446] 
almost every counting-house, which 
may cause the entries to be made 
to the debit instead of the credit of 
an account in the day-book, and 
to thercredit instead of the debit, 
I have endeavoured, as much as 
possible, to counteract the evil, by 
having only one column for receiv. 
ing the amount of every transa¢tion, 
whether debits or credits, at the 
instant of making the entry ; and, 
for the convenience of separating 
the debits from the credits, previ- 
ous to posting, which is necessary 
to prevent confusion and perp!exi- 
ty, I have two other columns on 
the same page; that on the left 
side into wliich the amount of eve: 
ry debit must be carefully entered, 
and that on the right for the a- 
mount of the credits; which co- 
lumns must be cast up once a 
month. The column of debits and 
credits of itself forming one a- 
mount ; the column for the debits 
producing. a second amount; and 
the column of credits a third a- 
mount ; which seccend and third 
amounts, added together, must 
exactly agree with thé first amount, 
or the work is not done right. By 
this means the man of business 
may obtain monthly such a state- 
ment of his affairs as will shew how 
much he owes fer that month, and 
how much is owing to him; and 
the debits being added together 
for any given time, with the va- 
lve of the stock of goods on hand, 
will, when the amount of the cre- 
dits ii substracted therefrom, shew 
the profits cf the trade. I shall 
now proceed to the precess of post- 
ing; which begins with opening 
an account in the ledger with 
every person to whose debit or 
eredit there has been an entry 
ANNUAL REGISTER, 1706. 
made in the day-book ; affixing ¢& 
each account a letter;. which is to 
be used as.a mark of posting. The’ 
person’s name, place ot abode, 
and the folio. of the ledger, must 
then be entered in the alphabet, 
with. the same letter prefixed’ to 
each name as is affixed to the ac- 
count in the ledger. Next the 
page of the ledger on which each 
account is opened, (and which 
will be seen in the alphabet), must 
bes affixed to each amount: in the 
day-book, in the column for that 
purpose. The date and amount of 
each devit must then be posted in 
08 columns for receiving it in.the 
ledger, on the left or debit’ side of 
that account to which it relates’; 
entering, as a mark of posting iri 
the day-book, against each amount, 
the same letter that is affixed to 
the account in the ledger, to 
which said amount may be posted. 
Observing that the debits of Janu. 
ary, February, and March, &e. 
must be posted into the column for 
those months in the ledger, and 
the credits must also be posted dh 
like manner, filling up each ac. 
count in centre, at the expiration 
of every month, with the whole. 
amount of the month’s transaétions ; 
thus having, in a small spacey 
the whole statement of each per. 
son’s account for the year; in the 
columns to the right and left the 
amount separately of each transac. 
tion, and in the centre a monthly 
statement. Having described the 
process of this method of book. 
keeping, I shall shew how to ex. 
amine books kept by this method, 
sO as to ascertain, to an absolute 
certainty, if the ledger be a true 
representation of the day-book ; #, ¢e! 
not only if each transaction ‘be 
wos correCtly 
