Some other books of a subsidiary kind are kept by large trading houses—ns an order book, in which copies of all orders are entered: a memorandum-gook; tin account sales book, from which particulars are obtained for making out accounts of the sales of goods which tnay have been sent for disposal on commission; a stock-book, in which an inven. tory is kept of the stock on hand; an account-book, to contain a list of accounts; a ware house-book, to contain an account of the quantities of goods; a letter-book, into which let .
ters sent out by the firm are copied; with some others.
With such a set of books, and a few additional memoranda, a trader could doubt less strike a balance at the end of the year. lie could see how much was owing to him, how much he was owing to others how much he had spent, and how much would remain over, or how much would be deficient., after all accounts proand con were settled. But by this elementary- routine he could establish no satisfactory cheek on dif ferent departments of his business; and for large and complicated concerns, the system, it not valueless, would prove exceedingly imperfect. What the wholesale trailer wants is a process of checks—one book checking another—the whole thing reduced to such a rigorously methodized system of entries that every fraction is thor oughly accounted for. No doubt, to effect this elaborate and minute system of B., a considerable expense is incurred for clerks; but in large establishments this is of small account in comparison with the advantages that are secured.
Dourn.E ENTRY.—The method of 11., which ha.s been so called, is only an extension of that already noticed. The distinct peculiarity in double entry chiefly concerns the ledger. Its object is a system of checks, to be effected by entering transactions in the ledger twice—first to the debtor of one set of accounts, and then to the creditor of another set. In making the two entries, one is posted to an account under the name of the debtor or creditor, and the other is posted to an account under the head of the goods that have been bought or sold. Take, for instance, the article sugar. Say the trader purchases a hogshead of the article from A. Brown & Co. Ile first enters it in the regu lar way to the Cr. of A. Brown & Co., and then turning to the folio headed "sugar,' he enters it on the Dr. side of the account as bought from A. Brown & Co. In the same
way, when the hogshead is sold to E. Fraser & Co., it is entered first to the Dr. of these parties, and then to the Cr. side of sugar as. sold Fraser & Co. By this system of double entries, one the counterpart of the other, the one set of accounts constantly cheeks the other set; a trader can also ascertain Low, when, and at what prices his property has been disposed of.
In double entry, a book called a journal is frequently used. The entries in the day book, etc., are abstracted into the journal, and thence posted in a brief form into the ledger; the use of the journal, therefore, is only to save the ledger from being bur dened with details.
Acknowledged to be the triumph of accountantship, 13. by double entry, or by the Italian method, as it is sometimes called, is not an entire safeguard against frauds and fallacies in the conducting, of commercial operations, which, independently of every technical aid, requires to be sustained by constant integrity, vigilance, and discretion. Among the fallacies in the method of keeping hooks which are observed to sap the sta bility of the most gigantic concerns, are two so conspicuous as to demand our notice. The first consists in including had or nearly worthless debts in the periodical lists of asserts. The second is that of not estimating stock at its realizable value only. This last may be said to be a common error among traders, many of whom, without any evil intention, and simply from want of prudent. consideration in making due allowance for depreciation of property, delusively and gradually slip into a condition of hopeless insolvency.
B. forms a department of school education in connection with penmanship and arith metic. There are various useful treatises on the subject, with forms for day-book, ledger and other books. Among the larger and more comprehensive of this class of works are .1 Complete Systent of Book-keeping, by Benjamin Booth (Loud. 41.0, Jones' &lent? of Book-keeping Exemplified (Loud. 4to): Practleal Book-keeping, be F. B. Carter, (Edin.). Among the lesser and more accessible treatises we may specify Bookkeeping by Single and Double Entry, by W. Inglis (Edin.). It is proper, however, to add, that no method of school instruction can supersede the practical knowledge which is to be procured only in a busy and well-conducted counting-house. w. O.