<Tr> <Th> Occupation </Th> <Td> Friar, mathematician, writer </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Th> Known for </Th> <Td> Summa de arithmetica, De divina proportione, double - entry bookkeeping </Td> </Tr> <P> Fra Luca Bartolomeo de Pacioli (sometimes Paccioli or Paciolo; c. 1447--1517) was an Italian mathematician, Franciscan friar, collaborator with Leonardo da Vinci, and an early contributor to the field now known as accounting . He is referred to as "The Father of Accounting and Bookkeeping" in Europe and he was the first person to publish a work on the double - entry system of book - keeping on the continent . He was also called Luca di Borgo after his birthplace, Borgo Sansepolcro, Tuscany . </P> <P> Luca Pacioli was born between 1446 and 1448 in the Tuscan town of Sansepolcro where he received an abbaco education . This was education in the vernacular (i.e., the local tongue) rather than Latin and focused on the knowledge required of merchants . His father was Bartolomeo Pacioli; however, Luca Pacioli was said to have lived with the Befolci family as a child in his birth town Sansepolcro . He moved to Venice around 1464, where he continued his own education while working as a tutor to the three sons of a merchant . It was during this period that he wrote his first book, a treatise on arithmetic for the boys he was tutoring . Between 1472 and 1475, he became a Franciscan friar . Thus, Luca Pacioli could be referred to simply as Friar Luca . </P>

Who is known as the father of modern accounting