Celebrate International Accounting day 10th November with 6 facts that may surprise you.
1. The inventor of accounting was Luca Pacioli
Italian mathematician Luca Pacioli published the first book about double-entry bookkeeping on 10 November 1494
2. Accounting has been around for thousands of years
Tokens dating back 7000 years were discovered in ancient Mesopotamia (modern day Iraq, Turkey and Syria). These are thought to be the earliest documented records of goods received and traded for things like sheep and agricultural produce.
3. Many accounting terms have Latin roots
The word ‘debit’ means ‘he owes’ in Latin, while ‘credit’ means ‘he trusts’.
The word accountant comes from the Latin word ‘computare’ which means to count.
4. Many famous people studied accountancy
Mick Jagger, Robert Plant, Janet Jackson and John Grisham all studied accountancy, When Comedian Eddie Izzard studied accountancy and financial management he failed all his exams so took to street-performing and worked his way up to the comedian he is today.
5. Accountants feature in Oscar-winning films
Itzhak Stern (Ben Kingsley) in Schindler’s List, Oscar Wallace (Charles Martin Smith) in The Untouchables, Leo Bloom (Gene Wilder) in The Producers, and Bud Baxter (Jack Lemmon) in The Apartment.
Other memorable movie accountants include Any Dufresne (Tim Robbins) in The Shawshank Redemption and Louis Tully (Rick Moranis) in Ghostbusters.
6. There is a patron saint of accountants
Accountants can pray to their own patron saint St Matthew the Evangelist who is the patron saint of accountants, bookkeepers and tax collectors.