BOOKS OF ORIGINAL ENTRY 87 



satisfy the requirement. The debit and credit of any trans- 

 action can be expressed in the simple journal or in the 

 cash journal. This is not true of any other book of orig 

 inal entry. For this reason the journal form is usually 

 used in discussion and for analytical purposes to present 

 debits and credits in the most compact form. 



The simple journal is so arranged that each dehit and 

 each credit must be posted as separate items to the ledger 

 accounts. With its use, the ledger accounts contain ex- 

 actly the same number of items that they do when the 

 ledger is used alone. 



Simple Journal Entries Illustrated. The general form, 

 contents and explanation of the simple journal entry may 

 be seen from the few simple transactions presented below. 



TRANSACTION: 



January 1, 1916, Walter Marsh opens a set of books and has 

 $2500 cash with no other resources. 



ENTRY: 

 (Simple) Journal WALTER MARSH DR. CR. 



January 1, 1916 



I have decided today to open a set of double entry 1 account books 

 for my business, beginning with the following entry to record my 

 resources. 



Cash $2,500 



Walter Marsh Capital $2,500 



TRANSACTION: 



January 2 Paid cash as follows: for horses $700, hogs $500, cattle 

 $200, equipment $300. 



*It should be recalled that "double entry" implies the twofold effect 

 of every transaction debits and credits of equal amounts. It does 

 not derive its name in any way from the fact that entries are made 

 first in a book of original entry and then posted. 



