Teocentrismo, Antropocentrismo y Contabilidad: de la Edad Media al Renacimiento

The change in the accounting method from single entry to double entry in the 15th century has been tried to explain by the influence of some different issues such as the appearance of capitalism or by the contact of Italy with other peoples. However, none of them has been able to do so satisfactorily. That is why this work, tries to show how this accounting change could be pushed by a paradigm shift: the philosophical and religious perception of the world and its passed from the Middle Ages to the Renaissance. It will be seen using a qualitative methodology which helps to know how the methods of charge and discharge and double entry respond to the prevailing ways of thinking in which they developed. The first one, can be associated with a Theocentric thought, typical of the Middle Ages, and the second one, double entry bookkeeping, philosophical viewpoint that are the are the most important entity in the world, which is characteristic of the Renaissance. El cambio del método contable de la partida simple a la doble en el siglo XV se ha intentado explicar por la influencia de diferentes factores como la aparición del capitalismo o por el contacto de Italia con otros pueblos. Sin embargo, ninguno de ellos aisladamente, lo ha podido hacer de forma satisfactoria. Por lo tanto, utilizando una metodología cualitativa, este trabajo intenta arrojar luz indagando cómo este cambio contable se pudo deber a un cambio en la percepción filosófica y religiosa del mundo, al pasarse de la Edad Media al Renacimiento. Se verá cómo los métodos del cargo y descargo y de la partida doble responden a las formas de pensamiento imperantes en el que se desarrollaron. En consecuencia, que partida simple se puede asociar a un pensamiento Teocéntrico, propio de la Edad Media, y que la partida doble se puede relacionar con el Antropocéntrico característico del Renacimiento.

WHAT STUDENTS IN THE FIRST GRADES OF ELEMENTARY SCHOOL KNOW ABOUT TABLES

The definition of table has not been introduced in Brazilian textbooks for the early years of elementary school. We see that charts and databases have been named tables but are not approached in the same way. This makes it impossible for students to differentiate between them, which may cause learning difficulties. Therefore, it is essential that we reflect on students' knowledge about table, which is an instrument that systematizes information so that they can visualize reality. Thus, the aim of this study was to analyze the knowledge students from the 1st to 5th grade of elementary school have about representations in tables. To this end, 325 students (6 to 10 years old from 19 classes from different public schools in Greater Recife) participated. Students were asked to answer six activities individually, four of interpretation of a single and a double entry table with qualitative and quantitative variables, and two activities involving the construction of a table from a database or set of figures that needed to be classified. The results show that students’ performance progress in all activities, and that they present better performance in table interpretation than in table construction. Since the 1st grade the students were able to construct tables with one variable, however, to construct a table with two variables showed to be very difficult even for the 5th graders. In all grades the students had difficulties to make decisions based on the data presented, what is the function of table representation. This may be due to the absence of teaching practices focused on the table as a learning object. Abstract: Portuguese A definição de tabela não foi introduzida nos livros didáticos brasileiros dos anos iniciais do Ensino Fundamental. Observamos que quadros e bancos de dados vêm sendo nomeados de tabelas e não são abordados da mesma maneira. Isso causa uma indiferenciação entre os mesmos e dificulta a aprendizagem. Então, é fundamental refletir sobre os conhecimentos dos alunos sobre tabelas, uma vez que essas têm a função de sistematizar informações para que se possa ter uma visão da realidade. Assim, o objetivo desse estudo foi analisar o conhecimento de alunos do 1º ao 5º ano do Ensino Fundamental sobre representações em tabelas. Para tal, participaram 325 alunos (6 a 10 anos de idade de 19 turmas de diferentes escolas públicas do Grande Recife). Foi solicitado aos alunos que individualmente respondessem seis atividades, quatro de interpretação de tabelas simples e de dupla entrada, com variáveis qualitativas e quantitativas e duas atividades envolvendo construção de tabelas, a partir de um banco de dados ou de um conjunto de figuras que precisavam ser classificadas. Os resultados mostram que o desempenho dos alunos evolui em todas as atividades, e que eles apresentam melhor desempenho na interpretação de tabelas do que na construção de tabelas. De o 1º ano os alunos conseguiram construir tabelas com uma variável, porém, construir uma tabela com duas variáveis mostrou-se muito difícil mesmo para os alunos do 5º ano. Em todas os anos os alunos tiveram dificuldade em tomar decisões a partir dos dados apresentados e compreender a função das representações em tabelas. Tais dificuldades podem ser em função da ausência de práticas de ensino focadas na tabela como objeto de aprendizagem.

Profit Calculation in a late 14th century sole proprietorship, the case of Francesco DATINI

This paper examines the Profit on merchandise accounts (a forerunner of the income statement) in a sole proprietorship in Pisa that officially operated between 1386 and 1392, but took several months to finally end its activities, which it did in 1393. The Profit on merchandise account was where the balance on each goods account was transferred when all the items recorded in it were sold. The principal contribution of this paper is the identification of a unique approach to medieval product costing that ensured indirect expenses on merchandise were recovered from customers when sales took place, while earning an average return of over 10 percent on those costs. It also highlights the problems encountered when working with archival material that has deteriorated over time; and presents a research method that reconstructs missing data using the trail to original entries and contra entries recorded in double entry.

Pacioli’s Lens: Through a Glass, Darkly

It has long been argued that double-entry bookkeeping (‘DEB’) was important for enabling capitalism’s development in the West and heralded the beginning of ‘modern accounting’. However, these claims remain contested so it is important to understand the history of DEB’s emergence about 700 years ago and its underlying rationale. Sangster (2018a) [Pacioli's Lens: God, Humanism, Euclid, and the Rhetoric of Double Entry. The Accounting Review, 93(2): 299-314] argues that, in the first printed manual on DEB in 1494, Pacioli presented a novel ‘axiomatic’ approach to explaining DEB that requires a corresponding ‘paradigmatic shift’ in our appreciation of his contribution. This paper challenges Sangster’s interpretation of Pacioli’s mathematical contribution and calls for deeper understanding of the historical development of DEB in the West by comparison with accounting developments in the East.

The business needs that drove the emergence of double entry In defense of Pacioli, again… it is time to remove those dark glasses

Being able to understand how double entry works is a critically important skill of an accountant but, few accounting graduates either understand or perform double entry at the level desired. It has always been taught using rules, never by principles. This paper responds to and rejects criticisms published in this journal by Richard Macve. They concern a paper I published in 2018 presenting Luca Pacioli’s approach to teaching double entry using a principles-based approach. My response also uses grounded theory to reject Professor Macve’s theory concerning the development of double entry by generating an opposing new theory to explain what motivated its emergence. Furthermore, it highlights problems in the use of literature in accounting history; and uses theories of pedagogy and studies on teaching DEB to reject his insistence that it should be taught using a balance sheet equation approach. Several other comments/suggestions in his wide-ranging article are addressed.

The Strategy of the double-entry magazines strategy on the achievement of literature and texts for the fifth literary grade female students

The current research aims to know the effect of the double-entry magazines strategy on the acquisition of literature and texts for fifth literary grade female students. To achieve this, the researcher chose Baghdad Governorate / Al-Rusafa First Education Directorate / Balqis Preparatory School for Girls to be a field for applying the research experience. The researcher relied on the experimental design with partial control for two equal groups (experimental and control) with the post test for achievement. The experimental group and (28) controls in the control group. After the researcher identified the scientific material that she will study in the experiment, she formulated the behavioral objectives, and their number reached (60) behavioral objectives. The researcher was statistically rewarded between the two groups of the experiment (the study sample) using the T-test for two independent samples and the chi-square (K2), in the variables of chronological age calculated in months, the academic achievement of the parents, the intelligence test for (Raven), and the previous year's grades for the Arabic language. (fourth literary grade), before conducting the experiment, and there were no statistically significant differences between the two groups in these variables. In order to achieve the goal of the research, the researcher prepared a test to measure the achievement of literature and texts, consisting of (30) test items, the validity of which was extracted by presenting it to a group of experts and arbitrators, and to analyze the results, the researcher used the T-test to treat the results of the experiment statistically. At the end of the experiment, the researcher concluded that the students of the experimental group outperformed the students of the control group in achievement, and the differences were statistically significant between the students of the two groups (experimental and control), and in favor of the experimental group at the level of significance (0.05).

A Picture Is Worth a Thousand Journal Entries: Accounting Graph Topology for Auditing and Fraud Detection

Although journal entries are an important component of modern accounting, existing research and practice in auditing and fraud detection have not fully exploited the information made available by the double-entry mechanism. This paper proposes a theory-based methodology, accounting graph topology, to visualize journal entries and explicate within- and between-entry relationships. Grounded in cognitive fit theory and graph theory, this methodology can help auditors identify potential internal control issues and problematic transactions for further investigation. We illustrate the benefits of accounting graph topology by applying it to a case study.

ACCOUNTING TRETMENT OF PROPERTY TAX FOR BUDGET USERS

During the growth of economic activity, property tax became one of less generous taxes but still remained a very significant form of revenue due to fiscal federalization. Property tax in the Republic of Serbia is legally defined and regulated by Law on Property Taxes. This paper will show how budget users, running books on the principle of double-entry bookkeeping record property taxes. This tax is determined by self-taxation through submission of tax returns by tax payers. Methods of defining how equipment received as a gift, procurement of parts or assets through foreign donation and monetary assets by domestic donators is covered by bookkeeping, will by the subject of this paper.