Task Team of FUNdaMENtAL aCCOUntINg relatively efficient way. Of course, we can prove its efficiency in other ways such as the Economic Darwinism. The essence of the Darwinism can be expressed as"survivors are the fittest", or put it in other words, what can survive is relatively efficient. Nowadays, almost all organizations, profitable such as firms or non-profitable such as hospitals and schools, employ accountants, which proves accounting to be an efficient mechanism In fact, as an old Chinese proverb says, even the real brothers should ha bookkeeping. It is evident that a good bookkeeping is better way to maintain trust Here is the unique value of accounting: a lower-cost and widely accepted mechanism of trust Origins and Evolution of Accounting This section is designated to present a relatively integrated accounting view to the students by eans of describing the origins and evolution of accounting As accounting is a lower-cost device of trust, it can be traced back to the early stage of human civilization. It can easily figured out that, in early times, due to the low productivity, mankind had to select the most necessary things for sake of survival, and written civilization could not derive from the motivation of leisure and entertainments. The earliest written record of human civilization such as recording with string ties and curving the woods, are all highly related to accounting. "Phoenician created alphabets for the only purpose of accounting"l: The earliest documents in the world are accounting records and dictionary, which is not occasional event. They made the Sumer a necessity 2. This section is rich in references, which can be selected in the discretion of the instructor A C.Littleton, a well-known accounting expert published in 1933 book titled as the Evolution of ccounting Before the 20 Century. He points out that the double entry system was invented based on seven premises: the Art of Writing, bookkeeping is first a means of recording: the Arithmetic, the methodology of bookkeeping is composed of continuous simple calculations: the Private Property, bookkeeping only concerns the records of the facts relating to properties and rights to them; the Money, or the money economy, only when bookkeeping converts all properties and their exchanges into a uniform monetary unit, it takes the form of existence: the Credit, e.g. unsettled exchange, if all exchanges are settled on site, there is no need for recording them; the Commerce, the local exchange alone can not channel businesspeople minds into an integrated system the capital, without it, business is al ways a small scale, no credits incurred(p. 12). Italy exactly met all these conditions then The double entry system was originated in Italy, with the Cross Crusade and the advance of financing industry. It is suggested that the book the Era of Marco Polo, the Cross Crusade, and the Mongolian Empire(contemporary with Guo Jing, the hero of the Stories of Heroes Defeating eagles Shediao Yingxiong Zhuan) be linked together, to ensure a better understanding lution of counting is closely linked to the Following Italy, the Netherlands became the strongest economic power in the world. The automatic balance mechanism of the double entry system was greatly improved. Then the Great Britain, with its industrial revolution and modern plants, first saw the appearance of cost accounting. Later, with the 出自 Woolf,A.H., A short history of accountants and accountancy, London,1912。本文转引自索科 洛夫(前苏联)著、陈亚民等翻译《会计发展史》,中国商业出版社,1990年 2出自柴尔德,《远古文化史》,转引自文硕,《西方会计史》,中国商业出版社,1987年,第4页Task Team of FUNDAMENTAL ACCOUNTING School of Business, Sun Yat-sen University relatively efficient way. Of course, we can prove its efficiency in other ways such as the Economic Darwinism. The essence of the Darwinism can be expressed as “survivors are the fittest”, or put it in other words, what can survive is relatively efficient. Nowadays, almost all organizations, profitable such as firms or non-profitable such as hospitals and schools, employ accountants, which proves accounting to be an efficient mechanism. In fact, as an old Chinese proverb says, “even the real brothers should have a clear-cut bookkeeping.” It is evident that a good bookkeeping is better way to maintain trust. Here is the unique value of accounting: a lower-cost and widely accepted mechanism of trust. Origins and Evolution of Accounting This section is designated to present a relatively integrated accounting view to the students by means of describing the origins and evolution of accounting. As accounting is a lower-cost device of trust, it can be traced back to the early stage of human civilization. It can easily figured out that, in early times, due to the low productivity, mankind had to select the most necessary things for sake of survival, and written civilization could not derive from the motivation of leisure and entertainments. The earliest written record of human civilization, such as recording with string ties and curving the woods, are all highly related to accounting. “Phoenician created alphabets for the only purpose of accounting”1；”The earliest documents in the world are accounting records and dictionary, which is not occasional event. They made the Sumer a necessity. “2. This section is rich in references, which can be selected in the discretion of the instructor. A.C.Littleton, a well-known accounting expert, published in 1933 book titled as the Evolution of Accounting Before the 20th Century. He points out that the double entry system was invented based on seven premises: the Art of Writing, bookkeeping is first a means of recording；the Arithmetic, the methodology of bookkeeping is composed of continuous simple calculations；the Private Property, bookkeeping only concerns the records of the facts relating to properties and rights to them；the Money, or the money economy, only when bookkeeping converts all properties and their exchanges into a uniform monetary unit, it takes the form of existence；the Credit, e.g. unsettled exchange, if all exchanges are settled on site, there is no need for recording them；the Commerce, the local exchange alone can not channel businesspeople minds into an integrated system ；the capital, without it, business is always a small scale, no credits incurred (p.12). Italy exactly met all these conditions then. The double entry system was originated in Italy, with the Cross Crusade and the advance of financing industry. It is suggested that the book the Era of Marco Polo, the Cross Crusade, and the Mongolian Empire (contemporary with Guo Jing, the hero of the Stories of Heroes Defeating Eagles (Shediao Yingxiong Zhuan) be linked together, to ensure a better understanding. The evolution of accounting is closely linked to the prospects of the society and economy. Following Italy, the Netherlands became the strongest economic power in the world. The automatic balance mechanism of the double entry system was greatly improved. Then the Great Britain, with its industrial revolution and modern plants, first saw the appearance of cost accounting. Later, with the 1 出自 Woolf, A. H., A short history of accountants and accountancy, London, 1912。本文转引自索科 洛夫（前苏联）著、陈亚民等翻译《会计发展史》，中国商业出版社，1990 年。 2 出自柴尔德，《远古文化史》，转引自文硕，《西方会计史》，中国商业出版社，1987 年，第 4 页