Fra Luca Pacioli 1494 ‘De computis…..

the origins of accountancy and double entry bookkeeping are to be found in the 15th century Venetian monk who underpinned the commercial success of the Italian merchants with his ideas. Pacioli’s seminal work used the recently developed printing press to disseminate his concepts to a very wide audience. He used Hindu-Arabic numerals not the cumbersome Roman symbols in his encyclopedic works.

Pacioli’s work morphed into what we now understand is the accountancy profession.

But as Robert F Kennedy once said ” …it measures everything….except that which makes life worthwhile”.

Accountancy does not measure the health of your children, the quality of our education, the joy of play, the strength of our marriages or the integrity of our politicians. We have to be cognizant of its limitations.