World history seen through lens of accounting

Where in the world was bookkeeping started? It was Italy during a period when the country was actively engaged in trade with the east as vividly described in Shakespeare’s play “The Merchant of Venice.” Then when and where was the concept of “depreciation” created? It was the United Kingdom of the 19th Century when the rich raced to heavily invest in railway companies.

Neither a complicated formula nor difficult jargons are found in the book. The author introduces how various economic systems and concepts such as a balance sheet, a stock company, standard cost accounting, and international accounting standards came into the world.

The book reveals the author’s deep knowledge of culture and arts. The development of finance in Italy during the time of Renaissance was made possible thanks to Leonardo da Vinci and the Medici family’s patronage, and Dutch painter Rembrandt van Rijn is associated with the emergence of a stock company while American pop stars such as Louis Armstrong and Paul McCartney contributed to the explosive growth of the U.S. economy.


gustav@donga.com