KEEPING ACCOUNTS. 237 



This we think of no advantage, and it increases the 

 labor and trouble. When you render a bill from the account, 

 you must necessarily turn to the Day-Book to ascertain the 

 particulars, and the mere page of the Day-Book is sufficient 

 for this purpose. The less accounts are complicated the 

 easier they are kept, and the less liable are mistakes to be 

 made. 



No erasures, scratching out, or interlineations should be 

 suffered. If a wrong entry be made, or an entry made 

 wrongly, let it be explained by a counter entry on the other 

 side of the account, or overscored in such a manner that 

 the mistake can be seen. All erasures, blotting out, scratch- 

 ing, &c., tend to throw suspicion upon the honesty of the 

 account. 



Books of " Original Entries " are only an aid of the 

 memory, and he who keeps them should be able to swear 

 that the entries were made on the day they purport to have 

 been. He may not be able to recollect the various entries, 

 but if it was his invariable custom to make them on the day 

 of the transaction, they stand in place of his memory they 

 are not, however, evidence of the delivery of the goods. 



form of a Receipt in full. 



NEW YORK, July 1st, 1861. 



Received of Thomas Brown the sum of forty-four dollars, 

 in full of all accounts up to this date. 

 $44 00. WILLIAM WILSON. 



