La partita doppia in Italia e in Spagna nel XVI secolo nelle opere di due autori: Angelo Pietra e Salvador Bartolomé de Solorzano

The purpose of this article is to examine the different application of double-entry book-keeping in Italy and Spain in the sixteenth century. The analysis is based on the comparison between two treatises: the former is Indirizzo degli economi (Mantova, 1586) written by the Benedictine monk Angelo Pietra, while the latter is Libro de caxa y manual de cuentas de mercaderes (Madrid, 1590) written by Salvador Bartolomé de Solorzano. These two admirable treatises realized in the end of sixteenth century can be considered as significant expressions of the state of the art of accounting culture in the two countries in this historical period. The comparative analysis has highlighted important evidence of a similar diffusion of double entry book-keeping knowledge in the two countries, but also meaningful differences related to the different use of double entry book-keeping, proof of an inhomogeneous accounting culture maturity in Italy and Spain.