swaitsandClaude Opus 5.5
ad572ae89d
Stephen asked that specs come from recognized documents, not from anyone's memory. There is no single US bookkeeping bible; authority is layered, and this records it: - docs/spec/sources/: verbatim excerpts (whitespace normalized), each with URL, retrieval date, and the SHA-256 of the fetched file, of public-domain texts: Pacioli's 1494 treatise in Geijsbeek's 1914 translation (double entry, the trial balance, one money, write only forward, correct by opposite entry, close into capital); IRS Pub. 583, 538, 946, 15; the 1099-MISC/NEC instructions (2025 and 2026); 26 U.S.C. §6041, §6041A, §704; Treas. Reg. §1.263(a)-1(f) and -4(f); Notice 2015-82; Rev. Proc. 98-25; Form 1065 instructions; 17 U.S.C. §105. The excerpts were extracted by matching each passage against the fetched file, so none can contain text the source doesn't. - docs/spec/rules.md: the rule catalog, B-1 to B-22. Each rule says AUTHORITY, CONVENTION, or DECISION; cites its sources (FASB's Codification and Concepts Statement 8 and OpenStax quoted briefly, never copied: copyright and CC BY-NC-SA); and names the code that enforces it and the tests and proofs that check it. - Spec blocks in the code now carry SOURCE: lines into the catalog; AGENTS.md makes sourcing rule 0 of the formal-methods bar. Corrections the sources turned up: the de minimis limit is $500 in the regulation and $2,500 by Notice 2015-82 (both now cited); 1099 thresholds after 2026 are inflation-indexed, so the engine's flat $2,000 for 2027+ is an open question (B-19). Unverified ASC paragraphs (360-10-35-4, 340-10, 230-10-45-10, 606-10-55-37B, 210) are listed in docs/spec/README.md until someone with a FASB basic-view login reads them. Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5.5 <noreply@anthropic.com> Claude-Session: https://claude.ai/code/session_01GWVo7x3UHw5kwCUaWxiejX
231 lines
15 KiB
Markdown
231 lines
15 KiB
Markdown
# Pacioli, *Particularis de computis et scripturis* (1494)
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The first published description of double-entry bookkeeping: Treatise XI of
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Luca Pacioli's *Summa de arithmetica, geometria, proportioni et
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proportionalita* (Venice, 1494), in John B. Geijsbeek's English translation,
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*Ancient Double-Entry Bookkeeping* (Denver, 1914). Both are in the public
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domain in the United States (published 1494 and 1914); archive.org's
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metadata for its other copy of the book (`ancientdoubleent00geijuoft`)
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reads `NOT_IN_COPYRIGHT`.
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These are the rules wanderbooks' engine still enforces: every entry is a
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double entry; the trial balance's debits equal its credits; one money
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throughout the ledger; the book is written only forward; a mistake is
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corrected by an equal entry on the opposite side, never erased; expense and
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income accounts close into profit and loss, and profit and loss into
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capital.
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Source: Internet Archive item `cu31924030162147` (Cornell University
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Library scan), OCR full text
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<https://archive.org/download/cu31924030162147/cu31924030162147_djvu.txt>,
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retrieved 2026-10-13, SHA-256 `241b39da6d18a01db80c0239c6ab42d632b614754b7df00dee86ff3afa9b0af9`.
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The excerpts below are that OCR text **verbatim**, by line range, OCR
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artifacts included (e.g. `{bUancio}` for *bilancio*). Geijsbeek printed the
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1494 Italian in facsimile beside his translation; where the OCR of a
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facsimile page falls inside a range it is kept as is.
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## Chapter 12: cash and capital
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OCR lines 4403–4417:
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```text
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CHAPTER 12.
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HOW THE ENTRY SHOULD BE MADE INTO THE JOURNAL BY MEANS OF THE DEBIT
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AND THE CREDIT, WITH MANY EXAMPLES. THE TWO OTHER EXPRESSIONS USED IN
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THE LEDGER, THE ONE CALLED "CASH," AND THE OTHER "CAPITAL," AND WHAT
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SHOULD BE UNDERSTOOD BY THEM.
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With the name of God you shall begin to enter into your Journal the first item of your Inventory,
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that is, the quantity of cash that you possess, and in order to know how to enter this Inventory into the
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Ledger and Journal, you must make use of the two other expressions {termini) ; the one called "cash"
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{cassa) and the other "capital" {cavedale). By cash is understood your property or pocketbook {borscia:
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from bursa, or bag) ; by capital is understood the entire amount of what you now possess.
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This capital must always be placed as creditor {creditore) in all the principal mercantile Ledgers and
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Journals and the cash always debtor. Never at any time in the management of your business may cash be
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```
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## Chapter 27: the profit and loss account, closed into capital
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OCR lines 6355–6380:
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```text
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After the other accounts, there must follow one which is named variously, according to different localities. Favor
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and Damage (Pro o Danwo), or Profit and Damage {Utile a Danno) , or Increase and Deficit (.Avanzi e Desavanzi).
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Into this other accounts in the Ledger have their remainders, as we will show when we speak of the trial balance.
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You should not put these entries in the Journal, but only in the Ledger, as they originate from overs or shorts In the
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debits and credits, and not from actual transactions. You shall open the account this way:
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Profit and Loss debit (dee dare — shall give), and Profit and Loss credit (dee havere — shall have).
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That is, if you had sustained a loss in a special line of merchandise and In this account in your Ledger would
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show less in the credit than the debit, then you will add the difference (soldo) to the credit so as to make it balance,
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and you shall enter as follows:
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Credit (dee havere — shall have), per Profit and Loss, so much, which I enter here in order to balance on account
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of loss sustained — and so on, and you will mark the page of the Profit and Loss account where you write down the
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entry. Then you go to the Profit and Loss account and In the debit column you shall enter as follows:
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Profit and Loss debit (dee dare — shall give), on this day, to such and such loss sustained, so much — which has
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been entered in the credit of said merchandise account in order to balance it at page so and so. If the account of this
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special merchandise would show a profit instead of loss — that Is, more In the credit than in the debit — then you will
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proceed In the opposite way. The same you shall do one by one for all accounts with merchandise or different things,
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whether they show good or bad results, so that your Ledger always shows the accounts in balance — that is, as much
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In the debit as in the credit. This is the condition the Ledger will be in if it is correct, as I will explain to you when
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I am talking of the balance. In this way you will see at a glance whether you are gaining or losing, and how much.
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And this account must then be transferred for its closing (saldo) into the capital account, which Is always the last
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in all the ledgers and is consequently the receptacle of all other accounts, as you will understand.
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```
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## Chapter 31: correcting a mistaken entry (storno)
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OCR lines 6534–6560:
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```text
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CHAPTER 31.
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HOW TO TAKE OUT ONE OR MORE ENTRIES WHICH BY MISTAKE YOU MIGHT HAVE
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ENTERED IN A DIFFERENT PLACE FROM THE RIGHT ONE, WHICH MAY HAPPEN THROUGH
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ABSENTMINDEDNESS.
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The good bookkeeper should also know how to take out — or as they call it in Florence "stornare" —
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an entry which by mistake you might have written down in the wrong place as, for instance, if you had
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entered it as a debit instead of a credit entry ; or when you have to enter it in the account of Mr. Mar-
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tino and you put it in the account of Mr. Giovanni.
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For at times you cannot be so diligent that you are unable to make mistakes. The proverb says :
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He who does nothing, makes no mistakes : he who makes no mistakes, learns nothing.
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And you shall correct this entry as follows: If you had placed this entry in the debit column
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while you should have put it in the credit column, in order to correct this, you shall make another
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entry opposite this one in the credit for the same amount. And you shall say thus : On such and such
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day for the amount which has been entered opposite here under the debit and should have been put in
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the credit, see page, etc., and you shall write down in the column of figures: L S G P
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which you wrote down by mistake in the other column. In front of these two entries you shall mark
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a cross or any other mark so that when you make out an abstract or statement of the account you
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should leave these entries out. After you have made this correction it is just as if you had written
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nothing in the debit column. You then make the entry in the credit column as it should have been
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and everything will be as it should have been.
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```
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## Chapter 34: closing expenses into profit and loss, and profit and loss into capital
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OCR lines 6838–6875:
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```text
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to those accounts which you should not care to transfer to Ledger A, as, for instance, your own personal
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accounts of which you are not obliged to give an account to another, as, for instance, small mercantile ex-
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penses, household expenses, income and expenses and all extraordinary expenses — rentals, pescioni, feudi or
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livelU, etc. All these accounts should be closed {saldore) in the Cross Ledger into the favor and damage ac-
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count, or increase and deficit, or profit and damage account, as it is sometimes called. You shall enter them
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in the debit column, as it is rare that these expense accounts should show anything in the credit side. As
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I often have told you, add the difference to the column, either debit or credit, which shows a smaller total,
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saying: Per profit and loss in this account, see page, etc. By doing so, you shall have closed {saldore) all
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these different accounts iu the profit and loss account through which then, by adding all the debit and all
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the credit entries, you will be able to know what is your gain or loss, for with this balance aU entries are
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equalized ; the things that had to be deducted were deducted, and the things that had to be added were
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added proportionately in their respective places. If this account shows more in the debit than in the credit,
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that means that you have lost that much in your business since you began. If the credit is more than the
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debit, that means that in the same period of time you have gained.
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After you know by the closing {saldorai) of this account what your profit or loss is, then you shall close
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this account into the capital account in which, at the beginning of your management of your business, you
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entered the inventory of aU your worldly goods. You shall close the account in this way : If the losses
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are in excess — ^from which state of affairs may God keep every one who really lives as a good Christian —
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then you have to add to the credit in the usual manner, saying : On such and such day, Per capital on
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account of losses in this account, see page so and so, value, etc. Then you shall cancel the account with a
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diagonal line in debit and credit, and put in the total amount of aU the debit entries, as well as of the credit
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entries, which should be equal. And then in the capital account, you shall write in the debit column:
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Capital debit {dee dare — shall give) on such and sueh day, per profit and loss account on account of losses
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as marked down in the credit column of said account in order to close {per saldo), value, etc. :
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L , S , G , P
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If instead there should be a profit, which wiU happen when the profit and loss account would show
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more in the credit than in the debit, then you shoixld add the difference to the debit side to make the equali-
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zation, referring to the capital account and respective page. You should credit the same amount to the capi-
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tal account, making the entry on the credit side where all the other goods of yours have been entered, per-
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sonal or real. Therefore, from the capital account, which always must be the last account in the entire
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Ledger, you may always learn what your fortune is, by adding together aU the debits and all the credits,
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which you have transferred in Ledger A.
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Then this capital account should be closed and carried forward with the other accounts to Ledger
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A, either in total or entry by entry. You can do either way, but it is customary to transfer only the total
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```
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## Chapter 36: summary of the rules for keeping a ledger
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OCR lines 7150–7215:
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```text
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CHAPTER 36.
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SUMMARY OF THE RULES AND WAYS FOR KEEPING A LEDGER.
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All the creditors must appear in the Ledger at the right hand side, and all the debtors at the left.
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All entries made in the ledger have to be double entries — that is, if you make one creditor, you must
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make some one debtor.
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Each debit (shall give — dee dare) and credit (shall have — dee havere) entry must contain three things,
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namely : the day, the amount and the reason for the entry.
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The last name in the entry of the debit (in the Ledger) must be the first name in the entry of the
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credit. On the same day that you make the debit entry, you should make the credit entry.
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By a trial balance {bUancio) of the Ledger we mean a sheet of paper folded lengthwise in the middle,
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on which we write down all the creditors of the Ledger at the right side and the debtors at the left side.
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"We see whether the total of the debits is equal to that of the credits, and if so, the Ledger is in order.
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The trial balance of the Ledger should be equal — that is, the total of the credits — I do not say creditors
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— should be equal to the total of the debits — I do not say debtors. If they were not equal there would be a
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mistake in the Ledger.
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The cash account should always be a debtor or equal. If it were different, there would be a mistake
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in the ledger.
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You must not and cannot make any one debtor in your book without permission or consent of the per-
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son that has to appear as debtor ; if you should, that account would be considered false. Likewise you can-
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not add terms or conditions to a credit without permission and consent of the creditor. If you should,
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that statement would be untrue.
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The values in the Ledger must be reckoned in one kind of money. In the explanation of the entries,
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you may name all sorts of money, either ducats, or lire, or Florence, or gold scudi, or anything
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else ; but in writing the amount in the column, you should always use the same kind of money through-
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out — that is, the money that you reckon by at the beginning should be the same all through the Ledger.
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The debit or credit entries of the cash account may be shortened, if you desire, by not giving the rea-
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son for the entry ; you may simply say from so and so, for so and so, because the reason for the entry is
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stated in the opposite entry.
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If a new account should be opened, you must use a new page and must not go back even if there was
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room enough to place the new account. You should not write backward, but always forward — that is, go
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forward as the days go, which never come back. If you do otherwise, the book would be untrue.
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If you should make an entry in the Ledger by mistake which should not have been made, as it happens
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at times through absentmindedness, and if you wanted to correct it, you shall do as follows: Mark with
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a cross or with an "H" that special entry, and then make an entry on the opposite side under the same
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account. That is, if the erroneous entry was on the credit side — say, for instance, for L 50, S 10, D 6 —
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you make an entry in the debit side, saying: Debit (dee dare) L 50, S 10, D 6, for the opposite entry
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cross marked which is hereby corrected, because it was put in through a mistake and should not have
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been made. Then mark with a cross this new entry. This is all.
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When the spaces given to any particular account are all filled so that no more entries can be made
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and you want to carry forward that account, do in this way : Figure out the remainder of the said ac-
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count — that is, whether it is debit or credit remainder. Now let us say that there is a credit remainder
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of L 20, S 4, D 2. You should write on the opposite side, without mentioning any date, as follows : Debit
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L 28, S 4, D 2, per remainder (per resto) of this account carried forward in the credit at page so and so.
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And it is done. The said entry is to be marked in the margin so, namely: Bo, which means "resto" (re-
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mainder) , but this does not mean that it is a true debit entry although it is on the debit side. It is rather
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the credit which is transferred through the debit side. Now you must turn the pages and keep on turn-
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ing them until you find a new page where you shall credit that account by naming the account and mak-
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ing a new entry without putting down any day. And you shall say in the following manner : So and so
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is credit (dee havere) L 28, S 4, D 2, per remainder (per resto) of account transferred from page so and so,
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and you should mark this entry in the margin by Ro, which means "resto" remainder, and that is done.
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In the same way, as I have shown you, you shall proceed if the account has a debit remainder — that is,
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what you enter on the credit side you should transfer to the debit side.
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```
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