APPENDIX VII. ON THE MAIN PRINCIPLE OF BOOK-KEEPING.

Here the 16 is supposed to appear in D’s account as D creditor by C, and in C’s account as C debtor to D. And to say that the sum of debtor items is the same as that of creditor items, is merely to say that the preceding numbers give the same sum, whether the rows or the columns be first added up.

If it be desired to close the ledger when it stands as above, the following is the way the accounts will stand: the lines in italics will presently be explained.


A, Debtor.	A, Creditor.	B, Debtor.	B, Creditor.
To B	17	By B	23	To A	23	By A	17
To C	9	By C	19	To C	41	By C	6
To D	14	By D	32	To D	28	By D	11
To E	15	By E	4	To E	4	By E	25
To Balance	23					By Balance	37
	78		78		96		96
C, Debtor.	C, Creditor.	D, Debtor.	D, Creditor.
To A	19	By A	9	To A	32	By A	14
To B	6	By B	41	To B	11	By B	28
To D	16	By D	10	To C	10	By C	16
To E	60	By E	2	To E	1	By E	3
		By Balance	39	To Balance	7
	101		101		61		61
E, Debtor.	E, Creditor.	Balance, Debtor.	Balance, Cred.
To A	4	By A	15	To B	37	By A	23
To B	25	By B	4	To C	39	By D	7
To C	2	By C	60			By E	46

To D	3	By D	1		76		76
To Balance	46
	80		80

In all the part of the above which is printed in Roman letters we see nothing but the preceding table repeated. But when all the accounts have been completed, and no more entries are left to be made, there remains the last process, which is termed balancing the ledger. To get an idea of this, suppose a new clerk, who goes round all the accounts, collecting debts and credits, and taking them all upon himself, that he alone may be entitled to claim the debts and to be responsible for the assets of the concern. To this new clerk, whom I will call the balance-clerk, every account gives up what it has, whether the same be debt or credit. The cash-clerk gives up all the cash; the clerks of the two kinds of bills give up all their documents, whether bills receivable or entries of bills payable (remember that any entry against which there is money set down in the books

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