User:Well-rested/History of accounting
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The history of accounting or accountancy is thousands of years old and can be traced to ancient civilisations.[1][2][3]
The early development of accounting dates back to ancient Mesopotamia, and is closely related to developments in writing, counting and money;[1] there is also evidence for early forms of bookkeeping in ancient Iran,[4][5] and early auditing systems by the ancient Egyptians and Babylonians.[2] By the time of the Emperor Augustus, the Roman government had access to detailed financial information.[6]
Double-entry bookkeeping developed during in medieval Europe,[7] and accounting split into financial accounting and management accounting with the development of joint-stock companies.[8] Accounting began to transition into an organized profession in the nineteenth century,[9] with local professional bodies in England merging to form the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales in 1880.[10]