BOOK-KEEPING FOR BUSINESS MEN BY J. THORNTON AUTHOR OF "STUDENTS' MANUAL OF BOOKKEEPING," ETC. AND S. W. THORNTON "The bearing lies in the application.”—Captain Cuttle London MACMILLAN AND CO., LIMITED NEW YORK: THE MACMILLAN COMPANY PREFACE THE principles of good Book-keeping are extremely simple, though their application is often very far from being so. I have tried in this book to explain both the principles and their application, with sufficient clearness and fulness to enable the young trader to construct, keep, and balance a set of account books suited to his own business. The chief defects of many manuals of this kind seem to be (1) the paucity and cloudiness of the explanatory matter and (2) the want of elasticity of the "model system" set forth as an example, plan has been to take the reader into partnership, insisting that he shall understand what he is about from start to finish. The first four chapters of the book explain the principles and advantages of Double Entry. Then follows a discussion of the question, What business shall we choose? Having settled this point, Reader and Thornton go into partnership, and open a set of books. The transactions which follow are planned to show how to meet bookkeeping difficulties of all kinds. The set of account books in which these transactions are recorded is so far from being regarded as a model set, that alternative methods are suggested at every step, and set forth at length in the appendix. A Trial Balance is taken at the end of every week, both members of the firm assisting in the work. A full and final balance is struck at the end of the month, the result being readily arrived at and clearly set forth by the use of the ABC Automatic Balancing Chart. It is hoped that the partnership thus begun may be made permanent by the regular use of these charts.1 In the preparation of this guide, and more particularly in the arrangement of the transactions and construction of the books of Reader and Thornton, I have gladly availed myself of the assistance of my son, Mr. S. W. Thornton, without whose help the pressure of other work would I fear have led to the indefinite postponement of its publication. LEAMINGTON COLLEGIATE SCHOOL. J. THORNTON. 1 The Automatic Balancing Charts may be obtained from any bookseller through the publishers of this handbook. CONTENTS 1. Accuracy; 2. Economy of Labour; 3. Clearness of Arrangement; 4. Utility and Certainty; 5. What Business? 6. Taking a Partner; 7. Facts and Figures; 8. Opening the Books; 9. Transactions of Reader and Thornton; 10. Books of Reader and Thornton; 11. Proving the Books. Appendix. Alternative Methods. A B C Automatic Balancing Charts ARRANGED BY J. THORNTON AS A SUPPLEMENT TO BOOK-KEEPING FOR BUSINESS MEN These Charts were prepared some years ago to assist business men in the periodical balancing of their books, and are now issued in an improved form. They consist of a series of three large charts distinguished as Chart A, Chart B, and Chart C. Each entry on each chart is clearly numbered, and instructions are printed on the very spot where they are needed to show how the amount is to be obtained. A small index hand points to the blank space left for the figures, so that it is almost impossible for mistakes to be made. The Charts are called Automatic, because if each entry is faithfully filled out in numerical order they will Balance and Prove themselves. Examples and full explanations are given in Thornton's Bookkeeping for Business Men. Now Ready. 8vo. Price 4s. 6d. A Text-Book of Book-Keeping BY FRANK IRESON, B.A. London MACMILLAN AND CO., LIMITED NEW YORK: THE MACMILLAN COMPANY The right of translation and reproduction is reserved EXTRACT FROM PREFACE THE first half of this treatise has been planned expressly for beginners, at school and elsewhere. Part I., in particular, is entirely elementary: it includes an explanation of the principles of debiting and crediting, as applied to transactions in which neither profit nor loss is involved. In Part II., the transactions described are those in which profits and losses most commonly arise. Although the examples here selected are simple in character, they are nevertheless representative of the majority of transactions occurring in ordinary business. In these examples the student is taken step by step through the early stages of his work, the various points being presented in the order most convenient for their explanation. The second half of this treatise deals with accountancy of medium difficulty. Part III. comprises transactions, and methods of accountkeeping, not so simple as those which preceded it. Part IV. describes the Cash Book and other subsidiary books. MACMILLAN'S BOOK-KEEPING EXERCISE BOOKS JOURNAL, LEDGER London MACMILLAN AND CO., LIMITED NEW YORK: THE MACMILLAN COMPANY This set of Exercise Books has been prepared expressly for the use of beginners. It comprises a Ledger, together with one subsidiary book, i.e. Journal. Each one of them should be marked on the outside, in the space left for the purpose, with the name of the person or firm whose transactions are to be entered in it. In the Journal the primary entry of each transaction must first be made. Then, using the Journal as a guide, the Ledger must be posted up. It is not imperative to use the Ledger Index, but it is desirable to follow the commercial practice of indexing each account opened. The Journal "narrations" should be written out in full, and the "particulars" of each transaction should be inserted in the proper columns of the Ledger, in all cases where the entry would not be intelligible without them. If pressed for time, in answering a long examination paper, the student may, however, be compelled to omit these important details. The Trial Balance before Closing, and the List of Balances after Closing, are in practice made out on loose sheets of paper, but in order to render this set of Exercise Books as compact and portable as possible, the necessary forms are here included at the end of the Journal. A form for the Balance Sheet will be found on the back of the Ledger. |