HISTORY OF ACCOUNTING FROM THE ANCIENT CIVILIZATIONS TO THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE AND REPUBLIC OF TURKEY

Abstract

The aim of this research is to examine the birth of accounting in ancient civilizations, then its history in the Ottoman Empire and the Republic of Turkey, as well as accounting’s development process until today. Discussions about where accounting was first born and invented still continue, and there is no universal consensus. However, there are different opinions about the fact that accounting first appeared in ancient Egypt, Persia, Mesopotamia, Babylon, Assyria, Sumer, China, India or Islamic civilizations. Some sources, on the other hand, have a completely different point of view and show the Summa de Arithmetica, Geometria, Proportioni et Proportionalita, written by the Italian mathematician Luca Pacioli, as the starting point of accounting, which includes the double-entry bookkeeping technique. In the Ottoman Empire Period, the Ladder (Merdiban) Method, which is an accounting record culture, was applied. In fact, the related method was also used by the Seljuks and İlkhanids in Anatolia previously. Concerning the Republic of Turkey period, accounting developed parallel to the industrialization and globalization attempts.