Accounting culture in Venice through the lenses of the centuries: an introductory view

The present book aims at studying the origins and the development of the accounting culture in Venice, with a specific focus on the accounting education. The period covered by this work ranges from Luca Pacioli to the foundation (in 1868) of the Regia Scuola Superiore di Commercio (Royal High School of Commerce), which in 2018 will celebrate its 150 anniversary as Ca’ Foscari University of Venice. Back in the Middle Ages, Venice was home of a number of favourable circumstances that had been accumulated over the years. As a trading city par excellence, Venice allowed the spreading of the bookkeeping at first among firms and then in the public administration that was much in need of sophisticated accounting tools for the purpose of controlling its activities. As it was a very open city, Venice was the first to implement the Gutenberg print method in Italy, thus quickly turning into the most important city in the world for publishing industry. For this reason, Venice was responsible for both the divulgation of knowledge and the spread of volumes on double-entry bookkeeping and merchant business affairs. The idea of this book arises from the opportunity of highlighting the primary role of Venice as cradle for major accounting scholars, at a time when in other places the subject was not drafted yet. Many works of paramount importance were released in Venice. Accounting education, practitioners activity and managerial culture have long been present in Venice, thus accumulating over the years and finally leading to the foundation of the Scuola Superiore di Commercio – High School of Commerce – in 1868