What is Bookkeeping?

23 June, 2010 (13:46) | Uncategorized | By: Captain Social

Bookkeeping is the recordkeeping of the money values of the transactions of a business. Bookkeeping grants the figures from which accounts are drafted but is a distinct process, required prior to accounting.

Essentially, bookkeeping records two areas of information: (1) the current value, or equity, of a business and (2) any changes in value—profit or loss—taking position in the enterprise over a given period of time.

Management officials, investors, and credit grantors all need to have this kind of information: management so as to assess the results of operations, to control costs, to budget for the future, and to make financial policy decisions; investors so as to assess the outcomes of business operations and make decisions about buying, holding, and selling securities; and credit grantors in order to judge the financial statements of an entity in assessing whether to give a loan.

Traces of financial and numerical recordkeeping can be uncovered for nearly every group of people with a commercial history. Records of trading contracts have been uncovered in the archaelogy of Babylon, and accounts for both farms and estates were kept in ancient Greece and Rome. The double-entry process of bookkeeping started with the development of the entrepeneurial republics of Italy, and instruction books for bookkeeping were produced in the 15th century in some Italian cities.

In the late 18th and early 19th centuries, the Industrial Revolution permitted a notable stimulus to accounting and bookkeeping.

The rise of manufacturing, trading, shipping, and subsidiary services made accurate financial records a paramount factor. The past of bookkeeping, in fact, closely reflects the ancestry of commerce, industry, and government and, in part, assisted shaping it. The international market of industrial and commercial activity demanded more cosmopolitan decision-making methods, which itself called for greater sophistication in the selection, classification, and presentation of information, more so with the assistance of computers. Taxation and government regulation became more important and resulted in increased demand for information; business entities had to show information to support their income tax, payroll tax, sales tax, and other tax reports. Governmental agencies and educational and other nonprofit institutions also grew, and the demand for bookkeeping for their inner operations went up.

Although bookkeeping processes can be extremely multifaceted, it is all based on two styles of books utilised in the bookkeeping procedure—journals and ledgers. A journal has the daily transactions (sales, purchases, etcetera), and the ledger has the record of individual accounts. The daily records from the journals are put in the ledgers.

At the end of each month, generally, an income statement and a balance sheet are constructed from the trial balance posted within the ledger. The duty of the income statement or profit-and-loss statement is to present an analysis of any changes that have taken place in the business equity from the transactions of the period. The balance sheet shows the financial position of the enterprise at the particular point regarding assets, liabilities, and the ownership equity.

For information about MYOB bookkeeping brisbane or MYOB training brisbane, contact Stone Consulting. Stone Consulting also does bookkeeping in Redlands.

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