The accounting system of the Venerable Society of the Living and the Dead of Parma in medieval times

Abstract

The Venerable Society of the Living and the Dead of Parma was formed in 1304, and a large archive of documents relevant to the organisation has survived to the present day. These documents include accounting records which appear to offer some vital clues relevant to the emergence of the double-entry system of accounting. While the Society did not at any stage during its 600 hundred year existence adopt full double-entry accounting, the surviving records examined provide an indication of how the double-entry system may have evolved. In particular, records from the fourteenth century indicate how the Society's record keepers began to adopt the practice of recording precursors to "debit" and "credit" entries in connection with sales and expenditure transactions.

Keywords

medieval non profit entity Italian medieval accounting "tabular" accounting system "Libri Reddictum" (income accounts)double-entry bookkeeping

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References

Deed of incorporation of 1304 ("Deed under the hand and seal of Dr. Zeffi, Notary Public"), Archives of the Society of the Living and the Dead, A,I,4.

Articles of the Venerable Society, in: ASP, Raccolta Statuti, case 175: simple paper copy from the second half of the sixteenth century, with paper cover, carrying on the front plate the title: "Haec sunt venerabilis Consortii Parmae Statuta".

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