In every country has a national accountant’s day. In the Russian Federation this holiday is celebrated on November 21. This is exactly when the law on accounting was adopted and signed by Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin. However, the International Accountant’s Day is globally celebrated on November 10. Hence, Russian accountants can celebrate their professional holiday twice times a year.
In most cases chief accountant is the first subordinate of financial director. That is why the professional community of accountants is closely related to the professional community of financiers and RCFD actively participates in annual celebration of the Accountant’s Day on November 21.
The accounting profession originated in the 15th century. On November 10, 1494 the first book on accounting written by Luca Pacioli was published. Due to this that event the International Accounting Day is annually celebrated on November 10. On date Luca Pacioli published his book “Everything about Arithmetic, Geometry, and Proportions”, one of the chapters of this book contained the information on accounting records. That is why he is widely considered the "Father of Accounting”.
It’s also interesting to mention that the accounting principles Pacioli formulated 500 years ago are still applied today. He described the procedure of accounting and balancing in detail and introduced accounting terminology.
On December 7, 1718 an accountant’s position was first mentioned in the official documents of the Russian Empire. It’s not surprising the author of the document was Peter I.
On December 7 the Emperor elaborated and signed a royal decree to the Senate “On issuing the instructions for the authorities of provincial administration based on the Swedish legislation, on holding an appointment at local administrations and commencing of a new form of management starting from the next year in Saint Petersburg Province”. In accordance with the Decree the position of accountant was included to the list of positions of local administrations. In the 18th century people used German word “buchhalter” in Russia. The main task of this profession was accounting for cash flows coming to the state budget.
Today, in a number of regions of the Russian Federation there are official regional holidays of accountants. For instance, in 2001 the Legislative Assembly of Krasnodar Krai established the celebration of the Auditor and Accountant’s Day of Krasnodar Krai on the first Sunday of December. In the Yaroslavl Oblast in accordance with the resolution of the Governor dated March 18, 1996, the Accountant’s Day is celebrated on the first Sunday of April. The Accountant’s Day is celebrated on November 16 in Moscow at the initiative of “Moscow Accountant” magazine. However, there is no official holiday in the Russian Federation for now.
Currently, there are more than 5 million people officially engaged in accounting. It’s not surprising since a good accountant is a guarantee of financial and commercial success of any project. Not only development of an individual enterprise but also development of all the sectors of the economy depends on their professionalism.