Carrying on the work of the godfather of bookkeeping

Anyone in the world of business understands the importance of bookkeeping and accounting and how a business can fail based solely on poor accounting practice and bad management of money. This is where Cheltenham Accountants Randall & Payne can help you ensure that you are on top of your financial management and making the most of the financial data available in your business. Any good Cheltenham Accountants will be able to advise you on a variety of matters including access to funding, growth plans and even establishing and deregistering a business.

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Luca Pacioli is credited as being the founder of the modern-day bookkeeping and accounting techniques in European countries. He published a book on the double-entry system of bookkeeping and was the first person to do so. If you have never heard of Pacioli before, here is a brief history into his life and work.

We don’t know exactly when he was born but it’s thought to be around 1446 and 1448 which is quite funny when you consider he was the Father of modern accountancy and the first bit is wrong or unclear. He started off being educated by locals in his local tongue rather than Latin. Usually this was a hindrance to a big career but the focus on his knowledge going forward was very much around what it was and what was required to be a Merchants. This gave him an idea of the need to have a focused approach to where money comes in and how it is distributed in a business. After his main education was complete he moved to Venice as this was where the centre of power in Europe was based. He was able to do further studying and earned his pennies by tutoring rich family’s sons. Whilst there he wrote his first book as well about arithmetic based on how he’d taught the boys.   Around 1472 he decided to take religious orders and became a Franciscan Monk and became just Father Luca. He continued to teach and writ on the subject to mathematics and he even got to work with the great Leonardo Di Vinci. Whilst in Perugia they both barely escaped with their lives following an attack from France.

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The reason he is called the Father of modern book keeping is the double-entry accounting method. Using this method businesses were able to be more profitable and increased their effect almost overnight. The basic premise of his book Summa has not changed very much for over 500 years high praise indeed. He wasn’t all work, work, work, he was a mean Chess player in his time and gave Di Vinci a run around.