Giovanni Antonio Moschetti’s Universal Trattato: an unexplored contribution to accounting theory and practice

Despite an increasing interest in accounting literature, bibliographical works have mostly focused on contemporary authors or on well-known thinkers such as Pacioli, Flori or Pietra. The chapter highlights the overlooked contribution of Venetian Giovanni Antonio Moschetti to accounting theory and practice by focusing on both the technical and pedagogical aspects of his main work, the Dell’Universal Trattato di Libri Doppii, published in 1610. Moschetti sought to provide businesses in the Venetian Republic with reliable and homogeneous accounting practices, grounded in a sound theoretical foundation. The elegant and refined style of writing of the Universal Trattato, unusual for a book of such technical content, reflected the influence of the socio-cultural context on Moschetti’s ideas, but was also a way to produce a truly literary work and an attempt to surprise and intrigue the reader, stimulating their interest. Not only did Moschetti provide a very detailed range of possible accounting treatments for various types of business, but he also anticipated many innovations which would be developed only centuries later, such as value-based accounts and the distinction between permutative and modicative facts.