What do you think of as the oldest occupation on earth? Does your mind immediately go to Rudyard Kipling’s coined reference as the oldest profession in the world – prostitution? Maybe so, but who accounted for the trade? If there was an exchange of goods, then there had to be an accounting in one form or another, albeit very basic. Accounting has simply been a practical matter of keeping track of exchanges for as long as there were things to trade.
Evidence of accountancy has been traced back to the times of ancient Mesopotamia. Before the era of modern luxuries like the ones provided by local movers in Guelph ON account tracking was a much less detailed process. Accounts showing expenditures and goods received and traded that are estimated to be over 7,000 years old have been unearthed. Auditing records have been found in the ancient ruins of Egypt, Assyria, Sumeria and Babylon. People relied on primitive methods to account for crops and herds.