obtaining information about the state of affairs, “for accounting should be kept in such a way that all kinds of information can be obtained without delay, both regarding debts and regarding claims”;

2. calculation of the financial result, “for the goal of every merchant is to obtain the permitted and appropriate benefit for his maintenance.”

Both goals of accounting are achieved through the use of accounts and double entry. Accounts - elements of the system - show the grouping of economically homogeneous assets of the enterprise or the sources of their formation. Each company must choose its own list of accounts. The administrator must adapt the accounting accounts for the purposes of enterprise management.

The relationship between accounts is revealed using double entry. There are several explanations for this name. This is probably due to the fact that here:

Two types of recording are used (systematic and chronological);

Two types of registration are used (synthetic and analytical accounting);

There are two series of accounts: property accounts and capital accounts;

Each account has two equal sections (debit and credit);

Any fact of economic life is registered twice - by the debit of one account and the credit of another account

There are two parallel accounting cycles, which are reflected by the equation

A - P = K,

where A is an asset (types of property);

P - liability (obligations);

K - capital (own sources of funds);

In any transaction two persons are involved: one gives, the other receives;

Accounting work is done twice - first, transactions are recorded and then verified.

3. L. Pacioli derived two postulates that bear his name:

The amount of debit and credit turnover is always identical in the same system of accounts;

The sum of debit balances (account balances) is always identical to the sum of credit balances in the same system of accounts.

4. L. Pacioli paid attention to the balance sheet, which he interpreted as “the accounting balance necessary to control the correct posting of accounts,” but did not consider it as a reporting document.

5. L. Pacioli described one of the first forms of bookkeeping - Old Italian (Venetian).

The Old Italian form has three levels of information processing:

The facts of economic life are recorded in the memorial book - it replaced modern primary documents;

According to the memorial, the accountant makes account entries (entries) in a journal - now it is called a log book (chronological record);

Fact records are grouped by economic content in the General Ledger (systematic record).

The main disadvantage of the Old Italian form accounting was that accounts were not divided into synthetic and analytical. All accounts were essentially analytical, therefore the accounting system was cumbersome and labor-intensive.

L. Pacioli considered problems of property valuation and defended the principles of valuation at cost (the actual cost of acquisition or creation). He said: “The estimate cannot be lower than the cost of actual costs, since it should stimulate the sale of goods at high prices.” Thus, Pacioli did not allow for the possibility of valuation at current market prices.

L. Pacioli described problems of accounting for currency transactions. In connection with changes in the exchange rate, he posed problems: how to convert one monetary unit into another and how to reflect the profit from a currency exchange transaction. He solved these problems in the following way: he published a conversion table of various currencies. Recalculation of exchange rate differences, as Pacioli believed, does not need to be reflected in accounting.

L. Pacioli believed that not a single business entity, as they would say now, could be made a debtor without his consent. Thus, he believed that products can be considered sold only after payment.

After the emergence of the double entry system in the Italian city-states, the form of accounts underwent only minor changes for a long time.

Related information.

Luca Pacioli (lived 1445 – June 19, 1517)- a mathematician from Italy, whose name has become known since the discovery by mathematics professor Lucini in 1869 at the University of Milan on the forgotten shelves of a library known to every accountant today Treatise on Accounts and Records .

Fra Luca Bartolomeo de' Pacioli was born in 1445 in the Apennines, in the small town of Borgo San Sepolcro at the intersection of Umbria and Tuscany. This small town abutted the right bank of the Tiber, the waters of which led to Rome, and on the other side was Mount Casale. The city was famous for its artisans, and on the mountain there was a monastery built in the thirteenth century by the Franciscans, or as they called themselves Minorites. His father Bartolomeo Pacioli was from a highly respected family. Luke was one of three sons. The boy's upbringing was greatly influenced by his maternal uncle, captain of the army of Alfonso V - Benedetto.

It is not known exactly how old the future mathematician was when he began to study and work with the artist and scientist Piero della Francesca (1416 - 1492), famous throughout Italy, in the workshop. Characteristically for the Renaissance, Piero della Francesca was not only an artist, his workshop was more reminiscent of a kind of “cultural corner” than a school of painting familiar to us. Luca Pacioli, according to many sources, was a favorite. The sense of beauty was inherent in him, but he did not become a man of art, and the second aspect of the teacher found an echo in his heart. Even at a young age, Luca Pacioli was a born mathematician, his love for numbers allowed him to see in them the key to beauty and truth.

In addition to his studies, Luca Pacioli and his teacher attended various celebrations and trips to other cities; she was a frequent guest at the house of Duke Federico de Montefeltro in Urbino. Federico de Montefeltro was a man devoted to art and science, he had a luxurious house where he loved to gather architects, poets, scientists, and artists. One of the respected guests in this house was a writer, musician, scientist, but most of all, a famous architect - Leon Battista Alberti (1404-1472).

Leon Battista Alberti was the “new Italian” of that time, he was one of those people for whom it was not heroes who were valuable, but people who wanted to develop, who knew how to make money and get treasures. The main slogan of that time was the desire of people not to be poor. One of the greatest men of that era, Leonardo da Vinci, spoke frankly:

“I serve the one who pays the most” ... “I almost don’t care what I do and what I get paid for.”

At the age of nineteen, Luca Pacioli, on the recommendation of Alberti, becomes a teacher for the sons of the merchant Antonio de Rompizani in Venice, and this is where his path in the workshop of Piero della Francesca ends.

The move to Venice took place in 1464; Luca Pacioli's new home and place of work was on the island of Gvideka. This island was one of the 70 islands that collectively represented Europe at that time.

Raising his three sons in Rompizani's house, Luca diligently studies himself. Together with his students, he attends public lectures by the famous mathematician Domenico Bragadino at the Rialto School. It was at these lectures that he met the future prominent mathematician and his friend, Antonio Cornaro. In addition to teaching Rompisani’s sons, Pacioli is engaged in keeping office books, and also, as he himself later says, “travels on merchant ships.” In 1470, he finished work on his first book, “A Textbook of Commercial Arithmetic” (there is no reliable information about whether it was printed) and left Venice for Rome.

The map of Italy at that time looked like a mosaic of small states fighting with each other. Rome represented the center of the Catholic world and was the capital of the Papal States. The ancient imperial capital appeared before Pacioli, medieval buildings were combined with new buildings. He stayed with his friend Alberti. Their communication and studies in science influenced the now matured mathematician and accountant.

Pacioli, like Pythagoras, was of the opinion that number underlies the universe. Having made many new friends during this time, Pacioli realizes that success depends on the friends we choose or are chosen. One of these acquaintances was a meeting with the respected della Rovere family. The head of this family was the general of the Franciscan Order, Francesca della Rovere, who became pope in 1471 under the name Sixtus IV. Luca communicated well with his two nephews; in the future, communication with one of them, Giuliano della Rovere (1441 - 1513), who would also later become pope under the name Julius II, would play a great role in his life. Pacioli will live in Rome for about two years and try to leave “the most untidy city of Europe at that time.” As stated in the texts of the historian and philosopher A.F. Losev:

“In the Renaissance, they told fortunes on corpses, conjured public women, made love potions, summoned demons, performed magical operations when laying the foundations of buildings, practiced physiognomy and palmistry, threw crucifixes into the sea with the most terrible blasphemies, and buried donkeys in the ground to make rain during droughts. En masse they believed in ghosts, the evil eye and in general all kinds of corruption, they believed in black horsemen who supposedly intended to destroy Florence for its sins, but were removed by the spells of the righteous; they bewitched children, animals and field fruits. They believed that women copulated with demons and were witches, although sometimes they were kind. Public women used various drugs to attract men, which included hair, skulls, ribs, teeth and eyes of the dead, human skin, a child's navel, shoe soles and pieces of clothing obtained from graves, and even corpse meat from a cemetery, which they unnoticed They gave it to their lovers to eat. They pierced figures made of wax and ash with well-known refrains to influence those whom these figures depicted, and took revenge on the prophets for their predictions.”

During the Renaissance, the Catholic Church recognized the existence of witches. The Inquisition developed rapidly over the period from 1450 to 1598. In Italy, Spain, and Germany, about 30,000 witches were burned.

In these turbulent times, Luca Pacioli was far from demonology, one of the most progressive sciences of that time, he devoted himself entirely to mathematics. Striving for knowledge, he left Rome.

It is not known for certain where exactly Luca Pacioli moved, but there is an assumption that he moved to Naples to engage in trade. At the age of 27, realizing that he would not achieve success in trade, he put sandals on his feet, the cassock became his everyday clothes, and after taking three vows: chastity, poverty and obedience, he left worldly life. Having taken monastic vows, he settled in his homeland in San Sepolcro.

L. Pacioli found in monasticism everything he needed: a good library, a comfortable place and communication with colleagues, as well as free time. The Franciscan Order consisted of a large number of wonderful people, scientists, and musicians. The brothers Luca Pacioli were also Franciscans.

Scientist Sokolov Ya. V. Speaking about the choice of the “father of accounting” of the religious order of the Franciscans, he notes:

“Officially, the Franciscan order was a mendicant order, and Luca Pacioli, becoming Fra Luca di Borgo San Sepolcro, took a vow of poverty. 450 years will pass, and the French accountant Albert Dupont will see this as a deeply symbolic act: the father of accounting takes a vow of selflessness and poverty for himself and for his future colleagues. And it is indeed significant: at the dawn of modern times, poverty is already proclaimed as a principle for accountants, and at sunset it will be noted that the promise has come true.”

A distinctive feature of the order was that the Franciscans wanted to bring life into the world, to bring the words of the Lord to people, since other monks sought to enter the monastery in order to die. Pacioli also shared this opinion; he wanted to become a professor at a university and bring knowledge to people.

The beginning of the teaching work of L. Pacioli

His dream comes true on October 14, 1477, Pacioli becomes a professor at the University of Perugia, and in November of this year he already gives his first lectures on algebra and geometry. To this day, his manuscripts with lectures are kept in the Vatican Library, under the titles “Plato’s Five Rules” and “Algebra”. These books covered such topics as a review of monetary units - coins, rules for determining interest, bill law, etc.

The initial salary that he was offered was 30 guilders, but already on January 11, 1478, he received an increase for his excellent knowledge and his salary was 50 guilders. Time was not long in coming, and already in the summer of 1478, the corporation of professors offered Pacioli to remain in his chair for another two years with a salary of 60 guilders.

Whether this is sufficient payment or not is difficult to assess. The professors of that time led a nomadic life, like comedians. They moved from one university to another, with some they signed a contract for a month, with others for a year, and with some for life.

Having received his professorial salary in Perugia for the last time, L. Pacioli left for Zara. There is a break in the teaching career. Luke devotes himself entirely to science, begins to study theology, philosophy, and improves his knowledge in mathematics. It is in this city that Pacioli will begin his work “Summa”. In addition to pursuing science, he performed order duties, making trips to various cities in Italy.

In 1486 L. Pacioli received the title of Master of Theology. On December 14, 1487, at the invitation, thanks to General Francesca della Rovere, he came to Pergia. Here he returns to teaching. Later, looking at a portrait of that time, Albert Dupont would describe Luca Pacioli:

“A handsome, energetic young man; raised and rather broad shoulders reveal innate physical strength, a powerful neck and developed jaw, an expressive face and eyes that radiate nobility and intelligence emphasize strength of character. Such a professor could make people listen to themselves and respect their subject.”

Pacioli approached learning with special feelings; he believed that teaching something is much more difficult than learning it yourself. In practice, he adhered to the “deductive” method of teaching, explaining difficult points first, then moving on to easier ones, if necessary. He said:

“He who has not tasted the bitter first does not deserve the sweet.”

While working as a teacher, he does not give up his scientific activities, continuing to work on the encyclopedic work “Summa”. This time he had to stay in Perugia for a long time. In 1487, at the age of 42, he addressed his students with a request to be lenient with him, since he was tired of daily studies. And already in April 1488, having received a position on the staff of Bishop Pietro Valletari, he moved to Rome.

Having moved to Rome, Pacioli continues to write the work begun in Perugia, work on models of geometric bodies, and give lectures.

In the period from 1490 to 1493. Luca lives and works in Naples and Padua. At this time, Europe was shocked by two events: one of them was joyful - Christopher Columbus found the “way to India”; and the second was sad - Piero della Francesca dies. In the last years of his life, he was deprived of sight; a man who previously could depict sunlight like no one else was led along the street by the hand. One of his paintings, “Madonna and Saints,” which was painted in 1475 (by which time Pacioli had already taken monastic vows), allegedly depicted Luca Pacioli in the image of the monk Peter the Martyr.

“Summa de Arithmetica, Geometria, proportioni et Proportionalita” - “Summa de Arithmetic, geometry, doctrine of proportions and relations”

In 1493, Pacioli finished work on the book, which he wrote for thirty years. Having left the monastery with the manuscripts of his books, he leaves for Venice. On November 10, 1494, his long-term work “Summa de Arithmetica, Geometria, proportioni et Proportionalita” - “The Sum of Arithmetic, Geometry, the Teaching of Proportions and Relations” - was published. Problems arose when preparing the manuscript at the printing house, because... They haven't yet learned how to type geometric shapes. There are still different opinions about who came up with the idea of ​​depicting drawings in the margins of pages, Pacioli himself or Paganini, the publisher of the book. This outstanding incunabula has survived to this day in only seven copies. So one of the copies was kept in a religious school in Kyiv until the early 20s. XX century, it was later transferred to the library of the Academy of Sciences in the USSR in Leningrad.

This book was primarily for mathematicians; it was printed on 300 sheets in two columns and initially included 5 parts:

Later, Luca Pacioli revised this division, and the book was already divided into two parts: algebra and geometry. Each of these parts included departments, the departments in turn were divided into treatises, and those into chapters. So one of the treatises of this book was "Treatise on Accounts and Records".

Like other scientists of that time, Pacioli naively believed that all possible knowledge had already been obtained and in his work he only wanted to unite everything that had been accumulated by humanity before the fifteenth century.

This work contributed to the fame of Luca Pacioli and in 1496 he was invited to teach at the department of mathematics at the university in Milan. It was in Milan that he began working on his other book, “The Divine Proportion,” for which Leonardo da Vinci did the illustrations. Leonardo da Vinci was also involved in science and wanted to publish a textbook on elementary geometry, but during the period of writing he saw the work “Summa” by Pacioli and realized that his book was useless. Leonardo and Luca were friends, but their paths diverged in 1499 when they moved to Florence.

Science and religion in the life of L. Pacioli

Having moved to Bologna in 1501, Pacioli began working in the mathematics department at the oldest university in Europe until 1505. The library of this university still contains Pacioli’s work “On Forces and Numbers,” which was never published. Pacioli’s work dedicated to the Count and Countess of Mantua, “Treatise on the Game of Chess,” was completely lost.

In 1505, Luke moved to Florence to join the brethren of the Monastery of the Holy Cross. There he was patronized by his longtime friend Julius II and Luke asked him to release him from some of the vows that he made when taking monasticism; on April 28, 1508, he was given permission and the corresponding bull was published.

In 1508, Luca Pacioli received the position of rector in San Sepolcro, but this did not bring him peace. The monks were unhappy that the abbot devoted most of his time to science rather than religion, and they petitioned the general of the Franciscan Order, Rinaldo Graziani, asking to deprive Luca of the privileges he received from Pope Julius II.

Since our monastery is consecrated in the name of the glorious and holy. Francis and since our people are attached to our order beyond the usual measure, we cannot hear and see things that are a disgrace to our order without grief. Therefore, we ask the Holy Father to pay attention to the honor of your and our Order of St. Francis and especially to see that Fra Luca Pacioli is deprived of the privileges deriving from the papal bull and all administrative duties, at least those that he received from the pope, either through your mediation or anyone else, since we believe that such duties do not benefit the monastery, but rather, on the contrary, lead to misfortune and harm, especially if we take into account the fact that this Master Luca is not a fit person to govern others, and he does not have the skills to punish or correct others , since he himself, according to what we see every day, is a person who needs to be corrected, and for this reason the above-mentioned monastery suffers damage in collecting alms and other things that would be too long to list... Thus, we ask Your Holiness take care of the needs of the monastery, about which you will be more fully informed by the bearer of this letter, who will come to you not only by the common consent of the brothers, but also urged by all of us, who bear special responsibility for your Order.

We are confident that you, with your characteristic delicacy, will take part in this matter and everything will turn out as it should. This is all. From Burgo, December 12, 1509.

The general did not take any measures and on February 22, 1510, Luca Pacioli received a promotion and became prior of the monastery in San Sepolcro. However, Pacioli's case was not closed and a new hearing took place in October 1512. It is not known for certain how it ended, but Pacioli did not hold the post of prior in 1514.

In addition to his work as abbot, Luca Pacioli did not stop giving lectures, and also did not forget about working on two manuscripts. In 1508, a translation of Euclid was published.

This work was not very successful; it had many errors and dark places. The second manuscript turned out to be more successful.

The book “Divine Proportion” was less popular than “Summa”; it summarized Pacioli’s conversations with L. B. Alberti, P. della Francesca, Leonardo da Vinci.

With the accession of Leo X to the papal throne, Luca Pacioli was recalled to Rome either for work or for admonition. He most likely could not become a favorite, since in 1514 his name was no longer on the list of lecturers. Most likely, the almost 70-year-old man received an invitation to Rome simply out of a desire to help him and change the humiliating conditions in which he had recently found himself.

The last years of the life of the great mathematician and accountant

After some time he returned to San Sepolcro. There is no exact information about how Luca Pacioli died, but there is relatively recent information obtained by Japanese researchers that he died on June 19, 1517. These records were made in the church books of the Monastery of the Holy Cross in Florence. He was buried in San Sepolcro at the age of 72 in the church. This place was not preserved as a church, but the building remained, and a warehouse was made in its place. Before this, it was believed that L. Pacioli died in 1508 in San Sepolcro.

Pacioli will be remembered as an accountant rather than a mathematician, but this will not happen immediately. Known to everyone in accounting circles today, the Treatise on Accounts and Records will be lost in history and will only be discovered in 1869 by mathematics professor Lucini. This would be an incredible event and in 1878 in San Sepolcro a memorial plaque would be installed on the wall of the municipality with the inscription:

“Luca Pacioli, who was the friend and adviser of Leonardo da Vinci and Leon Battista Alberti, who first gave algebra the language and structure of science, who applied his great discovery to geometry, invented double-entry bookkeeping and gave in mathematical works the foundations and invariable norms for subsequent research. The population of San Sepolcro, at the initiative of the executive committee of the community, to correct 370 years of oblivion, erected to their great fellow citizen, 1878.”

What great did Luca Pacioli do?

From the point of view of the development of practical accounting, his book was outdated and elementary. It contained no valuable practical achievements. It was written in Italian and Latin, which made it difficult to understand. In addition, it contained many contradictions, for example, in the third chapter, when describing the system for filling out inventory data, the author ignores the price point, but when describing the procedure for opening accounts in the general ledger in the twelfth chapter, he talks about the need to indicate prices. There were other disagreements, but Pacioli's contribution to the development of accounting cannot be overestimated.

What outstanding thing did the world-famous accountant Luca Pacioli do? The most significant points are:

1. He was the first to set out in theory the principle of double entry and tried to reveal the essence of such concepts as debit and credit, although he did not use the terms themselves. He personified accounting and created the basis for its legal justification.
2. Personification made it possible to create conditions for the further separation of accounting into an independent science.
3. In Pacioli's work, accounting was considered as a method that allows one to reflect economic processes both at an individual enterprise and beyond.
4. The emergence of double entry determined the accounting system, which is formed by the goals pursued.
5. Presentation of accounting as a general system. Modeling based on combinatorics made it possible to consider each individual problem as a special case of the general system.

These and other rules set out in the book are called “Pacioli’s rules”.

To evaluate the significance of Luca Pacioli’s treatise “On Accounts and Records,” you need, first of all, to look at the place of the principles proposed by Pacioli in the accounting system, as well as evaluate them from the standpoint of the novelty of the author’s contribution to accounting. Almost all authors admit that double entry of accounts, which is considered the main merit of Luca Pacioli, existed before him. Then what is his merit? This is what I will try to analyze in this chapter.

Luca Pacioli (unlike his great contemporaries and compatriots Leonardo Da Vinci and Michelangelo) held the view that everything most important has already been invented, and that the main task of a scientist is the most effective construction of a course of study. Pacioli did not think of scientific creativity outside the pedagogical process, and he himself devoted a significant part of his life to teaching at the universities of Padua, Milan, Florence, Venice, Bologna and Perugia. Such ideas about science and the work of a scientist completely determined Luca Pacioli’s scientific approach, both in mathematics and related disciplines, which he considered an application to mathematics, or rather one of its practical manifestations. If Leonardo Da Vinci considered mathematics important insofar as it is useful in practical matters, primarily in artistic and engineering creativity, then Pacioli took a different position. This position was subsequently most accurately formulated by Galileo, who said that the world was written by God in the language of mathematics. Thus, for Pacioli, knowledge of mathematics was closely connected with knowledge of the harmony of the world. And the correctness of geometric figures, as well as the convergence of balance, were for him manifestations of this harmony. It turns out that the main novelty of Pacioli’s book, in comparison with all the books on accounting that existed before him, lies, first of all, in the fact that he did not simply record existing practices, but described them in scientific language. What is the advantage of this approach?

Although an accurate reflection of existing facts is more accurate, however, it does not contribute to the further development of these same practices, because the method of cognition is aimed at the past, at the most accurate recording of what has already happened and exists. The scientific approach that Pacioli applied allows us to assess the situation not only in terms of development, but also in terms of prospects, as well as from the standpoint of integrity and consistency. Of course, Pacioli missed many important points in his treatise, it contains errors (which will be discussed below), it describes not the Florentine (more progressive), but the outdated Venetian system. However, it was Pacioli who showed that a scientific approach is also possible in accounting. He turned accounting from a semi-magical practice into one of the branches of the exact sciences. This led to many modern greats such as Cardano and Leibniz taking a significant interest in accounting theory.

In addition, this approach made it possible to use modern mathematical apparatus for the development and improvement of accounting. Pacioli himself brought to accounting a more advanced understanding of fractions, which were used in accounting at that time due to the use of several currencies at the same time (thalers, guilders, sequins, ducats, rials and non-cash lira), but during accounting operations they were simply rounded. Pacioli also supplemented accounting methods with ideas about combinatorics. But, perhaps, Luca Pacioli’s most important contribution to accounting methodology was the idea of ​​the integrity of the system, as well as the fact that the convergence of the balance sheet is a sign of the harmony of the system. Harmony at that time was understood not only as an aesthetic, but also as an engineering category. Luca Pacioli most likely took this approach from Leonardo Da Vinci, who was his friend. Leonardo's idea of ​​harmony was associated both with ideal proportions (the "golden ratio") and with those ideas that were subsequently reflected in the law of conservation of energy. Consideration of the trade balance from these positions made it possible to consider the entire enterprise as an integral system.

But at the same time, the approach itself proposed by Pacioli provided for the use of the method of double entry of accounts not only for an individual trading enterprise, but for any enterprise, and in general for the entire economy. It turns out that the very approach described by Pacioli predetermined the development of not only accounting, but also economic thought. And not only economic. For the idea that nothing comes from nothing, alien to the mystical ideas of the Middle Ages, became widespread in science and art during the Renaissance. And in the double entry of accounts and the balancing of balances, the same principles were embodied that later formed the basis of all economic teachings. It is more than remarkable that this approach in accounting and economics was accepted much more easily than conservation laws in physics, the acceptance of which was no less difficult than Arabic numbers in European finance.

But still, Luca Pacioli’s work was, first of all, a theoretical book. Therefore, many elements of accounting that were encountered at that time were not reflected in it. I will list them.

1. Cost accounting in industry

2. Maintaining parallel and additional books

3. Maintaining loro and nostro accounts

4. Maintaining a balance sheet for analytical purposes, since even then the balance sheet was compiled not only to close the reconciliation book, but also served as a tool for control and management

5. Verification rules and basics of balance sheet audit

6. The procedure for reserving economic assets and distributing results over adjacent periods

7. Calculation methods related to profit distribution

8. Confirmation of reporting data using inventory methods.

The absence of these elements indicates, first of all, Pacioli’s own lack of experience in commerce. And also, perhaps, that he simply discarded some details that did not quite fit into his holistic system.

In conclusion of this chapter, I would like to lightly touch upon the issue of the authorship of the “Treatise on Accounts and Records,” which is quite widely discussed in modern literature on the history of accounting. The main arguments of opponents of the authorship of Luca Pacioli are his insufficient experience in the commercial field, the presence of other books that supposedly existed at that time, from which Pacioli simply copied everything into his book, as well as some linguistic features of Pacioli’s work. It is quite difficult for me to evaluate the argumentation of both supporters and opponents of Pacioli’s authorship based on the last argument. Let me just say that the treatise was written in a mixture of the Venetian dialect and Latin. Pacioli's work is one of the first books in which Italian is used as the language of science. It turns out that Pacioli also contributed to the development and formation of the modern Italian language. As for the first argument, Pacioli still had some experience in commerce, which could have been quite sufficient for writing a treatise. In addition, the “Treatise on Accounts and Records” itself is only one of the chapters of his mathematical work, so when writing it, he proceeded not so much from specific experience in trading, but from general principles. In addition, the use of combinatorics also indicates the mathematical education of the author of the treatise.

Now a little about the second argument of Pacioli’s opponents. Possible authors of the treatise include Traino de Cancellarius (teacher of double-entry bookkeeping at one of the commercial schools in Venice), Piero della Francesca (artist, mathematician and teacher of Pacioli), as well as Benedeto Cotrugli (real name Benko Kotruljevic, a merchant from Dubrovnik (Croatia), formerly a Venetian colony). It seems to me that at the heart of these accusations of plagiarism against Pacioli lies a misunderstanding of Pacioli's methodology. First of all, he never pretended to be the author of double-entry bookkeeping, but wrote that he was only describing the method of recording accounts accepted in Venice. Which was in complete harmony with Pacioli’s approach to science, because he was a systematizer and methodologist, and not an inventor. If Pacioli even inserted pieces from other people’s texts into his treatise, then at that time such a technique was considered completely acceptable and was very widespread. It seems to me that an indirect argument in the authorship of Pacioli is that in Venice the “Treatise on Accounts and Records” was repeatedly republished during Pacioli’s lifetime, which indicates interest in this particular chapter of his mathematical work. And therefore it is very strange that no one from the Venetian public noticed the obvious plagiarism. And Pacioli’s opponents within the Franciscan Order, who poisoned the last decades of his life, would also not miss the opportunity to find dirt on him. Based on all of the above, hypotheses about the presence of other authors in the “Treatise on Accounts and Records” seem to me not entirely justified.

3. Basic principles laid down in the “Treatise on Accounts and Records”

Now let’s look at the basic principles laid down in the “Treatise on Accounts and Records” and which essentially became the basic principles of all accounting. Let's take a closer look at them.

First of all, Pacioli’s accounting is presented as a strictly ordered sequence of procedures. Procedurality is most fully reflected in the principles of maintaining the three main accounting books. Memorial - a book in which all cases are reflected in chronological order. The sixth chapter of the treatise is devoted to the management of this book. However, later, when primary documents began to be used instead of the Memorial, a discrepancy arose between three dates - the date of issue of the document, the date of the fact of economic life and the date of its registration. Pacioli's other accounting book was the Journal. This was a book for internal use only. All business transactions described in the Memorial were entered into it, but taking into account their economic meaning (profits, losses, etc.). The journal was intended for recording entries and was compiled, like the Memorial, in chronological order. The third book, the Main Book, to which the fourteenth chapter of the treatise is devoted, was intended to be written not in chronological, but in systematic order. Thus, accounting is a procedure for systematization in a chronological and systematic manner.

The next accounting principle is clarity. That is, providing users with clear, complete and understandable information about business activities. All entries in the books must be made in such a way as to allow for what in modern accounting theory is called conceptual reconstruction. The meaning of this is so that from the entries in the accounting books it is possible to reconstruct Who was a participant in an act of economic life, What was its object, When And Where it happened. To achieve complete clarity, knowledge of accounting language is necessary. Pacioli, who used the Venetian dialect of Italian to write his book on the Venetian method of accounting, as well as the ubiquitous mathematical language, took the first step towards creating an accounting language that was most understandable for the broad masses of Italian financiers.

Another accounting principle of Pacioli was the inseparability of the property of the owner and the property of the enterprise. For his time, this was quite natural, because then the merchant was most often the sole owner, manager and recipient of profits and losses from a trading enterprise. It turns out that accounting is carried out in the interests of the owner of the company. However, in 1840, Hippolyte Vanier formulated a different approach to accounting, saying that it is conducted in the interests of the company, not the owner. This approach reflected the widespread distribution of share capital in all sectors of the economy.

The next, perhaps the most important principle of Pacioli, was the dual recording of accounts. Every fact of economic life must be reflected in both debit and credit. The purpose of using double entry is:

1. Monitoring the correctness of registration of facts of economic life

2. Determination of the owner’s capital without inventory

3. Calculation of the financial results of the enterprise

Pacioli pays attention to the first of these goals, and underestimates the second and third, which leads him to create a method that distorts the correctness of the turnover. Pacioli, being a scientist first and a financier second, views double entry transactions within the framework of a cause-and-effect paradigm. Apparently, he was inclined to consider debit as the cause, and credit as the effect. This understanding has found its application, primarily in economics, where it was most succinctly formulated by F.V. Yezersky - “No income, no expenses.” The main principles of double entry, which have become widespread in all accounting systems, are two postulates of Pacioli:

1. The amount of debit turnover is always identical to the amount of credit turnover

2. The sum of debit balances is always identical to the sum of credit balances

Luca Pacioli considered the execution of a purchase and sale agreement as an accounting subject. Reducing all types of contracts to a sales contract was quite a typical approach for that time. Of course, the diversity of today’s forms of economic life will no longer interfere with the narrow framework of ideas about buying and selling (for example, barter, mutual offsets, debt restructuring and much more), but in Pacioli’s time this was a very progressive idea. In addition, this led to the creation of ideas about value that were quite adequate for that time, not only as a fair price (these views were held by Aristotle and St. Thomas Aquinas), but also as a consequence of cost and the market situation.

The next important principle, which is called adequacy, is provided for by Pacioli rather than introduced explicitly. The essence of this principle is that the expenses incurred by the enterprise are correlated in time with the income it receives. In this case, only money received was considered as income. The concept of depreciation and profitability was just beginning to emerge. All this led to the creation of ideas not only about monetary, but also about other forms of profit. New ideas about profit allow us to say that it is formed not only by economic processes, but also as a result of the use of accounting methodology.

Pacioli viewed accounting as something valuable in itself, and therefore the value of accounting results is relative. The results recorded in a particular book largely depend on the method of accounting (if you think about it, this provision does not contradict the idea of ​​​​the most accurate reflection of acts of economic activity in accounting, because in all methods these acts are recorded quite accurately, only conclusions can often be directly opposite). Pacioli was aware of all this, and therefore, as the main result of accounting activities, he saw its influence on management decision-making.

And the last principle of accounting from Luca Pacioli is the requirement of absolute honesty from the accountant. And not so much before the employer, but before God. Therefore, the hope in God in almost every chapter of the treatise is for Pacioli not a tribute to tradition, and not the fulfillment of monastic duties, but the basic principle of life. After all, the deliberate distortion of accounting information was for Pacioli not so much a financial violation as a violation of divine harmony, which had to be comprehended through calculations.

Conclusion

Summarizing all of the above, we can formulate the main conclusions. The Renaissance shaped many of the principles and categories that we still use to think today. These principles influence the development of the science of art and our entire thinking. Luca Pacioli, being one of the outstanding figures of that era, managed to reflect the most important of its principles (harmony, mathematics, causality) in his approach to accounting. This was reflected in his Treatise on Accounts and Records.

The famous philosopher Oscar Spengler (1880-1936) believed that modern civilization arose thanks to the efforts of three great men - Christopher Columbus (1451-1506), Nicolaus Copernicus (1473-1543) and Luca Pacioli (1445-1517). Ironically, everyone knows Columbus and Copernicus, but quite a few have heard of Pacioli, the great mathematician and father of modern accounting, which originated in the 13th-15th centuries. in the cities of northern Italy, where a market economy was emerging. It is now obvious that without accounting, the economy of many countries could not develop, because, as has now become generally accepted: accounting is the language of economic activity, the language of business.

Although it has been five hundred years since this language has been developing, becoming more complex and improving, the name of the person who first described it and made a huge contribution to the formation of modern society still remains in the shadows.

Luca Pacioli was born in the small town of Borgo San Sepolcro. One of the great artists, Piero della Francesca (1416-1492), lived and worked in this city, whose student Luca became. The artist’s workshop was not only a school of painting skills, but also a kind of “university of culture”, where they studied not only how to grind and dilute paints, but also the rules of sculpture. architecture, fundamentals of exact sciences. It was there that Pacioli became acquainted with the mathematics of that time. And, obviously, he realized that he would not make an artist, because he was in love not with shades of color, but with the world of numbers. His love for numbers and his inability to paint forced him to leave his hometown and move to Venice. There he becomes the tutor of the three sons of the wealthy merchant Antonio de Romniasi. He teaches them and learns himself. It is not entirely clear what the students learned, but the teacher learned a lot: from mathematics to accounting.

In 1470, Pacioli moved to Rome and in 1472 became a Franciscan monk. Monasticism opened access to the right people, introduced them into a certain cultural environment, and provided the necessary leisure for scientific work. And in 1477 Pacioli became a professor at the University of Perugia. The era of purely pedagogical and scientific activity begins, moving from university to university. Judging by some comments about his approach to education, he was a good teacher.

It must be said that in those distant times, people who received an education did not earn much, and therefore young people left schools and universities en masse and rushed to practical activity, which from Pacioli’s point of view was a false step. He sincerely believed that teaching is more difficult than learning, because the teacher must always make a choice from many teaching techniques, and the student receives one technique already chosen for him. As for science, the difficulty here was that “Everything. what can be achieved has been achieved. All. whatever is conceivable to invent has been invented. “And, working tirelessly, Pacioli in 1493 completed his main work “Summa of Arithmetic, Geometry. teachings about proportions and relationships." In 1494, this book, on which Pacioli worked for thirty years, was published in Venice. For us, treatise XI “On Accounts and Records” in “Summa” is especially important, because it was the first description of double-entry bookkeeping - the basis of the economic activity of a modern enterprise.

The publication of the book increased Pacioli's fame as the first mathematician of the era.

Luca Pacioli lived in an era that, according to F. Engels, needed titans and gave birth to titans. This era was called the Renaissance or, in Russian, revival. It was assumed. that people shook off the dust of the Middle Ages and resurrected the good, bright times of the ancient world. A great science was born, the world and the ocean expanded. Connecting all parts of the known Light, it became the internal sea of ​​the Earth, and fearless sailors paved roads between the continents. Science was born, heralding a new life.

If we talk about the science of that era. Overall, it presented a very gloomy picture. Theology and philosophy flourished. In contrast to the great and undeniable authority of the Middle Ages, Aristotle, the people of the Renaissance strongly emphasized the importance of Plato.

Almost everyone studied astrology - from military leaders to the greatest scientists. Kepler himself (1571-1630) dealt with it. Fortune telling on corpses was a common activity of the intelligentsia. True, its elite, to which Pacioli belonged, preferred mathematics to all these horrors. Plato was often quoted as writing that “man is the wisest animal because he knows how to count.” And counting, the solution of any and all problems requiring calculation, is the meaning of Pacioli’s life. He is well-read in literature, knows his predecessors, thinks symbolically, and sees something extraordinary behind the numbers. For example, the number is three. This is not an accident, according to Pacioli, because in nature everything consists of three elements: three manifestations of the spirit - intellect, memory, will; three continents - Europe, Africa, Asia; three main metals - gold, silver, copper; three mental manifestations of the soul - awakening, sensuality, intelligence; three sins - greed, extravagance and pride; three types of atonement - sacrifice, almsgiving, prayer; three degrees of repentance - repentance, confession, atonement; three enemies of the human soul - the devil, the world, the flesh; three elements of arithmetic - number, weight, measure; three main registers (books) in accounting - memorial (memorial), journal and main.

Usually the significance of Pacioli's works was associated with the description of double-entry bookkeeping. This is true, but not the whole truth. We will try to list his main achievements, to conduct a kind of historical inventory of his accounting heritage.

First of all, Pacioli should be noted as the person who formulated two goals of accounting:

1) obtaining information about the state of affairs, because accounting should be kept in such a way “that it is possible to receive without delay any information regarding both debts and claims (L. Pacioli. Treatise on accounts and records. M. “Finance and Statistics”, 1983 , p. 18);

2) calculation of the financial result, for “the goal of every merchant is to acquire the permissible appropriate benefit for his maintenance” (p. 20)

The first goal led to the interpretation of everything that Pacioli wrote about accounting as recording the actions and events occurring in the enterprise in order to manage it. In the “Summa” itself you can find an analysis of many purely commercial problems, the solution of which requires accounting knowledge from the administrator or owner.

The second goal does not lead to the formation of what will be called financial accounting, but emphasizes the role of profit not so much as an indicator assessing the success of economic activity, but as a means of limiting price increases and curbing unproductive and wasteful consumption of merchants, on the one hand, and suppressing exploitation of customers, on the other. Here Pacioli is not original and, in essence, repeats the ideas of St. Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274), who believed that the price should be fair, meaning by it the cost and profit, which ensures the living wage of the merchant (the minimum corresponds to the social position of a particular merchant ). ^

Both goals of accounting are achieved through the use of accounts and double entry. “Accounts,” wrote Pacioli, “are nothing more than the proper order established by the merchant himself, with the successful application of which he receives information about all his affairs and whether these affairs are going well or not” (p. 79), i.e. That is, the chart of accounts, in our language, should be drawn up by the administration and it should also adapt it to the goals of analyzing and managing economic activities. But accounts are only elements of the system, and the connections between these elements, i.e. accounts, are revealed through double entry.

And here we come to the main thing in Pacioli’s creative heritage - the description of double entry. It contains two main provisions, called Pacioli’s postulates:

The sum of debit turnovers is always identical to the sum of credit turnovers of the same system of accounts

The sum of debit balances is always identical to the sum of credit balances of the same system of accounts

When discussing the role of accounting in Pacioli's system of thought, almost all commentators refer only to the "Sum", but also to the "Divine Proportion"

Volmer noticed a very important feature in terms of accounting: the nature of the proportions. In fact, for Pacioli, who refers to Plato, God’s entire world consists of certain relationships, each element of being is in some relationship given by nature, by God, to other elements. For accounting, these divine proportions are represented by a set of ratios: the ratio of taxes to profit, profit to capital, turnover to inventory, etc. These proportions give accounting not only a purely pragmatic character, but also beauty and completeness, and the aesthetic features of accounting are most fully manifested in our time, and the era of computer technology. Luca Pacioli, a student of Piero della Francesca and friend of Leonardo da Vinci, sincerely considered painting to be the highest manifestation of human genius, and accounting registers (books), according to Pacioli, are the same paintings, the same drawings, revealing more secrets than all the painting in all the museums of the world. According to Pacioli, accounting is related to painting by both the subjectivity of the artist and the accountant, and the objectivity of what one depicts and the other describes.

The most important “picture” that the accountant “paints” is called the balance sheet. And Pacioli pays quite a lot of attention to this category. Modern commentators find it difficult to answer the question of whether the balance sheet was drawn up before or after the profit and loss account was completed. It is believed that if Pacioli meant the first case, then he understood the balance only as a trial one, allowing him to verify the correct posting of data on the facts of economic life; if Pacioli had in mind the second case, then we can assume that he interpreted the balance sheet not only as a trial one, but also as an accounting document. However, the first version is more likely, and a significant number of historians believe that the balance sheet as a reporting document received recognition no earlier than the 19th century

Historical background for the emergence of balance.

The outstanding Russian scientist Professor A.P. Rudanovsky wrote in the mid-20s: “It’s time to understand that balance is the soul of the economy, the existence of which is no less real than the material inventory of the economy. Balance can only be comprehended by speculation, and cannot, like inventory, be touched in real life. Usually a business manager is aware of only what he touches and, at most, sees with his own eyes in the farm he manages.” The history of the emergence of the balance sheet is also the history of the emergence of double entry.

We have already talked about Luca Pacioli's treatise on abacus. Many provisions of the treatise “On Accounts and Records” were continued in the works of Cardano (1539), Manzoni (1549), Catrugli (1573), Flori (1633) and other Italian authors; Impen (1543) - in Holland: Gottlieb (1531) and Schweiner (1549) - in Germany; Oldcastle (1543) - in England.

The appearance of the balance sheet simultaneously with double entry in the initial period was dictated primarily by narrow practicality, the desire to reduce all accounting to form. The characteristic features of this period in the history of accounting were the absence of theoretical generalizations developed by practice; the inability of the authors to understand the essence of ongoing phenomena in relation to the economic life of a particular state.

All this reduced the entire accounting of business transactions, as the outstanding Russian scientist A. M. Galagan pointed out, to lifeless formalism, while life moved forward, the forms and sizes of business transactions gradually changed and increased, and, finally, farms as an economic phenomenon reached such dimensions that it seemed completely impossible to capture all these operations with the help of those primitive means that the science of accounting had at its disposal. The consequence of this was a reaction against established accounting traditions. This period covers the end of the 18th and the first half of the 19th century. This was greatly facilitated by the significant development of the productive forces of society and the expansion of international trade.

It was clear to the authors of accounting works during this period that it was not enough to limit oneself to the study and presentation of the form alone; theoretical justifications for certain practical techniques were needed; it was necessary to put at the forefront of the entire study of the economic life of a private enterprise the factor that is the most important in life enterprises, and from this position proceed in the study of the activities of an individual private enterprise. The first to come up with a scientifically constructed theory of accounting was E. Desgrange

(1795). His theory, which later developed into the legal theory of double-entry bookkeeping, is characterized by the fact that the main factor in the economic life of a private enterprise becomes the subject of this economy. Desgrange proposed to consider private farming from the position of the owner. This position was reflected in many subsequent accounting works of that period.

The next period of development of accounting - the second half of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th centuries, essentially became the stage of its formation as a science. This was largely facilitated by significant changes in the economic life of society. During this period, accounting legislation began to take shape in most European countries. This was largely facilitated by the emergence of large industry, the development of communications, an increase in world trade turnover and, very importantly, the emergence of the securities market, which sharply increased the number of participants in market relations - external users of accounting information.

For this period, the formation of accounting legislation, an integral part of which was the balance sheet and profit and loss account, became characteristic of most European countries. Legislation in many countries requires businesses to publish their financial statements to reduce the risk from shareholders, investors and other external users.

Accounting after Pacioli.

Double-entry bookkeeping, which originated in Italy and was described by Pacioli, began to spread to the north of Europe, first to France and Germany, then to England and Scandinavia, then west to Spain and finally across the Atlantic Ocean to America, and to the east it came through Poland to Russia, and then to China and Japan. In essence, the whole world, although with different accents, spoke a single language of debit and credit. This was the spread of double-entry bookkeeping in breadth, but spreading it in depth was more difficult. The fact is that ideas are like states and races. have their limits. The application of double-entry bookkeeping to budgetary non-profit enterprises has always caused complications. But its use in agriculture is doubtful. That is, double entry is only a stage on the path to the development of an accounting idea. And considering the path it has traversed over five centuries, it should be noted that double entry in every country it conquered, in every sector of the economy and in every enterprise was assimilated and adapted to local conditions. And although there is a single paradigm of double-entry bookkeeping, there is no identical double-entry bookkeeping anywhere. Each people in each country, borrowing an Italian invention, contributed something of their own, rebuilt and improved something in it, adapting it to the understanding and traditions of their society, their, as they say now, mentality. Thus, English accounting differs from American accounting, and both of them differ very significantly from continental accounting. But on the continent of Europe, French, Italian, and German traditions are also not the same.

Russia adopted double-entry bookkeeping in the 18th century.

Balance sheet today.

The balance sheet should be understood not simply as a table or other form of expressing the results of accounting registration, but as a set of properties of an individual economy that are actually inherent in it, regardless of how much they are comprehended by accounting as a science.

The balance sheet should be considered from an economic, legal and accounting point of view. The first approach represents the totality of everything that can be in the economy and is calculated in value (monetary) form. In this sense, the balance sheet of the economy exists regardless of accounting. Each farm, even if it did not keep any records, still has its own balance sheet, which determines its property status at a certain moment. At the same time, there are always two sides to the property status of an economy: one defines the totality of funds available in the economy, which are called assets, the other indicates the sources of obtaining these funds (own or borrowed). Both sides are naturally equal, since every value attracted to the economy has its own source of receipt. Hence, the characteristics of the property status of the enterprise - a legal entity.

The accounting concept of balance is the moment of accounting reflection of the property status of the economy. The balance sheet reflects not only the state of the economy at one time or another, but also all processes occurring in the economy and calculated in monetary form. Hence, the balance sheet, on the one hand, reflects the statistics of the economy, i.e., its property status, on the other hand, it shows the dynamics of the economy, i.e., it depicts the movement of property, capital and all the changes that occur in the composition of the economy.

German philosopher and cultural scientist Oswald Spengler (1880–1936) believed that three great men - Columbus, Copernicus and Pacioli - changed the world. In 1494, in Venice, the Franciscan friar Luca Pacioli (1445–1517) published a monumental book, one part of which was called “Treatise on Accounts and Records.” It provides the first description of double entry accounting. This edition is supplemented with notes and materials by Y. Sokolov and L. Kosareva, which provide a modern understanding of the role of Pacioli's discovery (notes are indented).

Luca Pacioli. Treatise on accounts and records. – M.: Finance and Statistics, 2001. – 368 p.

Download the abstract (summary) in the format or

At the time of writing, the book was not available in Ozon (I found the book in a second-hand bookstore)

Chapter 1. About the conditions that are necessary for a real merchant, and about the order in which the General Ledger with its Journal is kept both in Venice and in all other places

Three conditions are necessary for anyone who wants to conduct trade in good order - cash and various other valuables, to be able to keep books correctly and count quickly, to conduct one’s affairs in due order, so that one can receive without delay all kinds of information regarding both debts and claims .

We will study the Venetian method, which without a doubt can be preferred to all others. The description is presented in two parts: the first we will call inventory, and the second disposition.

In the Venetian form, each account occupied a spread in the General Ledger: the left page was occupied by a debit, and the right page by a credit.

Disposition is literally an arrangement, meaning the accounting procedure for recording business transactions in accounting. It is characteristic that the author contrasts inventory with disposition. This later gave many authors a reason not to include the first in accounting methods.

Chapter 2. About the first main part of the Treatise, called the Inventory. What is Inventory and how should it be compiled by merchants

First, the merchant must compile his Inventory in detail, i.e. write down on separate sheets or in a separate book everything that, in her opinion, belongs to him in this world. He always starts with things that are more valuable and that are easily lost, such as cash, jewelry, silverware, etc.

In the future, an economic approach will appear in the science of accounting: property will be arranged according to the degree of decreasing liquidity.

Chapter 3. Example of Inventory with all its explanations

First of all, I consider cash money to be my property, namely in gold and other coins, so many ducats, etc.

L. Pacioli does not know off-balance sheet accounts and suggests that all goods accepted for commission be taken into account on the principal’s balance sheet, while fixed assets (real estate) are accounted for by the tenant.

The following lists various coins, clothing of various kinds, silver items, bed and table linen, shirts, scarves, etc., goods both at home and in warehouses, real estate, fields suitable for cultivation, as well as parks and plantations.

Here accountants faced the most difficult problem: accounting for exchange rate differences. However, in the inventory, each type of coin was shown separately, without being converted into a single monetary meter.

L. Pacioli does not distinguish the property of the owner as an individual from the property of an enterprise as a legal entity. I. Gottlieb (1531) will make a strict distinction in accounting between them. The principle of property separation does not exist for L. Pacioli.

You have various demands of so many from debtors, if they are wealthy, but if not, then you will say how much from unreliable debtors. You must name all your trustees (creditors) one by one, as well as the receipts (given by you).

The clause regarding the unsoundness of debts is of great importance. Subsequently, a debt reservation system was introduced into accounting practice.

Chapter 4 Very useful reminders and instructions for a good merchant

The description of the item should be as detailed as possible. Given the merchant, nothing can be too clear in view of the countless cases that occur in commercial affairs.

Chapter 5. About the second main part of the Treatise, called disposition, what is meant by it, what is its significance in trade, and about the three most important books of merchants

I will divide the disposition into two parts: the first has as its object the whole trade, the second - the store. For ease and convenience, three books are required: one is called the Memorial, the other is the Journal, and the third is the Main.

Chapter 6. About the first book called the Memorial, what is meant by this, how and who should make entries in it

The memorial is a book in which the merchant records all matters, large and small, in the order in which they arose, day after day, hour after hour. This book is kept under the pressure of business, and not only the owner writes in it, but also, if they can, his assistants, students and saleswomen. It is very useful that all trade books, as well as sheets of household and store books, should always be marked and numbered.

Chapter 7. About how, why and by whom merchant books are certified in many areas

According to the good custom of the various localities I have visited, books should be presented to a well-known merchants' bureau. You should also state in what coin you want to keep your books, i.e. for small or large lire, or for ducats and liras, or florins and dinars, etc., which a real merchant always writes about on the first page of his books. When the handwriting with which books were kept at the beginning is subsequently replaced by another, then this should also be reported to the above-mentioned bureau. Now, if there were a need to present books to the court, they are considered officially registered, for there are many who keep double books, showing one to the buyer and the other to the seller, or, even worse, based on these books, they swear and take an oath that in extremely bad.

Chapter 8. How to compose articles in the Memorial. Explained with proper examples

When making a record of a purchase, you need to add whether there was an intermediary, whether the purchase took place in cash or partly on credit; in the latter case - for how long.

Chapter 9. About the nine ways in which purchases are usually made, and about goods that can be purchased on credit

The purchase can usually be made in nine different ways, namely: either with cash; or on credit; or for goods, the latter is usually called barter; or partly for money and partly for goods; or partly with money and partly on credit; or partly for goods and partly on credit; or with transfer to any company; or partly with a transfer to the company and partly on credit; or, finally, partly through a company and partly through goods.

This is the first attempt to classify calculations. It is valuable because the author considers the problem from the point of view of sources of covering debt for purchased goods. The following are distinguished: a) money: b) credit; c) goods; d) assignment.

Then, after four or five or eight days, a skilled accountant will transfer into the Journal what is recorded in the Memorial day by day as it happened, with the difference, however, that the Journal does not need to be as detailed as this is a must at the Memorial.

An example of the emergence of the principle of data accumulation. In this case, the posting is made not for each fact of economic life, but as a result of their totality.

Chapter 10. About the second main book, called the Journal, what it is and how it should be kept correctly

The journal is your secret book. The magazine should be kept in a drawer or box, or in a bag tied with a cord.

Chapter 11. About two expressions that are used in the Journal, especially in Venice: one “on” the other “from”, and what they mean

There are two expressions in the Journal: “on” always means the debtor (debtor) - one or many, “from” always means the trustee (creditor) - one or many.

Chapter 12. About how articles in the Journal are composed under “Give” and “Have” with many examples. About two other names used in the General Ledger: “Cash” and “Capital”, and what should be understood by them

The word “Cash” should mean cash or your own wallet, and the word “Capital” should mean the totality of your real property. The first item to be entered into the Journal is the one about cash (Fig. 1). You will set regular prices for all items. It is better to assign the latter higher than lower, for example, if it seems to you that an item costs 20, then say 24 so that you can make a better profit.

In contrast to inventory, the Journal introduces the conversion of money into a single currency according to the “Venetian account”.

This is a kind of anti-conservatism. In this case, the author proceeds from the current highest selling prices. The implementation of this principle led to a systematic overestimation of the amount of capital and a decrease in the amount of profit shown.

And so you will continue to transfer the remaining articles for all other goods, compiling a separate article for each item. After transferring the entry from the Memorial to the Journal, you will cross out the article with one cross line. This will mean that the article has been moved to the Journal.

A technique known in modern practice as “opening.”

Chapter 13. About the third and last main book, called the Main Book. How should it be maintained: in a simple or double way, as well as about the register for it.

After you have written down all the articles in the Journal, you should make a selection from it and transfer it to the third book - the large one, or the Main Book, which is usually kept with double the number of sheets compared to the Journal. It is customary to include an alphabetical index-repertory, otherwise called a register, or index. In the register you will enter all debtors and trustees in alphabetical order, indicating the page numbers where they appear.

Chapter 14. About how articles are transferred from the Journal to the Main Ledger, why from one article in the Journal two are formed in the Main Ledger, also about the method of crossing out articles in the Journal, and finally, about two numbers in the Main Ledger, which are noted in the margins of the Journal, and why that's how it's done.

From every article you compile in the Journal, you should always make two in the General Book; one in “Give” and the other in “Have”. The debtor is always indicated by the word “to”, and the trustee by “from”. You cannot put an amount in “Have” that is not included in “Give.” This creates a balance between “Give” and “Have”, which is drawn up when closing the General Ledger.

In the margins of the Journal you must enter two numbers, one below the other, of which the top one means the number of the sheet of the debtor, and the second, or bottom, the number of the sheet of the trustee’s account. For example, without a dash between them.

Chapter 15. On the method of compiling cash and capital items in the General Ledger regarding “Give” and “Have”; about how the year should be indicated at the top, in the title of the sheet, with ancient numbers, about replacing them with others and about distributing the space of sheets into small and large accounts in accordance with the requirements of the case

Let's start transferring the first item of the cash register “Give” to the General Ledger and the same capital to “Have” (Fig. 2).

Rice. 2. Article Cash in the General Ledger: at the top – “Give”, at the bottom – “Have”

Chapter 16. About how articles are compiled in the “Give” and “Have” of the General Ledger regarding the values ​​belonging to a given person by Inventory or otherwise.

Chapter 17

Chapter 18. About how to keep records of settlements with the intermediary bureau in Venice, further on how articles are drawn up to record these settlements in the Memorial, Journal and in the General Ledger, as well as about loans

If you keep accounts with public institutions, then make the lending chamber a debtor for all kinds of capital, indicating the amount of interest, etc.

The bureau collected a tax that was levied on sales transactions in Venice. The amount of tax was collected in equal proportions from both the seller and the buyer. The responsibility to pay the tax fell entirely on the buyer. Therefore, the seller reduced the selling price of the goods by the amount of tax paid for it by the buyer.

Chapter 19. About how payments that are made through a company or bank should be reflected in the two main books

If you have to pay partly through a bank, partly in goods or partly through a company and partly in cash, then all recipients should be considered debtors and payers - trustees, each in its place.

Chapter 20. About some remarkable and special trade transactions, such as barter, friendly transactions and others, and how they should be reflected in merchant books. First about simple and complex exchanges, about exchanges using credit, followed by clear examples for everything both in the Memorial and in the Journal and General Ledger.

Whatever the nature of the exchange of which you have to record, you should always begin with a simple and literal statement of it in the Memorial, making an article including in it all the conditions under which the case took place, specifying whether the broker took part in this operation. You must express the exchange in money. This is generally customary to do, because without a monetary valuation of the goods you accepted in exchange, it is impossible to determine profit or loss without great difficulty. If the exchange makes it possible to receive more than to give, then the difference is reflected as profit, otherwise - as a loss.

Chapter 21. Of Other Well Known Transactions Concerning Partnership, How They Are Organized, and In what Suitable Manner They Are Recorded in Each Book.

Transactions related to a partnership that is organized with another person always require a separate entry in three books. In this case, it is necessary to indicate the time for which the partnership is concluded; its responsibility and the capital with which it begins its activities; then name the assistants and boys who are supposed to be kept. You keep the cash register of the said partnership separately, because trade is conducted better if the account of the partnership cash register is separated. For such a partnership you must keep separate books.

Chapter 22

In addition to the accounts already mentioned, you must open separate accounts in all your books for expenses on goods, on maintaining the house - ordinary and emergency; in the same way - for income and expense and one account - benefits and losses, or, as you can call it, benefits and damages, or profits and losses.

A trading expense account is opened because it is not always possible to directly enter every little thing into the account of goods that you buy or sell. After many days you have to pay the porter, weigher, loader, packer or boatman-carrier. They receive payment for the work immediately, so there is no way to attribute expenses to each individual product.

L. Pacioli made the first classification of distribution costs according to three essential characteristics related to the attitude towards the enterprise, product and economic process. In accordance with the identified characteristics, all distribution costs were divided by Pacioli into trade and household, direct and indirect, ordinary and extraordinary. It is especially important to divide distribution costs into direct and indirect. Pacioli attributed the first ones directly to the goods accounts, i.e. capitalized them, the second - into a special trading expenses account.

All these accounts cannot in any way be verified, and if you find a verifier among them, it means that an error has crept into the book.

It is also impossible to do without opening accounts for ordinary household expenses.

For minor expenses, for example, for meat, fish, shaving, etc., they usually take one or two ducats at a time, which they keep in a small bag, since it is difficult to ensure a one-to-one correspondence between accounting and actual data.

One of the first examples of accounting for estimated allocations.

Chapter 23

A store here means a branch of a trading company. The chapter is devoted to accounting for intracompany settlements.

You consider the store, according to its books, to be a debtor for all those goods that you hand over day after day, and the goods are trustees, one after another. At the same time, imagine that the store is a person who becomes your debtor for everything that you transfer to it, or spend on it in some other way. On the other hand, for everything that you take from a store or receive from it, you should treat it with the trustee in the same way as if he had a debt that he pays in installments.

If you sell retail, i.e. if the sale is less than 4–6 ducats, then you put all the proceeds into the small cash register, from where you can withdraw it in its entirety every 8–10 days, and then make the cash register a debtor, and the store a trustee.

The movement of revenue in the store cash register (small cash register) is not reflected in the accounting records. Only the transfer of proceeds to the company’s main cash desk involves drawing up a transaction: debit to the Cashier’s account, credit to the Store’s account. It is important that there is no accounting in the branch itself; the person responsible for it is considered as a debtor of the company.

Depending on the need, resort to arranging accounts and remember that it is always possible to increase or decrease the number of accounts.

The system (chart) of accounts is determined by the purpose of observation and should change as the purpose changes.

Chapter 24 the banker, finally, about receipts issued for bills of exchange, and why they are issued in double

A banking firm is likened to a public institution of a notary, and therefore both the first and the second deal exclusively with secured property.

L. Pacioli's commentators have always been delighted by this particular passage of the Treatise. They were upset that bankers, their contemporaries, gave loans without proper collateral.

If you deposit money into a bank, you will mark it as your debtor, naming the owners of the bank or partners, and your cash desk as the trustee. In this case, as a precaution, you will require from the bank two Receipts on one sheet and you will do the same for your subsequent cash deposits. When you receive money from there, the banker will ask you to give him a receipt for receipt, and thus the matter will always be clear. Caution is in order here, because for a merchant nothing is ever too clear.

If you are a banker, then try not to forget, when balancing accounts with your trustees, to demand back the receipts, notes and other notes issued to them by you. And then destroy them, so that the interested party does not come to you one fine day and declare his demands a second time.

And vice versa, if you present a bill of exchange to the banker, he will not be satisfied with the receipt alone, since he must send one of them to your banker [in Genoa], who wrote to him about paying you 100 ducats into your account, while keeping the other for himself for the purpose that when calculating whether you received the money there would be no dispute and that upon your return from Genoa you could not make a complaint against either one or the other, for in that case he would present your handwritten receipt, and you would be left with shame.

Chapter 25

Chapter 26

The purpose of a travel account is in many ways similar to a store account (you can even call this account a mobile shop account). It also involves internal settlements with the company's agents.

First of all, you should draw up an inventory in due order of everything that you take with you, and arrange for yourself a small Journal, a small General Ledger, etc. You can keep accounts with the house from which you accepted the property on the road, make this house in your the small book is the trustee of the journey, and all other objects are the debtors.

Chapter 27. Of that other remarkable account called Profit and Loss, or Profit and Loss, how it should be opened in the General Ledger, and why it does not appear in the Journal like the others.

There is no need to make an entry in the Journal about this account; it is enough to place it in the General Ledger.

The Profit and Loss account arises from the imbalance of all other accounts of the General Ledger, and not from a reflection of the facts of economic life.

This account, in turn, is equalized by the Capital account.

Chapter 28. How to continue transferring the General Ledger accounts when they are full, and where to transfer the balances so that there can be no malicious intent in the General Ledger

In addition, it should also be noted that if any account in “Give” or “Have” is so full that nothing else can be written into it, then it is transferred first of all directly after all the accounts, without leaving empty space in the General Ledger , gaps between the said transfer and previous accounts, because this would be considered a forgery. It is necessary to supplement the smaller total on one of the two opposite sides, i.e. if the count is greater in “Give” than in “Have”, then the difference is supplemented in “Have”.

L. Pacioli recommends recording the final amount on the “weak” side of the account, which results in a “balance in the account.” This method was called abschluss. Currently, in our country the ending balance is recorded on the “strong” side of the account.

Chapter 29. How to change the year in the General Ledger articles if the books are not closed annually

Chapter 30. How an extract from the debtor’s account is drawn up at his request, as well as how this should be done by the seller or the person entrusted with the management of the property for the owner

According to merchant law, you cannot refuse to issue such an extract, especially when the debtor has been settling accounts with you for many years and months.

Chapter 31. About the method and procedure for excluding one or more articles that are mistakenly written in the wrong place, as often happens due to negligence

A good accountant also needs to know how an item that is mistakenly entered in the wrong place is excluded, or reversed, as they say in Florence. When an article is entered in “Give”, but should have been written down in “Have”, then next to it you write another for the same amount in “Have”, explaining this:

Such and such a number for the same amount, which is written next to it in “Give”, but must be entered in “Have”. Cost (sheet...). Write off the same amounts previously indicated in error.

For example, if by mistake an entry was made to the debit of the Goods account, two entries are made: a corrective entry on the credit of the Goods account and the main one (for the same amount). The turnover in the Goods account will be closed, and the principle of double entry will be preserved. However, the volume of business transactions will increase. L. Beretti (1889) proposed the “red reversal” method.

Chapter 32. How to draw up the balance of the General Ledger, and the method of transferring items from one book to another, i.e. from the old General Ledger to the new one; further on how the General Ledger should be brought into agreement with the Journal, Memorial and other books in addition to the Main Ledger

First, check the Journal and the General Ledger in order from beginning to end. If the check of the Journal is completed and according to the General Ledger it turns out that in the “Give” or in the “Have” any article remained unmarked, then this proves that an error has crept into the General Ledger, namely, that this article is in the “Give” or in “Have” there is an extra one, and therefore you will immediately correct it by putting the same amount on the opposite page. This means that if the amount of an extra item is found in “Give”, you will enter it in “Have”, and vice versa.

You should do the same thing if you come across an article in the Journal that is not in your Main Ledger under “Give” or “Have”; this would indicate that there is an error in the General Ledger that should be corrected in the opposite way to the case where the article was superfluous, namely: this article should immediately be entered in both the “Give” and the “Have” of the General Ledger.

Chapter 33. About the method and procedure for compiling records for such cases that occur during the deduction of the balance, namely: when balances are deduced from the books; further on how and why no entry can be made or changed in the General Ledger

Having fulfilled everything that has been said exactly, you should also notice to yourself that not a single new item can be entered after the closing date of the General Ledger.

We are talking about an event that was identified after the reporting date, but took place before it, i.e. The general ledger has been compiled and reconciled, a balance sheet has been received and presented to the owner or creditors, for example, a bank, but an error has been identified over the past year. An eternal accounting problem arises: either correct the data of the reporting period to which this error relates; or correct it with the date on which it was identified. D. Pacioli decisively chooses the second option.

Chapter 34. About why, through what and how balances on all accounts of the old General Ledger should be displayed; Read more about the final total on the “Give” and “Have” pages as a result of the last balance check

After you have carefully completed all of the above, you will proceed to withdrawing the balances, account by account, throughout your General Ledger. You will start with the cash register, then debtors, goods and customers and transfer them to book A, i.e. to the new General Ledger, because, as explained above, there is no need to transfer the balances to the Journal. Add all the items in “Give” and “Have” of one account together, subtracting the smaller totals from the larger ones.

Having thus completed the balancing of all accounts through the profit and loss account and adding up the amounts in “Give” and “Have” last, you can see your profit or your loss, since everything is equalized in the balance sheet. If in this account the total in “Give” is greater than the total in “Have,” it means that you suffered losses during your trading; if the “Have” total is greater than the “Give” total, then the difference shows how much you earned. Once you are convinced of your profit or loss from this account, you will proceed to closing the account by transferring the balance to the Capital account.

Chapter 35

Make sure that you don’t miss a number in any of your big or small matters, and also what the matter is - it doesn’t matter what it is. You should especially remember this when writing letters.

You will collect your letters in bundles month after month, year after year, place them in perfect order in a closet or small closet and in the sequence in which these things happened, so that you can quickly find the letter if you need it.

Notes written in the handwriting of your debtors, for which payment has not been made, should be kept in a more secret place, such as in boxes, caskets, etc., just as receipts should, for many reasons, be kept in a safe place.

Chapter 36. Brief overview of the treatise

Ya. Sokolov. WHAT DOGMA DID LUCA PACIOLI BELIEVE IN AND WHAT DO THEY MEAN TO US

PROCEDURALITY. Accounting is a strictly ordered procedure for consistently recording the facts of economic life. Each fact of economic life must be registered four times in three registers:

• in the Memorial - a memorial book - a simple statement of the facts of economic life;
• in the Journal - the fact receives what lawyers call a qualification, i.e. it is given the name of the General Ledger accounts on which this fact should be reflected. The entry is made either by the owner himself (the merchant), or by an accountant specially hired by him (the merchant’s wife);
• by debit of the General Ledger accounts;
• on the credit of the General Ledger accounts.

When the Memorial was replaced with primary documents, a lag arose between three dates: the date the document was issued; the date of the fact of economic life; the date of its registration. Since then, problems have often arisen as to which and when of these dates should be considered the main one. The spread of electronic computing technology has led to a great synthesis that Pacioli and his followers could not even dream of: with simultaneous input, an amazing opportunity is achieved to accumulate data in parallel, both chronologically and systematically.

CLARITY. Accounting must provide users with information that is clear and understandable to them.

For reporting, the old Pacioli rule remains: balance is more important than turnover. The spread of financial analysis inevitably led to a different rule: turnover is more important than balance. The latter circumstance also affects domestic accounting due to the use of reversal entries.

INSEPARABILITY. The property of the enterprise and the personal property of the owner of the enterprise represent a single and not separate complex. Over time, the dogma of inseparability is replaced by the principle of property separation, which entered accounting practice mainly under the influence of Hippolyte Vanier (1840), who formulated this principle as follows: accounting is conducted on behalf of the company, not its owner.

American researcher H.L. Gant and after him international standards and our modern accounting legislation recognize as expenses only those costs that generate income. Those expenses that do not bring income are considered as losses. However, modern practice is inconsistent, and to this day there are people who profess in a new way the old Pacioli rule: expenses are everything that a business entity spent for the needs of its enterprise or for its personal purposes.

DUALITY. Each fact of economic life must be ratified in accounting coordinates, the axes of which are: debit - credit. Double entry arose long before the appearance of the Treatise, but why it appeared, we do not learn about this either from the first book on accounting or from all the subsequent numerous literature. Here we can put forward only one of the possible versions: double-entry accounting arose by accident.

The appearance of double entry allowed the follower to solve three problems:

• control the correctness of registration of facts of economic life;
• determine the amount of the owner’s capital without resorting to inventory;
• calculate the financial results (profits or losses) of enterprises.

Pacioli overestimates the first and underestimates the last two points. Pacioli, based on the so-called personification of accounts, identified each account with a person and, artificially humanizing ginger, cash register, etc., he was already moving from personification to personalization. Moreover, he, as one might assume, was inclined to consider debit as the cause, and credit as the effect. But, more importantly, he suggested writing the balance not on the strong side, as is our custom, but on the weak side. This created a balance in each account.

The formalities of double entry could not overshadow the desire of accountants to explain the meaning of double entry. And here we are faced with two approaches: legal, represented by the rule of E. Desgrange: the one who receives is debited, the one who issues is credited and economic, which F.V. loved so much. Yezersky: there is no income without expenditure.

Pacioli was the founder of the first direction, which is especially noticeable in the registration of transactions: debtor - creditor. But from the middle of the 20th century. it was completely supplanted by the second, which found expression in both international and domestic standards, which adopted the principle of priority of content (the economic nature of the facts of economic life) over form (the legal nature of the facts of economic life).

Since the emergence of double entry, two objections have been raised against it:

• the first is due to the fact that it creates the illusion of correct accounting. Despite the fact that the results of debit and credit turnovers converge, the resulting identity may be “a cover for the most shameful deceptions”;
• the second indicates that double entry ignores the temporary component of the facts of economic life. So, if a loan of X rubles is taken out. for t years, then X rubles should be shown in assets, and X rubles in liabilities. + Δ (where Δ is the interest to be paid).

ITEM. Accounting is concerned with the execution of a sales contract. Indeed, there are three sources of obligation: law, contract and tort (obligations to indemnify).

Pacioli made two demands:

• “no one can be considered a debtor without his knowledge, even if it would seem appropriate”;
• “No one can be considered a believer, under certain conditions, without his consent.”

Despite the importance and theoretical conviction of Pacioli's two requirements regarding the moments of recognition of receivables and/or payables, it must be pointed out that they do not stand up to practical scrutiny. After all, if supplier A has shipped goods to buyer B, he must write off the goods. Next, there are two options: either debit the Goods shipped account, or debit the Accounts with customers account. The first option should follow from Pacioli's requirements. But we don't find it. All world practice, as a rule, prefers the second solution.

According to Pacioli, the expense will be shown not when it arose, but when they paid, and the income - when they received it. Subsequently, the recognition of the principle of priority of content over form led to the fact that these two requirements of Pacioli lost their meaning.

Pacioli believed that profit is the difference between the receipt and payment of money. This view was fully consistent with the ideas of mercantilism. True wealth is money. And here we should give an example of how Pacioli’s profit changes. Let’s say you bought 200 barrels of wine for 10 liras, i.e. paid 2000 liras. By the time the accounts were closed, 100 barrels were sold at 18 liras, i.e. revenue amounted to 1800 liras. Pacioli's notes looked like this:

those. at the time of deduction of the balance there is a loss of 200 liras. Or 2000 liras were invested in goods, but only 1800 liras were received. The deal has not yet paid off, despite the fact that the goods are sold at a high price. It’s just that Pacioli and the people of his time quite reasonably believed that the remaining 100 barrels of unsold wine were future profits. But only. Common sense taught the merchants of that time: chickens were counted in the fall, until the goods were sold - there was no profit. Further development of accounting led to a different understanding of the financial result and the account of Goods. As a result, the records began to look different:

those. profit began to be considered as the difference between the selling price and the cost of only the goods sold, and not the entire mass of purchased goods.

The conclusion can be drawn as follows: profit arises either when there is a transfer of ownership from one participant in civil transactions to another; or when the transaction is completed by payment of money.

ADEQUACY. The expenses incurred by the enterprise are correlated in time with the income it receives.

To truly appreciate the level of reasoning of our colleagues at that time, we must resort to an example. Let's say that in the first month the newly created company purchased goods for 500 liras, fixed assets for 800 liras and non-capitalized expenses - distribution costs amounted to 30 liras. At the same time, the proceeds from the sale of goods amounted to 400 liras. Let’s say goods were sold at a 100% markup.

Let's consider the options.

1. We bought goods for 500 liras, then sold them for 1000 liras, in a month 40% of the stock was sold, for which we paid 200 liras and gained 400 liras, i.e. with the average turnover that the company has, its financial position is more than satisfactory; costs of fixed assets of 800 liras and distribution costs of 30 liras will justify themselves both in this reporting period and in the future. Such conjectural calculations were usually made up in the mind.
2. Mercantilists, who equated profit with money, argued that the period noted resulted in an outflow of funds and amounted to a loss of 930 lire. The reasoning is very simple: goods were purchased for 500 liras, property - for 800 liras, costs were 30 liras, and income was only 400 liras, therefore, the monthly loss was 930 liras. However, proponents of this view have never been able to achieve significant influence at the micro level. (While at the macro level, their ideas still have influence, and Keynesianism, to a certain extent, is nothing more than an attempt to revive the ideas of the mercantilists.)
3. And only much later, by the 19th century. learned to use scientific methods rather than common sense. And then not just a dogma arose, but a principle of correspondence: goods were sold for 400 liras, having paid 200 liras for them, therefore, the profit is obvious.

Of the distribution costs, not all should be attributed to expenses, since they must be distributed between the goods sold and the remaining goods. The company sold 40% of the stock, therefore distribution costs are not 30 liras, but only 12, the difference is 18 liras (30–12) - capitalized costs falling on the balance of goods. And finally, it is absurd to attribute expenses for the purchase of equipment to the reporting period when they were incurred. The same principle applies here as with inventory, because the equipment will work for a long time, which means that the enterprise incurs expenses not when the equipment is purchased, but when it is used. Let’s say, in our case, it will be used for 20 years. Therefore, if you need to determine monthly expenses, then you need to introduce the concept of depreciation, which will be 40 liras (800:20) per year, or 3.3 liras per month.

Thus, thanks to the high qualifications of scientists and practitioners, a loss-making situation turns into a profitable one. In the case, the profit from the sale of goods was 200 liras, distribution costs were 12 liras, and depreciation was 3.3 liras. As a result, the total profit amounted to 184.7 liras.

However, the new approach, full of scientific depth, carried a very unpleasant paradox: the profit is bullish, but there might not be any money.

The development of accounting more and more led to the emergence of artificial, both purely formal, categories: double entry, debit, credit, etc., and substantive ones, such as profit, depreciation, reserves, etc. This evolution is aimed at multiplying artificial structures, and we look forward to the new productivity of accountants in this direction.

An important conclusion must be drawn from this: profit is formed not only, and sometimes not so much, by economic processes, but as a result of the use of accounting methodology.

RELATIVITY. Accounting data has only relative, not absolute, value.

Over time, the ideas of relativity and, in connection with them, the principle of the significance of accounting data have undergone significant evolution. At first, ideas of absolute accounting accuracy dominated. An accountant counts every penny and what he does must be absolutely accurate. This idea was from the very beginning in conflict with what Pacioli wrote. The great mathematician was wiser than his followers. Fortunately, in the middle of the 20th century. it became clear that Pacioli was right, and not those who, calling themselves his students, “corrected” the father of accounting. And then the modern understanding of this dogma was born: Only that number can be considered significant, the value of which can influence the adoption of management decisions.

MORALITY. Only an absolutely honest person can be an accountant.