UKAF4023 Accounting Theory and Practice (Oct 2015)

UNIVERSITI TUNKU ABDUL RAHMAN

FACULTY OF ACCOUNTANCY AND MANAGEMENT

ACADEMIC YEAR 2015/2016

BACHELOR OF ACCOUNTING (HONOURS)

TUTORIAL 2
The Historical Development of Accounting

Question 1
Early records were quantified in terms of physical volumes rather than currency thus the
concepts of income and performance could not be applied. Why was this and why were audits
conducted at that point of time?

Question 2
Describe the seven pre-conditions necessary for the emergence of an orderly accounting system
which were outlined by Littleton (1968).

Question 3
Fra Luca Bartolomeo de Pacioli (Pacioli) was an Italian mathematician, Franciscan friar,
collaborator with Leonardo da Vinci, and seminal contributor to the field now known as
accounting. In 1494, his first book Summa de arithmetica, geometria, proportioni et
proportionalità, or famously known as “Summa” was printed in Venice.

Required:
Discuss the recommendations made by Pacioli in his “Summa” to the accounting practices.

Question 4
During the “Age of Stagnation” why did single entry accounting persist and why were
businesses slow to adopt the double entry system?

Question 5
What concepts were absent from accounting records during the so-called “Age of Stagnation”?

Question 6
In terms of accountability, what new practices evolved in the nineteenth and early twentieth
centuries? Did these practices increase or decrease the discretion of accountants?

Question 7
With relevant example, elaborate the effect of the introduction of large-scale industrial
operations during Industrial Revolution to the accounting practices.

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UKAF4023 Accounting Theory and Practice (Oct 2015)

Question 8 (ATP past year test)

Accounting practitioners in public accounting, industry, and not-for-profit organizations, as well

as investors, lending institutions, business firms, and all other users for financial information are
indebted to Luca Pacioli for his monumental role in the development of accounting.
In 1494, his first book Summa de arithmetica, geometria, proportioni et proportionalità, or
famously known as “Summa” was printed in Venice.

Required:
Discuss the recommendations made by Pacioli in his “Summa” to the accounting practices.