244 
nature of the business that tie carries on. 
't hese books are the cash-book, the debt- 
book, the book of llumeros, the book of 
invoices, the book of accounts current, the 
book of commissions, orders, or advices, &c. 
The zvast e-book may be defined a register, 
containing an inventory of a merchant’s ef- 
fects and debts, with a distinct record of all 
his transactions and dealings, in a way of 
trade, related in a plain simple style, and in 
order of time as they succeed one another. 
1 he waste-book opens with the inventory, 
which consists of two parts; first, the effects, 
that is, the money a merchant has by him, 
the goods he has in hand, his part of’ ships, 
houses, farms, Ac. witli tiie debts due to him ; 
the second part of the inventory is the debts 
due by him to others ; the difference between 
which and the effects is what the merchants 
call neat stock. V. hen a man begins the 
world, and first sets up to trade, the inven- 
tory is to be gathered from a survey of the 
particulars that make up his real estate, but 
ever after it is to be collected from the ba- 
lance of his old hooks, and carried to the new. 
After the inventory is fairly related in the 
waste-book, the transactions of trade come 
yte\t to be entered down, which is a daily 
task, to be performed as they occur. 'The 
narrative ought to exhibit transactions with 
all the circumstances necessary to be known, 
and no more. It should contain the names 
ci persons with whom the merchant deals 
upon trust, the conditions of bargains, the 
t* nns of payment, the quantity, quality, and 
prices of goods, with every tiling that serves 
to make the record distinct, and nothing 
else, i he waste-book, if no subsidiary hooks 
are kept, should contain a record of all the 
merchant s transactions and dealings in the wav 
o( trade ; and that not: only of such as are 
properly aiul purely mercantile, but of every 
occurrence that a fleets his stock, so as to im- 
pair or increase it, such, as private expenses. 
BOOK-KEEPING. 
servants’ fees, house-rents, money gained, 
& c. 
The journal is the book in which 
the transactions recorded in the waste- 
book are prepared to be carried to the ledger, 
by having their proper debtors and creditors 
ascertained and pointed out: whence it may 
be observed that the great design of the jour- 
nal is to prevent errors in the ledger: again, 
after the ledger is tilled up, the journal faci- 
litates the work required in revising and cor- 
recting it; for first the waste-book and jour- 
nal are compared, and then the journal and 
ledger; whereas to revise the ledger imme- 
diately from the waste-book: would be a mat- 
ter of no less difficulty than to form it with- 
out the help of a journal: lastly, the journal 
is designed as a fair record of a merchant’s 
. business, for neither of the other two books 
can serve this purpose; not the ledger, bv 
reason of the order that obtains in it, and 
also on account of its brevity, being little 
more than a large index: nor can the waste- 
book answer this design, as it can neither be 
fair nor uniform, nor very accurate, being 
commonly written by different hands, and in 
time of business. Hence it is that in case of 
differences between a merchant and his deal- 
ers, the journal is the book commonly called 
for and inspected by a civil judge. 
In the journal, persons and things are 
charged debtors to other persons and things 
as creditors ; and in this it agrees with the 
ledger, where the same style is used, but dif- 
fers from it as to forms and order; so that it 
agrees with the waste-book in those very 
things where it differs from the ledger; and, 
on the other hand, it agrees with the latter, 
in the very point wherein it differs from the 
former ; but in order to state the comparison 
betw ixt the waste-book anil journal, we shall 
turn t wo or three examples of the waste-book 
into a journal form.. 
It may be here observed, that every case 
or example of the waste-book, when entered 
into the journal, is called a journal post 
j or entrance; thus the examples above make 
! three direct posts. Again, a post is either 
simple or complex : a simple post is that 
-which has but one debtor and one creditor, 
as the first of these above ; a complex post is 
either when one debtor is balanced by one 
or more creditors, as in tlie second post ; or 
when two or more debtors are balanced bv 
one creditor, as in the third post ; or when 
several debtors are balanced by several cre- 
ditors, and then the post is said to be com- 
plex in both terms. This being premised, 
the following rules are to be observed for 
writing in the journal. 
1. In a simple post, the debtor is to be ex- 
pressly mentioned, then the creditor, and 
lastly the sum, all in one line ; after which 
the narrative or reason of the entry, in one 
or more lines, as in tiie first of these three 
posts above.. 
2. In a complex post, the several debtors 
or creditors are expressed in the first line by 
themselves, with their respective sums sub- 
joined to them ; which are to be added up, 
and their total carried to flic money columns* 
as in the second and third posts. 
3. The debtors and creditors should be 
written in a large letter or text hand, both for 
ornament ahd distinction. 
Before we proceed to explain the ledger,, 
we shall previously inquire into the nature 
and use of the terms debtor and creditor, as 
the whole art of book-keeping entirely de- 
pends on a true idea of those terms, tiie na- 
ture and use of which will be obvious from, 
the following considerations 
Accounts in the ledger consist of two parts,, 
which in their own nature are directly op- 
posed to and the reverse of one another, 
which are therefore set fronting one another, 
and on opposite sides of the same folio. Thus 
all the articles of the money received go to. 
the left side ot the cash account ; and all the 
articles or, sums laid out are carried to the 
right. In like manner the purchase of goods, 
is posted to the left side of the accounts of 
the said goods, and the sale or disposal of 
them to the right. 
Transactions of trade, or cases of the waste- 
book, are also made up of two parts, which, 
belong to different accounts, and to opposite 
sides of the ledger, c.g. If goods are bought 
lor ready money, the two parts are the goods, 
received aud the money delivered ; the for- 
mer of which goes to the left side of the ac- 
count of file said goods, and the latter to the 
right side of the cash, account. 
f I he (wo parts in any case in the waste- 
book, when posted to the journal, are deno- 
minated the one the debtor, the other the 
ci editor ot that post; and when carried, 
thence to the ledger, the debtor or debtor 
part is entered upon the left side (hence 
called the debtor side) of its own account, 
where it is charged debtqr to the creditor 
part. Again, the creditor "or creditor part is 
posted to the right side or creditor side of its 
account, and made creditor by tiie debtor 
part. Hence Italian book-keeping is said to 
be a method of keeping accounts by double 
entry, because every single case of the waste- 
book requires at least two entries in the 
ledger, viz. one for the debtor and another 
for the creditor. 
WASTE BOOK. 
July 1st. 
three months 
Bought of James Sloane 100 yards of shalloon, at 10 d. per yard. 
Whereof paid - ., _ 
Rest due, at two months - 
/. 
•V. 
payable in ) 
28 
00 
02 00 00 
02 03 04 
A 
03 
4th. 
Sold William Pope foiy pipes of port wine, at 27/. 105. per pipe. I s. d. 
Whereof received - - - - - 55 00 00 
Rest due ou demand - - - - - 55 00 00 
04 
110 
00 
00 
JOURNAL. 
Jill v 1st. 
/ 
d 
Black Cloth Dr. to William Pope) 28/. 
For 40 yards, at 14s. per yard, payable in three months 
28 
00 
00 
Shalloon Dr. to. Sundries, 4/. 3.?. 4x1 s . 
To cash paid in part for 100 yards, at 10i/. per yard 
02 00 00 
M 0 J. Sloan, for the rest, due at two months 
- 
02 03 04 
— — — 
4 
03 
04 
4th.. 
Sundries Drs. to Port Wine, 110/. 1 s d 
Cash, received in part for four pipes, at 27/. 1 0s. per pipe 55 00 00 
William Pope, for the rest on demand - - . 55 00 00 
1 10 
00 
00 
