The Virtual Reconstruction of the Earliest Double-Entry Accounting Ledger

Abstract

The present paper contributes to the history of the accounting development as this research has allowed us to recreate the initial numeration of the pages in the General ledger of Giovanni Farolfi’s company in Provence (1299–1300) using the methods of logical-analytical reconstruction and cross-references as well as to accomplish the virtual reconstruction of its structure. The account book of interest can be truly concerned to be the earliest accounting ledger kept according to the rules of double-entry bookkeeping. The implemented study and its results do not often coincide with those ones described in the works of the previous researches.