Bookkeeping is the recording of financial transactions.

Transactions include sales,

purchases, income, and payments by an individual or organization. Bookkeeping is
usually performed by a bookkeeper. Bookkeeping should not be confused with
accounting. The accounting process is usually performed by an accountant. The
accountant creates reports from the recorded financial transactions recorded by the
bookkeeper and files forms with government agencies. There are some common
methods of bookkeeping such as the Single-entry bookkeeping system and the Double-
entry bookkeeping system. But while these systems may be seen as "real"
bookkeeping, any process that involves the recording of financial transactions is a
bookkeeping process.

A bookkeeper (or book-keeper), also known as an accounting clerk or accounting

technician, is a person who records the day-to-day financial transactions of an
organization.[1] A bookkeeper is usually responsible for writing the "daybooks." The
daybooks consist of purchase, sales, receipts, and payments. The bookkeeper is
responsible for ensuring all transactions are recorded in the correct daybook, suppliers
ledger, customer ledger, and general ledger. The bookkeeper brings the books to the
trial balance stage. An accountant may prepare the income statement and balance
sheet using the trial balance and ledgers prepared by the bookkeeper

Bookkeeping systems
Two common bookkeeping systems used by businesses and other organizations are the
single-entry bookkeeping system and the double-entry bookkeeping system. Single-
entry bookkeeping uses only income and expense accounts, recorded primarily in a
revenue and expense journal. Single-entry bookkeeping is adequate for many small
businesses. Double-entry bookkeeping requires posting (recording) each transaction
twice, using debits and credits.

Single-entry system

The primary bookkeeping record in single-entry bookkeeping is the cash book, which is
similar to a checking (chequing) account register but allocates the income and
expenses to various income and expense accounts. Separate account records are
maintained for petty cash, accounts payable and receivable, and other relevant
transactions such as inventory and travel expenses. These days, single entry
bookkeeping can be done with DIY bookkeeping software to speed up manual
calculations.

Daybooks
A daybook is a descriptive and chronological (diary-like) record of day-to-day financial
transactions also called a book of original entry. The daybook's details must be entered
formally into journals to enable posting to ledgers. Daybooks include:

• Sales daybook, for recording all the sales invoices.

• Sales credits daybook, for recording all the sales credit notes.
• Purchases daybook, for recording all the purchase invoices.
• Purchases credits daybook, for recording all the purchase credit notes.
 • Cash daybook, usually known as the cash book, for recording all money
received as well as money paid out. It may be split into two daybooks: receipts
daybook for money received in, and payments daybook for money paid out.

Petty cash book

A petty cash book is a record of small value purchases usually controlled by imprest
system. Items such as coffee, tea, are listed down in the petty cash book.

Journals
A journal is a formal and chronological record of financial transactions before their
values are accounted in general ledger as debits and credits. Journals are recorded in
the journal daybook, which is one of the books of first entry. For every debit journal
there must an equivalent credit journal. There must be at least two journal entries for
every transaction recorded.

Ledgers
A ledger is a record of accounts, these accounts are recorded separately showing their
beginning/ending balance. Unlike the journal, which lists financial transactions in
chronological order without showing their balance but showing how much is going to be
charged in each account. The ledger takes each financial transactions from the journal
and records them into the right account for every transaction listed. The ledger also
sums up the total of every account which is transferred into the balance sheet and
income statement. There are 3 different kinds of ledgers that deal with book-keeping.
Ledgers include:

• Sales ledger, which deals mostly with the Accounts Receivable account. This
ledger consists of the financial transactions made by customers to the business.
• Purchase ledger is a ledger that goes hand and hand with the Accounts Payable
account. This is the purchasing transaction a company does.
• General ledger representing the original 5 main accounts: assets, liabilities,
income, and expenses.

Chart of accounts
A chart of accounts is a list of the accounts codes that can be identified with numeric,
alphabetical, or alphanumeric codes allowing the account to be located in the general
ledger.

Computerized bookkeeping
Computerized bookkeeping removes many of the paper "books" that are used to record
transactions and usually enforces double entry bookkeeping.

Online bookkeeping
Online bookkeeping, or remote bookkeeping, allows source documents and data to
reside in web-based applications which allow remote access for bookkeepers and
accountants. All entries made into the online software are recorded and stored in a
remote location. The online software can be accessed from any location in the world
and permit the bookkeeper or data entry person to work from any location with a
suitable data communications link.