The Echo of the Abacus in the Age of the Algorithm: A Proposal for the Transformation of Accounting Pedagogy

Abstract

This article addresses the fundamental cognitive dissonance experienced by students of Public Accounting and related disciplines when faced with the traditional method of debits and credits; a system whose mathematical logic seems to contradict intuition. My argue that this apparent contradiction is not inherent to the accounting discipline, but rather the echo of a technological and conceptual limitation of 15th-century Venice: the philosophical aversion to negative numbers and the abacus’s inability to process them. Through a historical “autopsy” of the method codified by Luca Pacioli, it is revealed that double-entry bookkeeping was an ingenious narrative protocol designed to overcome these barriers. Once the root of the problem is diagnosed, the Algebraic Accounting Model (MAC, by its Spanish acronym) is presented. This model does not seek to replace accounting but to propose a pedagogical bridge that rebuilds teaching from first principles, using addition (+) and subtraction (-) as its only tools. The MAC is posited as a logical thinking system that, once mastered, allows for a fluid and comprehensive translation into professional language. The ultimate goal is to propose a pedagogical evolution that prioritizes analytical reasoning over memorization, training professionals better prepared for the strategic challenges of an automated business environment.