Questão 568849

1 ____ As far back as 4000 B.C., historians believe, formalAs far back as 4000 B.C., historians believe, formal

record-keeping systems were first instituted by organized

businesses and governments in the Near East to allay their

4 concerns about correctly accounting for receipts and

disbursements and collecting taxes. Similar developments

occurred with respect to the Zhao dynasty in China (1122-256

7 B.C.). The need for and indications of audits can be traced

back to public finance systems in Babylonia, Greece, the

Roman Empire, the City States of Italy, etc., all of which

10 developed a detailed system of checks and counterchecks.

Specifically, these governments were worried about

incompetent officials prone to making bookkeeping errors and

13 inaccuracies as well as corrupt officials who were motivated to

perpetrate fraud whenever the opportunity arose. Even the

Bible (referring to the period between 1800 B.C. and A.D. 95)

16 explains the basic rationale for instituting controls rather

straightforwardly: “…if employees have an opportunity to steal

they may take advantage of it.” The Bible also contains

19 examples of good internal control practices, such as dual

custody of assets, restriction of access to assets, and

segregation of duties, as well as examples of the need for

22 competent and honest employees. Historically then, the

emergence of double-entry bookkeeping in circa 1494 A.D. can

be directly traced to the critical need for exercising stewardship

25 and control. Throughout European history, for instance, fraud

cases — such as the South Sea bubble of the 18th century, and

the tulip scandal — provided the justification for exercising

28 more control over managers.

S. Ramamoorti. Internal auditing: history, evolution, and

prospects. p. 3. Internet: <https://na.theiia.org> (adapted).

According to the text above, judge the following items.

The author points to a discontinuity in the history of financial bookkeeping from the end of the 15^th century to the 18^th century.