Luca Pacioli, a Franciscan monk who lived in Italy during the 1500s, is often called the father of double-entry bookkeeping. Pacioli was not the inventor, but was "the first accountant to combine his knowledge with Johann Gutenberg's technology to instruct the world on the subject in print."
Many people are unaware that Pacioli was a mathematician and author. He wrote such important works as Summa de arithmetica, geometria, proportioni et proportionalita (in 1494) and Divina proportione (1509). He was not an innovator, but a translator and compiler of popular books. The section of Summa de arithmetica, geometria, proportioni at proportionalita that dealt with bookkeeping (caaled "De computis et scripturis") was published in a large variety of languages and distributed in numerous countries in the 16th to 19th centuries.
The traditional accounting information system is based upon what is typically called the accounting cycle and is based on the accounting equation. Although the ideas documented by Pacioli have been modified over years, the essence of his original proposal remains intact.
At the heart of Pacioli's concept is a classification scheme known as the chart of accounts. The chart of accounts is used to classify and summarize financial measurements of an organization's assets, liabilities, and equity. Data organized and summarized using a chart of accounts are presented to users in the form of financial statements. The main financial statements include the income statement and the balance sheet. Data describing financial results of operations for a specific time period are summarized in an income statement, while data describing the financial position of the organization at a point in time are summarized in a balance sheet. Accounts summarized on the income statement are called nominal (or temporary) accounts, while accounts summarized on the balance sheet are called real (or permanent) accounts.
Accounting Information Technology, And Business Solutions, by Hollander, Denna, and Cherrington, Mc Graw Hill
