Accounting, or accountancy, is the measurement, processing and communication of financial information about economic entities.[1][2] It was founded by the Italian mathematician Luca Pacioli, in the end of the 15th century.[3] Accounting, which has been called the "language of business",[4] measures the results of an organization's economic activities and conveys this information to a variety of users including investors, creditors, management, and regulators.[5] Practitioners of accounting are known as accountants. The terms accounting and financial reporting are often used as synonyms.