THE ACCOUNTING SYSTEM PRACTICED IN THE NEAR EAST DURING THE PERIOD 1220-1350 BASED ON THE BOOK RISALE-I FELEKIYYE

This study examines the governmental accounting practice in the Near East during the Il-Khan Dynasty period (1120-1350 A.D.). The survey is based on a handwritten manuscript, Risale-i Felekiyye. The accounting system introduced in the Risale-i Felekiyye is an elaborate governmental accounting system. The system was cased on seven major books and a number of special journals. Documents used in the system formed the basis for recording events in the books. Furthermore, the system included concepts and rules for accounting and resulted in a final report. This accounting system emerged primarily from social and economic necessities caused by agricultural and fiscal reforms introduced by Ghazan Khan in 1295-1304. As a result of these reforms, budgeting practices and accounting regulation by the state were introduced to control state tax revenues and expenditures and to prevent fraud. These regulations introduced the use of a single monetary unit for recording, the use of an accounting fiscal period, duality, classification, substance, procedural rules which introduced a bilateral journal entry form, agency account rules, and correction and control rules. Also the rule of "revenues have to be equal to expenditures" presented itself as a balance sheet identity equation. These regulations, however, were not based on the accrual principle; instead, a cash basis of accounting was the recognized practice. The study concludes that the rudiments of double-entry accounting were practiced in the Near East and were developed independently from the accounting practices used in the West.