Wednesday, December 7 — Ancient Egyptians kept careful records and markings of goods kept in royal warehouses more than 53 centuries ago. This pre-numerical recording means that the practice of accounting predates written language itself. After some 5,200 years of development and refinement of accounting practices, New York state followed with the establishment of the certified public accountant. In December 1896, certificate number one, the first in the country, went to Frank Broaker of New York City. Properly so, as he was instrumental in pushing the state to enact a CPA law. Today there are 132,000 accounting and bookkeeping establishments, which record over $131 billion of annual business. Of America’s 1.9 million accountants, nearly 62 percent are women.
Profile Americais in its 20th year as a public service of the U.S. Census Bureau.
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