Why Did Pacioli Use Debits and Credits?

In 1494, Italian Luca Pacioli, the father of modern accounting, created the double-entry bookkeeping system. With this system, it helps merchants calculate prices and track spending trends. Fabio Besta, another significant individual in the world of accounting, created the idea of entries needing a debit and credit side. More specifically, merchants were becoming wise to equity and expense accounts and were understanding how management could factor into controlling all ways of spending the business’ dollars (Roover 1). Most importantly, merchants then relied on accounting to help keep track of every transaction that was done. 

In Pacioli's method, the debits and credits were fixed in T-accounts which then were posted automatically to the correct location in the trial balance.