Chapter One: Introduction
1.1 Background to the study
1.1.1 The history of accounting and its link with mythology
All cultures have old tales otherwise known as myths that are passed down throughout generations.
These myths often contain answers to questions like the creation of the universe and man. While these
myths tell us about people’s personalities, history will tell us a lot more facts about these people. When
studying these old tales or myths we can learn a lot about how these cultures were lived and how the
people expressed themselves. These myths can also help us understand accounting a bit better.
Looking deeper into the history of accounting we can see that accounting has been around for ages and
there are many examples we can use throughout time to prove that fact. The Persian King Thamurath
fought demons who when they pleaded for their lives had to teach him how to read and write 30
different scripts in order to stay alive. They had to show and teach him how the letters were formed and
pronounced. Then there is Nabu, the god of wisdom and writing all the way from Mesopotamia, who
according to Tudeau (2013) wrote down the fate of all individuals as ordered by the gods.
Mark (2016) claims that “Thoth is the Egyptian god of writing, magic, wisdom, and the moon”. He was
considered a divine record-keeper. He was a lot like Nabu when we look at the writing and record-
keeping aspect of the mythology even though they are from two completely different places. Thoth was
the one that had to judge souls upon death. Also according to Mark (2013) Thoth had to weigh people’s
hearts against a feather of Maat who was the goddess of truth. From Hindu mythology, there was also
the god of justice know as Yama with his personal accountant called Chitragupta. According to the old
scriptures about Hindu mythology he kept track of everything people did to be able to place them in
either one of two categories, good or evil. Yama would then judge their souls after dying according to
the record kept by Chitragupta.
The basic idea is that accounting has always been there and that God (our God) and the gods of all these
other cultures love accounting. All throughout these ages the cultures have always had a couple of things
in common namely godliness, writing and most importantly record-keeping. The fact that the
accounting profession has always existed is quite evident from all the old tales there are from around the
world and in all languages.
1
, Some of the earliest writings that have been discovered by archaeologists are account records on clay
tablets that date back as early as 3300 BCE from Mesopotamia and Egypt. According to Bellis (2019)
historians are hypothesising that the main reason for the development of writing systems was because of
the need to have business transactions recorded.
When Europe started to move toward becoming a monetary economy during the 13th century,
bookkeeping was depended on to keep track of multiple transactions. Benedetto Cotrugli invented the
double-entry accounting system in the year 1458. This revolutionised accounting. The Italian Luca
Pacioli invented a system that used journals and ledgers. He wrote many books on accounting. Pacioli is
known as the father of accounting and bookkeeping and was the one that taught da Vinci proportionality
and the mathematics of perspective. In 1854 in Scotland accountants were first established at the
Glasglow Institute of Accountants. The modern profession of accounting was fully formed and
recognised in the year 1880 by the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Wales and in England.
The term “accounting” was derived from the Latin word “Computare” which basically
translates to calculating or computing. The word “account” indicates a recorded description
either verbally or non-verbally which would include writing on specific occurrences.
Accountants prepare reports and are responsible for whatever business they report to and to
the owner who entrusted them with their assets.
The accounting system according to Bellis (2019) is a system of recording financial
transactions and summarizing them. The process of keeping record of financial transactions
pertaining to a particular entity is known as accounting. The process includes the
summarizing, analysing and reporting of these transactions to other entities. It’s one of the
key functions of a business. It can be handled by bookkeepers and accountants in small firms
or by the finance departments in large companies. The reports that are kept are valuable for
the management of a company to make informed business decisions.
Touvila (2019) claims that the key takeaways are:
• “Regardless of the size of a business, accounting is a necessary function for decision
making, cost planning, and measurement of economic performance measurement.
2
1.1 Background to the study
1.1.1 The history of accounting and its link with mythology
All cultures have old tales otherwise known as myths that are passed down throughout generations.
These myths often contain answers to questions like the creation of the universe and man. While these
myths tell us about people’s personalities, history will tell us a lot more facts about these people. When
studying these old tales or myths we can learn a lot about how these cultures were lived and how the
people expressed themselves. These myths can also help us understand accounting a bit better.
Looking deeper into the history of accounting we can see that accounting has been around for ages and
there are many examples we can use throughout time to prove that fact. The Persian King Thamurath
fought demons who when they pleaded for their lives had to teach him how to read and write 30
different scripts in order to stay alive. They had to show and teach him how the letters were formed and
pronounced. Then there is Nabu, the god of wisdom and writing all the way from Mesopotamia, who
according to Tudeau (2013) wrote down the fate of all individuals as ordered by the gods.
Mark (2016) claims that “Thoth is the Egyptian god of writing, magic, wisdom, and the moon”. He was
considered a divine record-keeper. He was a lot like Nabu when we look at the writing and record-
keeping aspect of the mythology even though they are from two completely different places. Thoth was
the one that had to judge souls upon death. Also according to Mark (2013) Thoth had to weigh people’s
hearts against a feather of Maat who was the goddess of truth. From Hindu mythology, there was also
the god of justice know as Yama with his personal accountant called Chitragupta. According to the old
scriptures about Hindu mythology he kept track of everything people did to be able to place them in
either one of two categories, good or evil. Yama would then judge their souls after dying according to
the record kept by Chitragupta.
The basic idea is that accounting has always been there and that God (our God) and the gods of all these
other cultures love accounting. All throughout these ages the cultures have always had a couple of things
in common namely godliness, writing and most importantly record-keeping. The fact that the
accounting profession has always existed is quite evident from all the old tales there are from around the
world and in all languages.
1
, Some of the earliest writings that have been discovered by archaeologists are account records on clay
tablets that date back as early as 3300 BCE from Mesopotamia and Egypt. According to Bellis (2019)
historians are hypothesising that the main reason for the development of writing systems was because of
the need to have business transactions recorded.
When Europe started to move toward becoming a monetary economy during the 13th century,
bookkeeping was depended on to keep track of multiple transactions. Benedetto Cotrugli invented the
double-entry accounting system in the year 1458. This revolutionised accounting. The Italian Luca
Pacioli invented a system that used journals and ledgers. He wrote many books on accounting. Pacioli is
known as the father of accounting and bookkeeping and was the one that taught da Vinci proportionality
and the mathematics of perspective. In 1854 in Scotland accountants were first established at the
Glasglow Institute of Accountants. The modern profession of accounting was fully formed and
recognised in the year 1880 by the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Wales and in England.
The term “accounting” was derived from the Latin word “Computare” which basically
translates to calculating or computing. The word “account” indicates a recorded description
either verbally or non-verbally which would include writing on specific occurrences.
Accountants prepare reports and are responsible for whatever business they report to and to
the owner who entrusted them with their assets.
The accounting system according to Bellis (2019) is a system of recording financial
transactions and summarizing them. The process of keeping record of financial transactions
pertaining to a particular entity is known as accounting. The process includes the
summarizing, analysing and reporting of these transactions to other entities. It’s one of the
key functions of a business. It can be handled by bookkeepers and accountants in small firms
or by the finance departments in large companies. The reports that are kept are valuable for
the management of a company to make informed business decisions.
Touvila (2019) claims that the key takeaways are:
• “Regardless of the size of a business, accounting is a necessary function for decision
making, cost planning, and measurement of economic performance measurement.
2
