DEPRECIATION ACCOUNTING IN FRANCESCO DATINI'S COMPANIES

摘要

The issue of depreciation accounting in the era of double-entry bookkeeping origin is one of the least studied. The main aim of the carrying out research is to determine the existence of the algorithm and method for depreciation calculating in the medieval companies, based on the archival data, particularly, Francesco Datini's companies. The results of the research were the discovery in the archives and libraries of Italy of four early examples of depreciation charging, one of which relates to the impairment of assets, the other three are related to the distribution of assets value according to the periods of their useful life. The most significant result can be recognized as the discovery of the earliest, among the currently known, example of depreciation charging by straight-line method, with the preserved distinct algorithm.