Brief History Of Accounting Essay

2.1 Conceptual Framework
This section elaborates on concepts such as accounting, history of accounting, it roles and function in organization, its components and branches and the concept of Small and medium enterprises was discussed and their adoption of accounting practices. These concepts were examined based on the ideas of experts and scholars in this field. This is to ensure that adequate understanding is gained on these issues.
2.1.1 Concept of Accounting
Many times, accounting has been described as the language of business. The description implies that accounting is closely associated with an interpretation of the economic structure, position and situation of a business (Kepner, 1968). Also accounting is a term generally used to explain

Accounting is one of the oldest professions in the world. Although many scholars attribute the origin of accounting to Luca Pacioli in the Renaissance period in Venice, Italy, accounting is probably as old as man. According to Balogun, A (2008) in the ancient days, man started business transactions with his fellowmen through the use of “trade by barter” therefore, the need for record keeping or auditing did not arise. However, with the origination of money and the subsequent increase in the volume of business transactions the keeping of records and accounts and their audits became unavoidable. Therefore in those days the bookkeepers read the accounts to the Auditors who heard them and testified to their correctness or incorrectness. Hence the word “auditing” was coined from the Latin word “audio” which means “to

It is closely related to developments of writing, counting and money and ancient auditing systems by the primitive Egyptians and Babylonians (Keith, 1992). Five thousand years before Luca Pacioli invented the double entry system, the Assyrian, Chaldean-Babylonian and Sumerian civilizations were flourishing in the Mesopotamian Valley, producing some of the oldest known records of commerce. In the region between the Tigris and Euphrates River, periodic floods made the valley a rich area for agriculture (Alexander, 2002). As the prosperity of the farmers increased, business that provided services and small industries sprung up and developed in the communities in and around the Mesopotamian Valley. The cities of Babylon and Nineveh became the centers for regional trade, and Babylonian language became the language of business and politics throughout the Near East. There was more than one banking firm in Mesopotamia, employing standard measures of gold and silver, and giving credit in some transactions. During this period trade the States of Sumer developed a trade and market economy based originally on the commodity money of the shekel which was a certain weight measure of barley, while the Babylonians later developed the earliest system of pricing using metric of various commodities that was fixed in a legal code. This legal code was known as the Hammurabi. The Hammurabi