Sangster Pacioli Lens Published in The Accounting Review with DOI 180318.pdf (417.48 kB)
Pacioli's lens: God, humanism, Euclid, and the rhetoric of double entry
journal contribution
posted on 2023-06-09, 12:30 authored by Alan SangsterThis paper investigates why, in 1494, the Franciscan friar and teacher of mathematics, Luca Pacioli, published an instructional treatise describing the system of double entry bookkeeping. In doing so, it also explores the rhetoric and foundations of double entry through the lens of Pacioli’s treatise. Recent findings on Pacioli’s life and works, his writings, and the medieval accounting archives are combined to identify how he was inspired by his faith and his humanist beliefs to give all merchants access to the practical mathematics and the bookkeeping they required. The paper finds that Pacioli’s teaching method was inspired by Euclid, his Franciscan education, and his humanist beliefs, and that Pacioli reveals a simplicity in the then-unrecognized axiomatic foundation of double entry that has been largely overlooked. The findings represent a paradigm shift in how we perceive Pacioli, his treatise, and double entry.
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Publication status
- Published
File Version
- Accepted version
Journal
The Accounting ReviewISSN
0001-4826Publisher
American Accounting AssociationExternal DOI
Issue
2Volume
93Page range
299-314Department affiliated with
- Accounting and Finance Publications
Full text available
- Yes
Peer reviewed?
- Yes
Legacy Posted Date
2018-03-19First Open Access (FOA) Date
2023-03-18First Compliant Deposit (FCD) Date
2018-03-19Usage metrics
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