History of Accounting in Mesopotamia Era

1. MESOPOTAMIA
ERA
History of Accounting
Presented by Group 1

2. MESOPOTAMIAN
CIVILIZATION
⮚ The world’s earliest civilization
⮚ The name comes from a Greek word
meaning “between rivers,” referring
to the land between the Tigris and
Euphrates rivers
⮚ It is now the modern IRAQ.

3. MESOPOTAMIAN
ACCOUNTING
The accounting system of
Mesopotamia is closely related in the
development of their writing system.
Mesopotamia’s writing system is
called ‘Cuneiform’.

4. MESOPOTAMIAN
ACCOUNTING
❖ Money was used in Mesopotamia
together with the Barter System.
the exchange of
one good in
return for
another product

5. MESOPOTAMIAN
ACCOUNTING
As a result…
Many people began working as
bookkeepers. It helped the trading
system run smoothly due to the
actual records kept by them.

6. MESOPOTAMIAN
ACCOUNTING
❖ The trading needed
transactional details so
Mesopotamians used clay
cylinders.
❖ They are typically made
from hardstones that were
used as medium for
administrative and personal

7. MESOPOTAMIAN
ACCOUNTING
❖ They also used clay
tokens to keep the record
of the commodity.
❖ Tokens were used to track
the trading of goods and is
considered as the
representation of the
goods being traded.

8. MESPOTAMIAN ACCOUNTING
❖ Sumerian temples acted
as banks where one
storey from the temple
was made an office for
bank and accounting.
❖ These temples are called
Ziggurats.

9. MESOPOTAMIAN
ACCOUNTING
❖ Babylonians developed the first
commercial banking system around
3000 BC.
❖ During 2500 BC, Shekel became the
standard currency and used in many
business transactions.