International Accounting Day is celebrated on November 10-th

Accounting day is the professional holiday of all accountants. This holiday ia also frequently referred as Accountant's Day. Even though many countries have their own designated day for praising accountants, a need for internation holiday has been expressed by many.

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So what is the story of Accountant's Day?

On November 10, 1494, a book titled Summa de Arithmetica, Geometria, Proportioni et Proportionalita (Everything About Arithmetic, Geometry and Proportion) was published in Venice. This was the first book that aimed to summarize the mathematical knowledge of those days. One of the tractatus of the Summa, entitled "Particularis de computis et scripturis" (About accounts and other writings) provides a detailed description of Venetian book-keeping. This was the first printed essay on double-entry bookkeeping and was direct base of some widespread works on mercantile accounting. The system he published included most of the accounting cycle as we know it today. He described the use of journals and ledgers, and warned that a person should not go to sleep at night until the debits equalled the credits. His ledger had accounts for assets (including receivables and inventories), liabilities, capital, income, and expenses — the account categories that are reported on an organization's balance sheet and income statement, respectively. He demonstrated year-end closing entries and proposed that a trial balance be used to prove a balanced ledger. Also, his treatise touches on a wide range of related topics from accounting ethics to cost accounting.

Why Luca Pacioli is called the Father of Accounting?

While Luca Pacioli is often called the "Father of Accounting" he did not invent the system. Instead, he simply described a method used by merchants in Venice during the Italian Renaissance period. His system included most of the accounting cycle as we know it today. For example, he described the use journals and ledgers, and he warned that a person should not go to sleep at night until the debits equalled the credits! His ledger included assets (including receivables and inventories), liabilities, capital, income, and expense accounts. Luca demonstrated year-end closing entries and proposed that a trial balance be used to prove a balanced ledger. Also, his treatise alludes to a wide range of topics from accounting ethics to cost accounting. Numerous tiny details of bookkeeping technique set forth by Pacioli were followed in texts and the profession for at least the next four centuries. Perhaps the best proof that Pacioli's work was considered potentially significant even at the time of publication was the very fact that it was printed on November 10, 1494. Guttenberg had just a quarter-century earlier invented metal type, and it was still an extremely expensive proposition to print a book.