Bookkeeping
the art of keeping books in which pecuniary transactions are so unremittingly and so accurately entered that one is able at any time to ascertain the exact state of his financial affairs, or of any portion of them, with clearness and expedition. The art, in a certain undeveloped state, must have existed from immemorial ant antiquity, but it received such improvement and impulse at Venice as to make that comparatively modern city to be considered its birthplace. The_first known writer on bookkeeping was Lucas di Borgo, who 8-Vol. II-Cyc BOOK OF COMMON PRAYER published a treatise on the subject in Italian in 1495. It is generally divided into bookkeeping by single and bookkeeping by double entry. Bookkeeping by single entry is imperfect, and is scarcely fitted even for very limited establish ments. Bookkeeping by double entry being first practiced in Venice, Genoa, and the adjacent towns, is often called the Italian method. In bookkeeping by double entry all transactions inward fall under four heads: cash, bills, book debts, and stock. There are, moreover, a cash book, a bill book, a book for book debts -called the ledger and a book for the record of stock, that is, stock on hand.
There are various other books in a large establishment.