SPECIFIC FEATURES OF DEPRECIATION ACCOUNTING AT THE END OF THE 12TH - EARLY 13TH CENTURIES

摘要

Historical aspects of depreciation and impairment of assets have been the subject of a number of scientific studies. A lot of works have been considering this issue from the time of the Roman architect Marcus Vitruvius Pollio. But, unfortunately, the practice of depreciation and impairment of assets in the Medieval Europe during the period of 12th-15th centuries were insufficiently investigated, which, according to the authors, is quite unfair. It was during the formation of double-entry bookkeeping, when emergence of the main elements of modern accounting took place and understanding the need to reflect the results of the impairment of assets in accounting appeared, and that determined the main purpose of the research - deep analysis of the archival material in order to identify the facts of depreciation charging, determination of the specific algorithm for calculating the depreciation charging and the order of depreciation reflection in accounting. The discovery of four different examples of depreciation charging in the accounts of double-entry bookkeeping, two of them belonging to the end of the 12th - early 13th centuries, can be introduced as the result of the research. Equally important, a uniform method of assets impairment accounting did not exist; using the data from the medieval archives, the authors were able to identify two different methods: assets impairment accounting; algorithm for linear distribution of assets value according to the periods of useful life. The two earliest examples have been considered in the given paper.