The history of accounting is thousands of years old and can be traced to ancient civilizations.[11][12][13] The early development of accounting dates back to ancient Mesopotamia, and is closely related to developments in writing, counting and money;[11] there is also evidence for early forms of bookkeeping in ancient Iran,[14][15] and early auditing systems by the ancient Egyptians and Babylonians.[12] By the time of the Emperor Augustus, the Roman government had access to detailed financial information.