Book Keeping

Bookkeeping
Bookkeeping is the recording of financial transactions. Transactions include sales, purchases, income, receipts and payments by an individual or organization. Bookkeeping is usually performed by a bookkeeper. Bookkeeping should not be confused with accounting. The accounting process is usually performed by an accountant. The accountant creates reports from the recorded financial transactions recorded by the bookkeeper and files forms with government agencies. There are some common methods of bookkeeping such as the single-entry bookkeeping system and the double-entry bookkeeping system. But while these systems may be seen as "real" bookkeeping, any process that involves the recording of financial transactions is a bookkeeping process. bookkeeper !or book-keeper", also known as an accounting clerk or accounting technician, is a person who records the day-to-day financial transactions of an organization. bookkeeper is usually responsible for writing the "daybooks." The daybooks consist of purchases, sales, receipts, and payments. The bookkeeper is responsible for ensuring all transactions are recorded in the correct day book, suppliers ledger, customer ledger and general ledger. The bookkeeper brings the books to the trial balance stage. n accountant may prepare the income statement and balance sheet using the trial balance and ledgers prepared by the bookkeeper.

Contents
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% Bookkeeping process & Bookkeeping systems o &.% 'ingle-entry system o &.& (ouble-entry system ) (aybooks * +etty cash book , -ournals . /edgers 0 bbreviations used in bookkeeping 1 2hart of accounts 3 2omputerized bookkeeping %4 5nline bookkeeping %% 6otes and references

[edit] Bookkeeping process

The bookkeeping process refers primarily to recording the #financial effects$ of financial transactions only into accounts. The variation between manual and any electronic accounting system stems from the latency between the recording of the financial transaction and its posting in the relevant account. This delay, absent in electronic accounting systems due to instantaneous posting into relevant accounts, is not replicated in manual systems, thus giving rise to primary books of accounts such as 'ales Book, 2ash Book, Bank Book, +urchase Book for recording the immediate effect of the financial transaction. 7n the normal course of business, a document is produced each time a transaction occurs. 'ales and purchases usually have invoices or receipts. (eposit slips are produced when lodgements !deposits" are made to a bank account. 2he8ues are written to pay money out of the account. Bookkeeping involves, first of all, recording the details of all of these source documents into multi-column journals !also known as a books of first entry or daybooks". 9or e:ample, all credit sales are recorded in the sales ;ournal, all cash payments are recorded in the cash payments ;ournal. <ach column in a ;ournal normally corresponds to an account. 7n the single entry system, each transaction is recorded only once. =ost individuals who balance their che8ue-book each month are using such a system, and most personal finance software follows this approach. fter a certain period, typically a month, the columns in each ;ournal are each totaled to give a summary for the period. >sing the rules of double entry, these ;ournal summaries are then transferred to their respective accounts in the ledger, or book of accounts. 9or e:ample the entries in the 'ales -ournal are taken and a debit entry is made in each customer?s account !showing that the customer now owes us money" and a credit entry might be made in the account for "'ale of class & widgets" !showing that this activity has generated revenue for us". This process of transferring summaries or individual transactions to the ledger is called posting. 5nce the posting process is complete, accounts kept using the "T" format undergo balancing, which is simply a process to arrive at the balance of the account. s a partial check that the posting process was done correctly, a working document called an unadjusted trial balance is created. 7n its simplest form, this is a three column list. The first column contains the names of those accounts in the ledger which have a non-zero balance. 7f an account has a debit balance, the balance amount is copied into column two !the debit column". 7f an account has a credit balance, the amount is copied into column three !the credit column". The debit column is then totalled and then the credit column is totalled. The two totals must agree @ this agreement is not by chance @ because under the double-entry rules, whenever there is a posting, the debits of the posting e8ual the credits of the posting. 7f the two totals do not agree, an error has been made either in the ;ournals or during the posting process. The error must be located and rectified and the totals of debit column and credit column recalculated to check for agreement before any further processing can take place. 5nce the accounts balance, the accountant makes a number of ad;ustments and changes the balance amounts of some of the accounts. These ad;ustments must still obey the

double-entry rule. 9or e:ample, the "inventory" account asset account might be changed to bring them into line with the actual numbers counted during a stock take. t the same time, the e:pense account associated with usage of inventory is ad;usted by an e8ual and opposite amount. 5ther ad;ustments such as posting depreciation and prepayments are also done at this time. This results in a listing called the adjusted trial balance. 7t is the accounts in this list and their corresponding debit or credit balances that are used to prepare the financial statements. 9inally financial statements are drawn from the trial balance, which may includeA

the income statement, also known as the statement of financial results, profit and loss account, or P&L the balance sheet, also known as the statement of financial position the cash flow statement the statement of retained earnings, also known as the statement of total recognised gains and losses or statement of changes in equity

[edit] Bookkeeping systems

Two common bookkeeping systems used by businesses and other organizations are the single-entry bookkeeping system and the double-entry bookkeeping system. 'ingle-entry bookkeeping uses only income and e:pense accounts, recorded primarily in a revenue and e:pense ;ournal. 'ingle-entry bookkeeping is ade8uate for many small businesses. (ouble-entry bookkeeping re8uires posting !recording" each transaction twice, using debits and credits.

[edit] Single-entry system

The primary bookkeeping record in single-entry bookkeeping is the cash book, which is similar to a checking !che8ue" account register but allocates the income and e:penses to various income and e:pense accounts. 'eparate account records are maintained for petty cash, accounts payable and receivable, and other relevant transactions such as inventory and travel e:penses. These days, single entry bookkeeping can be done with (7B bookkeeping software to speed up manual calculations. Sample revenue and expense journal for single-entry bookkeeping#%$ &''ic Dat Descripti Reven xpen Sales Servic "nvento #dver $reig e No. Sales (isc e on ue se !ax es ry t. %t Supp l 0C% Balance %,1&.. %,&%1. &*,.4 %,4.4 1),.44 31.44 ,%4.44 &3,.44 1).,4 .%.,4 ) forward 44 44 4 4 %4* 0C% +rinter*,4.44 *,4.4 % ) dvert 4

%4* & %4* ) @

ban k %4* *

flyers Dholesal 0C% er @ )14.44 )14.44 ) inventory 0C% office 3&.,4 3&.,4 . supplies 0C% bank %,&)&. 0 deposit 44 @ Ta:able *44.44 )&.44 sales @ 5ut-ofstate %.,.44 sales @ Eesales )04.44 @ 'ervice &.,.44 sales 0C% bank &).*4 &).*4 3 charge 0C% petty %44.4 %44.44 3 cash 4 ),4,1. %,114. &,%,). %)4.4 .3,.4 %,4.4 %0..4 %1*.3 T5T /' 00,.44 .0,.44 44 34 44 4 4 4 4 4

[edit] Dou)le-entry system

=ain articleA double-entry bookkeeping system

[edit] Day)ooks
daybook is a descriptive and chronological !diary-like" record of day-to-day financial transactions also called a book of original entry. The daybook?s details must be entered formally into ;ournals to enable posting to ledgers. (aybooks includeA

'ales daybook, for recording all the sales invoices. 'ales credits daybook, for recording all the sales credit notes. +urchases daybook, for recording all the purchase invoices. +urchases credits daybook, for recording all the purchase credit notes. 2ash daybook, usually known as the cash book, for recording all money received as well as money paid out. 7t may be split into two daybooksA receipts daybook for money received in, and payments daybook for money paid out. +etty 2ash daybook, for recording small value purchases paid for by cash Feneral -ournal daybook, for recording ;ournals

[edit] *etty cas% )ook

petty cash book is a record of small value purchases usually controlled by imprest system. 7tems such as coffee, tea, birthday cards for employees, stationery for office working, a few dollars if you?re short on postage, are listed down in the petty cash book.

[edit] +ournals
;ournals are recorded in the general ;ournal daybook. ;ournal is a formal and chronological record of financial transactions before their values are accounted for in the general ledger as debits and credits. company can maintain one ;ournal for all transactions, or keep several ;ournals based on similar activity !i.e. sales, cash receipts, revenue, etc." making transactions easier to summarize and reference later. 9or every debit ;ournal entry recorded there must be an e8uivalent credit ;ournal entry to maintain a balanced accounting e8uation.#&$

[edit] ,edgers
ledger is a record of accounts. These accounts are recorded separately showing their beginningCending balance. ;ournal lists financial transactions in chronological order without showing their balance but showing how much is going to be charged in each account. ledger takes each financial transactions from the ;ournal and records them into the corresponding account for every transaction listed. The ledger also sums up the total of every account which is transferred into the balance sheet and income statement. There are ) different kinds of ledgers that deal with book-keeping. /edgers includeA

'ales ledger, which deals mostly with the accounts receivable account. This ledger consists of the financial transactions made by customers to the business. +urchase ledger is a ledger that goes hand and hand with the ccounts +ayable account. This is the purchasing transaction a company does. Feneral ledger representing the original , main accountsA assets, liabilities, e8uity, income, and e:penses

[edit] #))reviations used in )ookkeeping

C2 @ ccount cc @ ccount CE @ ccounts receivable C+ @ ccounts payable BC' @ Balance sheet cCd @ 2arried down bCd @ Brought down cCf @ 2arried forward bCf @ Brought forward (r @ (ebit record 2r @ 2redit record

FC/ @ Feneral ledgerG !or 6C/ @ nominal ledger" +H/ @ +rofit and lossG !or 7C' @ income statement" ++H< @ +roperty, plant and e8uipment TB @ Trial Balance F'T @ Foods and services ta: I T @ Ialue added ta: 2'T @ 2entral sale ta: T(' @ Ta: deducted at source =T @ lternate minimum ta: <B7T( @ <arnings before interest, ta:es, depreciation and amortisation <B(T @ <arnings before depreciation, ta:es and amortisation <BT @ <arnings before ta:es < T @ <arnings after ta: + T @ +rofit after ta: +BT @ +rofit before ta: (epr @ (epreciation (ep?n @ (epreciation

[edit] C%art o' accounts

chart of accounts is a list of the accounts codes that can be identified with numeric, alphabetical, or alphanumeric codes allowing the account to be located in the general ledger. The e8uity section of the chart of accounts is based on the fact that the legal structure of the entity is of a particular legal type. +ossibilities include sole trader, partnership, trust and company. #)$

[edit] Computeri-ed )ookkeeping

2omputerized bookkeeping removes many of the paper "books" that are used to record transactions and usually enforces double entry bookkeeping. The term bookkeeping has an unrelated technical meaning in computer programming. Bookkeeping code is code that does not contain business logic but is needed to keep the program working properly.

[edit] &nline )ookkeeping

5nline bookkeeping, or remote bookkeeping, allows source documents and data to reside in web-based applications which allow remote access for bookkeepers and accountants. ll entries made into the online software are recorded and stored in a remote location. The online software can be accessed from any location in the world and permit the bookkeeper or data entry person to work from any location with a suitable data communications link.