Double-Entry Bookkeeping

Type Object Region Europe Time c. 1591–1600

Double-entry bookkeeping is a system recording each transaction in corresponding debit and credit accounts, enabling merchants to systematically trac…

Timeline

c. 1591–1595Genoa · LiguriaIn the early 1590s, large merchant houses in Genoa and Venice recorded exchange and shipping investments using the giornale and libro split-ledger system, entering each transaction simultaneously into debit and credit accounts, allowing partners to regularly prepare trial balance sheets to assess the profits and losses of overseas trade.
1596–1600Amsterdam · North HollandBetween 1596 and 1600, merchants in Amsterdam and Antwerp and organizers of the East India Company widely adopted double-entry bookkeeping to manage inventory, bills of exchange, and shareholder capital; combined with the bill of exchange system, this method became the technical foundation for the financial transparency of modern commercial companies.

Sources

Double-entry bookkeeping https://www.britannica.com/topic/double-entry-bookkeeping
Summa de arithmetica, geometria, proportioni et proportionalita — Luca Pacioli (1494)