A Brief History of Double Entry Book-keeping

Jolyon Jenkins investigates how accountants shaped the modern world. How the emergence of double entry book-keeping in medieval Italy paved the way for the rise of capitalism. Some people claim that the new system, known as the 'Italian method', arose because of the need of medieval merchants to square their desire to make money with their need to save their eternal souls. Was double entry a way to fudge an outbreak of conscience?