36  Simple  System  for  Personal  Accounts.     { Aj?aiuaryPi9o:.m" 
A  SIMPLE  SYSTEM  FOR  PERSONAL  ACCOUNTS. 
By  B.  Fuiaerton  Cook. 
The  system  of  recording  sales  as  herein  described,  while  applic- 
able, through  slight  modifications,  to  a  large  general  business,  is 
primarily  intended  to  supply  the  need  of  a  retail  dealer  whose  chief 
object  in  "  keeping  books  "  is  to  be  able  to  render  bills  to  his  cus- 
tomers regularly  and  accurately,  with  the  least  amount  of  labor. 
It  may  not  be  amiss  to  briefly  describe  the  usual  method  adopted, 
which  is  generally  known  as  "  single-entry  bookkeeping." 
Two  books  are  used  :  a  day-book  and  a  ledger.  The  day-book  is 
placed  in  some  convenient  place  in  the  store,  and  into  it  are  written, 
by  the  various  clerks  or  the  proprietor,  a  record  of  the  sales,  which 
are  to  be  charged,  together  with  the  customer's  name.  The  same 
book  is  used  for  a  credit  when  a  bill  is  paid  or  "  cash  on  account " 
is  received. 
At  stated  periods,  usually  once  a  month,  the  proprietor  will  post 
these  entries,  made  in  the  day-book,  to  the  debit  or  credit,  as  the 
case  may  be,  of  the  customer's  account  in  the  ledger,  frequently 
writing  out  the  items  in  full. 
When  all  of  the  entries  from  the  day-book  have  been  made  in  the 
ledger,  itemized  bills  or  statements  are  prepared  from  the  ledger 
accounts  and  sent  to  each  customer. 
The  system  suggested  as  a  substitute  for  this  well-known  method 
of  keeping  personal  accounts  involves  the  same  principles,  but  les- 
sens the  amount  of  work  required,  and  it  is  believed  will  decrease 
the  losses  and  annoyances  due  to  the  failure  of  a  clerk  to  take  time 
to  go  to  the  day-book  for  the  making  of  a  record  during  a  rush  of 
work  and  afterward  forgetting  to  do  so. 
In  the  simplest  form  it  consists  of  a  sale-slip,  in  pads,  which  may 
lie  by  the  cash  register  or  drawer,  or  be  carried  in  the  pocket,  and  when 
a  sale  is  made  which  is  to  be  charged,  upon  it  is  entered  first  the 
date,  customer's  name  and  address,  and  following  it  the  items  of 
the  sale.  The  slip  is  then  "  rung  up  "  in  the  register  under  the 
"  charge  "  key.  A  credit  is  made  in  the  same  manner,  although  the 
slip  should  be  of  a  different  color  and  have  "  credit  "  printed  upon  it, 
and  then  be  placed  in  the  register  under  the  "  credit  "  key. 
Many  variations  in  the  form  of  these  slips  are  possible.  If  desired, 
they  may  be  secured  in  duplicate  or  triplicate,  and  in  the  latter  case 
a  copy  usually  goes  to  the  customer  with  the  purchase.    But  for 
