TREATISE

ON

BOOK-KEEPING

BY

DOUBLE AND SINGLE ENTRY

BY

JAMES BRYCE, M. A., L L. D.

A New Edition Greatly Enlarged

EDINBURGH

ADAM AND CHARLES BLACK

1860

181.b. 20.

PREFACE.

IN preparing this Work for the press, the great aim of the author has been to present a clear and connected view of the principles of Book-keeping, and to combine the detached precepts, usually given for direction in particular cases, into a series of General Rules. These he has endeavoured to frame so that they shall embrace every case; and therefore furnish, on a careful study, the means of expressing by the proper Drs. and Crs., all the transactions of real business. As this first record of a transaction forms to the learner the main difficulty of Book-keeping, it is hoped that the method here adopted will render the Art of.nre easy acquisition; while it gives greater precision, as well as more of a scientific character, to the statement of the principles

Another object of the author has been to render the Sets of Books thoroughly practical, and to. adapt them to the methods now in use in the best conducted mercantile establishments. In the hope of securing this object he obtained the assistance of a friend, the late Mr. John King, long engaged in the conduct of an extensive Business, and a practised Accountant, from whose personal experience most of the transactions were furnished. It has not been attempted to exemplify in the Sets which are given, all the books used by merchants; but those leading books only, with the man

agement of which if the learner be made acquainted, by a thorough apprehension of the principles, he will find no difficulty in bringing his knowledge to bear upon any more varied Set of Books which the requirements of a particular business may suggest. Happily merchants can no longer complain, that young persons entering on business bring from school no real knowledge of Book-keeping. Many young men now enter business quite competent to the right management of a Double Entry Set of Books.

The first of the Sets of Books here given exemplifies the operations of a wholesale business. At the close of the period a partnership is formed, and an export and import trade entered upon; and thus the one Business passes into the other. An opportunity is in this way afforded of exemplifying the transference of entries into a new Set, and also those peculiarities, chiefly in the mode of balancing, which are necessary in the case of Partners. The Single Entry Set has been placed at the end, as it is of less importance,—the method being now little practised, from its defective and unsatisfactory nature. To make this Set complete in itself, and to avoid the perplexity of a frequent reference to the preceding part of the Work, some of the definitions, rules, and explanations are here repeated.

The transactions which are to be recorded in the books are noted in ordinary language, and thrown together promiscuously as they occur in real business; so that the learner must exercise his judgment to determine, by the rules, in what book each transaction is to be entered, and how the entry of it is to be expressed. The judicious teacher will perceive the necessity of exercising his pupils in this way, instead of allowing them merely to copy the books.

The present edition has been improved by several changes on all the sets, and enlarged by the introduction of much new explanatory matter, which it is hoped will render the Work

better suited to the purposes of instruction. The most important change is that made upon the Journal of the Second Set, in which the plan of Mr. Jones has been introduced. This constitutes a great improvement on the old method, as it is at once a check on the Journal itself, and on the Ledger postings, and greatly facilitates the process of balancing. As a necessary consequence, the plan of the Balance Book of the same author has also been adopted.

The author cannot conclude without expressing his obligations to the friends who have kindly assisted him with information and advice; among whom Mr. Macnab of the High School of Glasgow is entitled to especial mention.

OCTOBER 22, 1860.