ok known as a codex accepti et expensi. These household expenses were important in Rome because citizens were required to submit regular statements of assets and liabilities, used as a basis for taxation and even determination of civil rights. An intricate system of checks and balances was maintained in Rome for governmental receipts and disbursements by the quaestors, which managed the treasury, paid the army and supervised governmental books. An audit staff regularly examined public accounts, and quaestors were required to account to their successors and the Roman senate upon leaving office. The transition from republic to empire was at least in part to control Roman fiscal operations and to raise more revenues for the ongoing wars of conquest. While the front wall of republicanism was maintained, the empire concentrated real fiscal and political power in the emperor. Julius Caesar personally supervised the Roman treasury, and Augustus completely overhauled treasury operations during his reign. Among Roman accounting innovations was the use of an annual budget, which attempted to coordinate the Empire's diverse financial enterprises, limited expenditures to the amount of estimated revenues and levied taxes in a manner, which considered its citizens' ability to pay.The innovative Italians of the Renaissance are widely acknowledged to be the fathers of modern accounting. They elevated trade and commerce to new levels, and actively sought better methods of determining their profits. Although Arabic numerals were introduced long before, it was during this period that the Italians became the first to use them regularly in tracking business accounts - an improvement over Roman numerals the importance of which cannot be overstated. They kept extensive business records, as the use of capital and credit on a large scale developed. The evolutionary trend toward double entry bookkeeping was underway. This brought about Luca Pacioli and the Su...
