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Pacioli’s Lens: Through a glass, darkly

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  • Macve, Richard

Abstract

It has long been argued that double-entry bookkeeping (‘DEB’) was important for enabling capitalism’s development in the West and heralded the beginning of ‘modern accounting’. However, these claims remain contested so it is important to understand the history of DEB’s emergence about 700 years ago and its underlying rationale. Sangster (2018a) [Pacioli's Lens: God, Humanism, Euclid, and the Rhetoric of Double Entry. The Accounting Review, 93(2): 299-314] argues that, in the first printed manual on DEB in 1494, Pacioli presented a novel ‘axiomatic’ approach to explaining DEB that requires a corresponding ‘paradigmatic shift’ in our appreciation of his contribution. This paper challenges Sangster’s interpretation of Pacioli’s mathematical contribution and calls for deeper understanding of the historical development of DEB in the West by comparison with accounting developments in the East.

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  • Macve, Richard, 2021. "Pacioli’s Lens: Through a glass, darkly," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 112170, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    • Handle: RePEc:ehl:lserod:112170
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    File URL: http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/112170/
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    1. Hoskin, Keith W. & Macve, Richard H., 1986. "Accounting and the examination: A genealogy of disciplinary power," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 11(2), pages 105-136, March.
    2. Macve, Richard, 2015. "Fair value vs conservatism? Aspects of the history of accounting, auditing, business and finance from ancient Mesopotamia to modern China," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 62740, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
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    4. Michael Bromwich & Richard Macve & Shyam Sunder, 2010. "Hicksian Income in the Conceptual Framework," Abacus, Accounting Foundation, University of Sydney, vol. 46(3), pages 348-376, September.
    5. Garry D. Carnegie & Christopher J. Napier, 2012. "Accounting's past, present and future: the unifying power of history," Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 25(2), pages 328-369, February.
    6. Richard Macve, 2002. "Insights to be gained from the study of ancient accounting history: some reflections on the new edition of Finley's The Ancient Economy," European Accounting Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 11(2), pages 453-472.
    7. Robertson, Jeffrey & Funnell, Warwick, 2012. "The Dutch East-India Company and accounting for social capital at the dawn of modern capitalism 1602–1623," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 37(5), pages 342-360.
    8. Macve, R.H., 2015. "Fair value vs conservatism? Aspects of the history of accounting, auditing, business and finance from ancient Mesopotamia to modern China," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 47(2), pages 124-141.
    9. Alan Sangster, 2021. "The Life and Works of Luca Pacioli (1446/7–1517), Humanist Educator," Abacus, Accounting Foundation, University of Sydney, vol. 57(1), pages 126-152, March.
    10. Macve, Richard, 2020. "Perspectives from mainland China, Hong Kong and the UK on the development of China’s auditing firms: implications and a research agenda," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 103576, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
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    12. Maxwell Aiken & Wei Lu, 1998. "The Evolution of Bookkeeping in China: Integrating Historical Trends with Western Influences," Abacus, Accounting Foundation, University of Sydney, vol. 34(1), pages 140-162, March.
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    14. Richard Macve, 2014. "What should be the nature and role of a revised Conceptual Framework for International Accounting Standards?," China Journal of Accounting Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 2(2), pages 77-95, April.
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Pacioli; double-entry bookkeeping (DEB); algebraic axioms; comparative international accounting history;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • B11 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - History of Economic Thought through 1925 - - - Preclassical (Ancient, Medieval, Mercantilist, Physiocratic)
    • C00 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - General - - - General
    • M40 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Accounting - - - General
    • P52 - Political Economy and Comparative Economic Systems - - Comparative Economic Systems - - - Comparative Studies of Particular Economies

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