Who invented accountancy?

Answer 1

No one person or people invented accountancy - we have kept records of things moving in and out of our possession from before the time of the Pharoahs responsible for building the pyramids. More than half of what we have in written form from various cultures are the mundane records of payments, foodstuffs and rations for armies, construction workers, and various palace officials and dignitaries.

Modern accounting probably begins in the 1700's in line with the industrial revolution and Adam Smiths observation that unique piece work could not survive in the face of mechanical production techniques. Once you start producing more in an hour than you could previously produce in a week, you need to create some new techniques and methods for tracking production inputs, outputs, costs of workers, costs of materials, costs of energy sources (whether it be animals, steam or water power)

A little more...All of the above is true. In addition, the Franciscan friar, Luca Pacioli, is credited with the first detailed description of the double-entry accounting system used today, in his book, "Summa de Arithmetica, Geometria, Proportioni et Proportionalita (Everything about Arithmetic, Geometry and Proportions)" -- a math textbook written in 1494. He is affectionately called the Father of Modern Accounting.