THE following suggestions may prove of service to you in pursuing this study. 1. You should be provided with good pens and ink, a parallel ruler, at least a half quire of good foolscap paper, and a set of blank books, those accompanying this book, if they can be obtained; if not, a set can be made by yourself. 2. In writing, hold your pen correctly, observe a proper position, and cultivate a good, legible hand. 3. Spell all your words correctly. 4. Make your figures so plain that they cannot be mistaken. 5. In the pursuit of this study, as well as of all others, make it a fixed rule never to advance to a second principle before you clearly understand the first. By strict adherence to this rule, and a due degree of perseverance, you cannot fail of success in your studies. 6. As further exercises in book-keeping, you may keep a correct account with yourself, making yourself debtor for your board, clothing, schooling, books, and whatever else you have of your parents or others; and creditor for all that your parents or others have of you. In this way you will be putting into practice those principles of accounts, which will be of inestimable value to you when you shall enter upon the active duties of life. BOOK-KEEPING. ¶ 1. BOOK-KEEPING is the art of recording mercantile transactions in a regular and systematic manner. It may also be defined, The art of keeping accounts. AN ACCOUNT is an entry in a book, or on paper, of things bought or sold, of payments, services, &c., including the names of the parties to the transaction, date, and price or value of the thing or things. T2. A knowledge of Book-keeping is indispensable to the correct and systematic prosecution of any branch of business. Hence, no young man should consider himself prepared to enter upon the active duties of life, until he has acquired that knowledge, in this branch of education, which will enable him to keep his accounts in a business-like manner. In short, nothing can compensate him for a lack of this knowledge. Without it, he is subject to losses, feuds, litigations, and ridicule. He cannot depend upon his memory for all the items which should be brought into account on settlement with any person, neither should he content himself with the belief that the party with whom he transacts business will keep a just and true account with him, but he should keep it himself; and to be enabled to do this in such a manner that, should it become necessary for others to settle his business, they could do it understandingly, and with satisfaction to all concerned, he should make himself acquainted with some regular, uniform method of keeping his accounts. What this method shall be the law does not prescribe; but, in cases of arbitration or litigation, it requires that the book on which the items were originally entered, shall be produced, and, if exceptions are taken to any entry by the opposing party, that its correctness be proved by the party in whose book it is made. If a 1. Book-keeping-two definitions. An account. 2. A knowledge of book-keeping. Its importance. Evils arising from a want of it. Legal method of keeping accounts. Arbitration and litigation. An entry. An item. Book-keeping a branch of female education. party can prove, by persons who have transacted business with him, that he keeps a just and true account, it has great weight with a court, and in some states is sufficient to establish his claim. A knowledge of accounts is often of great value to females, for they too, not unfrequently, are called upon to share in the active business of life. 3. Neatness, brevity, and order are justly esteemed desirable qualifi cations in every department of business. They are emphatically the essentials in book-keeping. A confused, irregular, and careless manner of keeping accounts frequently opens the way for perplexity, dispute, and litigation. T4. EXAMPLE 1.-Mr. Jones, a shoemaker, sold to Mr. Smith, a farmer, one pair of fine boots on credit, but neglected at the time to make an entry of the transaction. In looking over his books about six weeks afterwards, Jones saw that the boots had not been entered to the account of Smith. The exact time at which he sold Smith the boots he did not now recollect, but from some other business transaction which occurred about the same time, and the date of which he found entered in his books, he concluded that it was about four weeks previous, and entered the transaction upon his book accordingly, thus :— Now, on the first day of May, Smith left home, and while absent sickened and died. When Smith's business came to be settled, Jones presented the administrators the above account for settlement. Payment was refused, on the ground that Smith was not at home after the first day of May, and consequently could not have had the boots at the time specified. Jones persisted in the validity of his claim; but the administrators said they were to be governed by the law in the case, and the law would not permit them to pay an account against Smith for articles said to have been delivered to him at home, when he was known to be hundreds of miles distant. Hence, the result of Jones's neglecting to charge the boots at the time of sale was, the loss of $5.50, the price of the boots. From the above example may be drawn the following 3. Desirable business qualifications. A loose manner of keeping accounts. 4. Transaction between Messrs. Jones and Smith. Jones's neglect. Date of the transaction. Form of entry. Contradiction of date. Law in the case. Result of Jones's neglect. Rule. Exception. Memorandum. RULE. Never neglect to make an entry or record of a business transaction at the time it occurs. Exception. A person transacting business from home, or from his ordinary place of business, will not have immediate access to his books, and under these circumstances will not be able to follow out this rule. In this case he should make a memorandum of the transaction in a memorandum-book, at the time, and make an entry of it upon his books at the first opportunity. T5. EXAMPLE 2.-A and B, neighboring farmers, were accustomed to trade with each other in confidence, and to settle their accounts once a year, as is the custom among many farmers. A was not a skilful accountant, but kept his accounts "by a way of his own," as he was pleased to term it, and B kept no account at all, but trusted to A's honesty and his own memory. On a certain settlement A presented B the following account, which he claimed to be a correct statement of business matters between B and himself: The above account contains many errors, yet is in better form, and more intelligible, than the accounts of many persons who do business on an extensive scale. A was deserving of both credit and censure. He deserved credit for having any system of keeping his accounts, and censure for not having a more correct and systematic one. But, notwithstanding the numerous errors in the style of keeping this account, B acknowledged 5. A and B's method of transacting business. Their accounts. Errors in B it to be just and true, except in the first item, the cow, which ne claimed (for a reason that we shall presently see) to have purchased March 5th A said that such might be the case; he only recollected that it was early in the month, and not having entered the charge in his account-book til the time of making the next charge, in June, he had forgotten the day of the month. "But," said B, "here is a mistake, surely," at the same time exhibiting A's receipt of March 12th, in full of all demands. A at once became exasperated at B for thus attempting to defraud him, and left him in a rage. All future attempts to reconcile the matter proved unavailing. A year passed by, and B still refusing to pay for the cow, A sought legal redress. He left a copy of the foregoing account with his attorney, and, directed him to prosecute B for the balance due. The day of trial arrived, and the parties with their witnesses appeared. B admitted every item charged against him in A's account to be correct, except the first. A proved that B had the cow of him in March, but the exact time he could not prove. B proved by a young man, who was present at the time of their first difficulty, that A said the cow might have been sold on the 5th of March; and this proof, together with A's receipt in full of all demands, bearing date March 12th, decided the case against A, thereby throwing the cost of the suit upon him. Here A lost $25, (the price of the cow,) the cost of the suit, his time, &c., which amounted to $10 more; making a total loss of $35, from the omission of a single date. This was learning a simple lesson at too dear a rate, and verifies the maxim that "Experience teaches a dear school.” From this example may be drawn the following RULE. Avoid a loose, careless manner of keeping accounts. A's account with B. The point of disagreement. The cause. A's recourse Rule. |