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Oldest German Bookkeeping Text, Kiyoshi Inoue

Accounting Historians Journal

This article brings to light the neglected contribution of Grammateus, the author or Ayn New Kunstlich Buech (A New Skill Book) which, although basically a mathematics text, contained a section on bookkeeping in the style of Paciolo's Summa. His work is analyzed to prove the technical competence and the historical nature of the bookkeeping system which he propounded. In order to substantiate the conclusions, the full translation of the first edition (1521) is included in modern English.