Principles of Bookkeeping And Accounting.
Thousands of years ago, there were no standard permanent records of business transactions, but with the advancement of education and civilization, accounting data are recorded in books, hence, the term bookkeeping. The goal of the summary is to give you an insight into Bookkeeping, Accounting, and Double-entry Principles. Also, to explain each of the concepts and facts you should always be conscious of.
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What is Book-keeping?
Bookkeeping is an aspect of accounting as arithmetic is part of mathematics, so the main function of a book-keeper is to collect and record financial data.
The principles of bookkeeping are therefore the art that is concerned with the recording of business transactions in monetary terms.
Bookkeeping can also be defined as the science of recording transactions involving money or its worth in a regular and systematic manner in such a way that the books of accounts will show a true and fair state of the financial worth of a business.
What is Accounting?
Accounting has been variously defined. For instance, the Institute of Certified Public Accountants defined Accounting as the art of recording, classifying, and summarizing in a significant manner and in terms of money-transactions, and events which are, in part at least, of a financial character and interpreting the result thereof.
Accounting can also be described as a service activity, a descriptive and or analytical discipline and as an information system.
From the definitions, we can see that accounting is principally involved in the classification of business transactions, recording the business transactions, the determination of the strength and weakness of the business and the communication of the results to the owners of the business or to other users of the financial information.
The Double-Entry Principle.
The double entry principle states that for every debit entry in an account, there must be a corresponding credit entry in another account and vice versa. This is the major rule for recording into all ledger accounts.
Vital Links on some Accounting topics
- Branches of Accounting
- Subsidiary Books of Accounting
- Video on Ledger Account and Trial Balance on YouTube