Luca Pacioli (1447-1517), the wandering Franciscan monk and mathematician, was a contemporary of Columbus and a friend and collaborator of Leonardo da Vinci. His seminal work, Summa de Arithmetica, Geometrica,Propotioni et Proportionalite, published in 1494, contained a section, "Particularis de Computis et Scripturis" (Details of Accounting and Recording) that described "the system used in Venice". This was four decades after the Gutenberg invention of movable type and printing centers all over Europe allowed Pacioli's Summa to be translated, printed, and spread across the continent.
Pacioli's Summa is the first known complete description of double entry bookkeeping. Three books were to be used: memorandum book, journal, and ledger. Journal entry postings from the memorandum book required debits on the left and credits on the right. Although many currencies existed, Summa required that all entries be translated to a single monetary unit. A trial balance was necessary when the books were closed. The balances from the profit and loss account were entered in the capital account. In other words, Summa described a system remarkably like modern bookkeeping. The Summa was translated into Dutch, German, French, Russian, and English and Pacioli's system spread across Europe. For this reason Pacioli is the "Father of Accounting". Relatively little progress was made beyond Pacioli's Summa for several generations. In fact, it is difficult to identify pioneering accountants before the Industrial Revolution.
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