ABSTRACT
As early as 1961 Mattessich suggested (in an article in The Accounting Review) to use budget simulation in form of a computerized spreadsheet. This was followed up by him in a mathematical model, outlined in his book Accounting and Analytical Methods (Mattessich 1964a) with a corresponding computer program (in FORTRAN IV on mainframe computers), including illustrations in a companion volume (Simulation of the Firm through a Budget Computer Program, Mattessich 1964b). Five years later (in 1969) Rene Pardo and Remy Landau co-presented “LANPAR” (LANguage for Programming Arrays at Random) at Random Corporation. This electronic spreadsheet type was also used on mainframe computers for budgeting at Bell Canada, AT&T, Bell operating companies, and General Motors. In 1978, Dan Bricklin and Robert Frankston introduced VisiCalc, the first commercialized spreadsheet program for personal desktop (Apple) computers. This program became the trailblazer for future developments of electronic spreadsheets.
