Accounting perspective from the academy

Abstract

Human history allows us to have a basis for reflection and understanding of what we know and practice as accounting. Its evaluation over time in parallel with man, his culture, his civilization, his social and economic context, demonstrates that his handling and analysis of information is vital. The article aims to make a brief historical tour of the accounting discipline and the way in which its thinking has evolved. It is oriented towards basic accounting training, so that it may be appropriate for use as a reference text for those who are in the process of forming accounting discipline. For this, a descriptive and reflective approach was adopted based on a documentary review of the historical evolution of accounting. Its main contribution is that without a doubt, accounting was not born from the scientific analysis of knowledge; it is a product of the historical background and the development and creation of techniques and tools of the commercial activities of each era and its historical process. Its evolution has been guided by major transformations in relation to the type of information, users, purpose, management and control of its operations. While the programs taught in universities require the incorporation of theoretical and epistemological studies of accounting, in order to understand accounting in its total dimension and thereby distinguish the conceptual problems typical of today, oriented towards the establishment of accounting as a science and not only in its practical exercise.