Bookkeeping
Double- entry bookkeeping
Zaheer Younis works in the accounting department of a trading company
“ I began my career as a bookkeeper. Bookkeepers record the company is daily transactions: sales, purchases, debs, expenses, and so on. Each type of transaction is recorded in a separate account-the cash account, the liabilities account, and so on. Double-entry bookkeeping is a system that records two aspects of every transaction. Every transaction is both a debit – a deduction – in one account and a corresponding credit – an addition – in another. for example, if a company buys some raw materials – the substances and component used to make producrs – that it will pay for a month later, it debits its purchases account and credits the supplier is account. If the company sells an item on credit, it credits the sales account, and debits the customer is account. as this means the level of the company is stock – goods ready for sale – is reduced, it debits the stock account. There is a corresponding in crease in the its debtors – customers who owe money for goods or services purchased – and the debtors or accounts payable account is credited. Each account records debits on the left and credits on the right. If the bookkeepers do their work correctly, the total debits always equal the total credits.
BrE : debtors; AmE : accounts receivable
BrE : creditors ; AmE : accounts payable
BrE : stock; AmE : inventory
B….. day books and ledgers
For accounts with a large number of transactions, like purchases and sales, companies often record the transactions in day books or journals, and then put a daily or weekly summary in the main double – entry records.
In britain, they call the main books of account nominal ledgers. Creditors – suppliers to whom the company owes money for purchases made on credit – are recorded in a bought ledger. They still use these names, even though these days all the information is on a computer.
Note : in Britain the terms debtors and creditors can refer to people or companies that owe or are owed money, or to the sums of money in an account or balance sheet
C…………………. balancing the books
At the end of an accounting periods, for example a years, bookkeepers prepare a trial balance which transfers the debit and credit balances of different accounts onto one page. As always, the total debits should equal the total credits. The accountants can then use these balances to prepare the organization is financial statements;