Accounting is thousands of years old and is one of the oldest professions. Ancient Accounting methods were believed to have emerged more than 10,000 years ago in the Middle East. People of that time like the Sumerians in Mesopotamia, Babylonians and ancient Egyptians realized the need to count and measure the yield of their labor and effort which they accomplished through primitive accounting. Based on the then natural season of farming and herding, ancient settlers easily determined if there is a surplus after the crops have been harvested or when the young animals have weaned.
Between 8000 - 3700 BCE, tokens shaped into simple geometric forms of cones or spheres were utilized for stewardship purposes in relation to identifying and securing this surplus, and are examples of accounts that referred to lists of personal property. Some of these tokens bore specific markings like incised lines and impressed dots. Then community leaders collected at regular intervals the surplus to be distributed to some community members who could not support themselves and for offerings in religious rituals or festivals. There were only about ten shapes of token in 7000 BCE, each representing one of the farm products levied at that time. Around 3500 BCE, there were about 350 token shapes wherein some of the new shapes stood for and represent raw materials such as wool and metal and others for finished products among which textiles, garments, jewelry, bread, beer and honey.
Next came the invention of a form of bookkeeping through clay tokens. In this process, the Neolithic accountants not only relied in the oral reporting of harvest and weaning surplus, they also recognized the use and advantage of encoding and decoding to manipulate data.
Between 3700 to 2900 BCE, the Mesopotamian Civilization used clay tablets with pictographic characters to record commercial transactions in temples. During the Sumerian Period, flat clay tablets impressed by tokens to transfer symbols. These tablets were dried and hardened in order to form records or documents were kept by scribes who were responsible for documenting financial transactions.
About 5,000 years ago in Sumeria, before the birth of modern numerical system, Abacus was utilized as a counting tool. By sliding beads across the frame, simple processes of counting such as addition and subtraction were performed. Another essential tool that ancient accountants used in early bookkeeping was Papyrus. In ancient Egypt around 4,000 BC, this paper-like material made from reed-like papyrus plant was made use in record-keeping and administration, as tax receipts and court documents. Papyrus, as a useful recording material, also served its purpose in literature, religious texts and music.
In order to check their agricultural production, early Egyptians utilized pictures, words and numbers in accounting as well as tracking ceremonies, religious events, monuments, public work projects, labor and control. So that accuracy would be practiced in record-keeping, Egyptian rulers used instigated fear and pain among their constituents. Should there be irregularities in auditing, auditors were demanded for a fine, or mutilated and even killed.
As time progressed and new eras of Bronze and Iron initiated, various developments in different areas were also birthed including the process of Accounting and record-keeping. There were more complex tokens with markings and linings to differentiate inventories, transactions and parties. Later, these tokens gave way to tablets, which in turn ushered the development of our modern mathematical systems of currency.