Double entry

how the merchants of Venice created modern finance

No cover

Double entry (2012, W.W. Norton & Co.)

English language

Published Dec. 14, 2012 by W.W. Norton & Co..

ISBN:
978-0-393-08896-0
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4 stars (1 review)

4 editions

Putting accounting into context in today's world—and what a context it is!

4 stars

I stumbled upon this book when I was learning about accounting in order to get my personal finances in order. While I came in expecting to read mainly about the methods used by the merchants and sailors, the introductory quote itself hinted at much more.

After going into the origins of accounting and how it spread across Europe—the suspicious gaze of the Church notwithstanding—Jane Gleeson-White goes on to describe how accounting changed the way people think about wealth: of themselves, of their nations, and even of the planet! It's not just the simple act of bookkeeping, but also the idea of measuring wealth: tabulating everything into a standard form, and then using that to draw conclusions.

The main problem today is, of course, that what doesn't get entered into account books is ignored (as exemplified in Kennedy's famous speech about GDP). This is an argument I've heard in many books, …

Subjects

  • Accounting
  • History
  • Bookkeeping
  • Finance
  • Capitalism

Places

  • Venice
  • Italy