When a cash account or any ledger account is made out like the present account in two pages, and when also the title consists of only one word, instead of using the word Account as part of the head on the creditor side, it is not unusual to use the word Contra for the same purpose. Sometimes the word Dr is placed after the title, and thus the head for the cash book may be found in this form:

CASH

Dr

CONTRA

Cr

THE JOURNAL.

The journal of these books contains the entries of all the transactions except the receipts and payments of cash. The entries are here made from the Waste Journal; but they may be made from the Day Book, or, as previously remarked, they may form the original entries of the transactions recorded.

If the purport of the journal directions be well understood, there will be no difficulty experienced in posting these entries into the ledger. When the entry contains only a single debit and a single credit, in placing the former to the account to be debited, we refer to the counterpart credit; and in placing the latter to the account to be credited, we refer to the counterpart debit: thus, in posting the first entry, Ship Adela Dr-to N. Goodwyn, we debit, as directed by the word Dr, the account of the ship, writing To N. Goodwyn, and credit, as directed by the word to, the account of N. Goodwyn, writing By Ship Adela.

In posting the last entry but one, headed Ship Adela Dr - to Sundries, we debit the account of the ship, writing To Sundries, as several entries make up the counterpart credit; and we then credit the accounts of Ship Adela, my 3-4ths, and of J. P. Thompson, writing in cach By Ship Adela, in reference to this account for the counterpart debit.

In the last entry, headed Sundries Dr. -to Profit and Loss, we first credit the account of Profit and Loss, writing By Sundries, and then debit successively the accounts of Ship Adela, my 3-4ths, and J. P. Thompson, writing in each To Profit and Loss.

It is to be noticed that before the entries are posted into the ledger, the folios of the latter book in which the accounts to be debited, and credited are placed, are usually inserted on the left of the entries, some persons using two columns for this purpose, one for the debtor and the other for the creditor, and others using, as here, only one column, placing the folio of the debtor above that of the creditor when the two accounts occur in the same line or head of the journal entry.

As each entry is posted, it is the common practice to place some mark in the margin to indicate its having been carried to account, and thus prevent its being either repeated or omitted.

2 13 BILLS RECEIVABLE Dr-to SHIP ADELA No. 68, on Baring & Co. Feb. 14

3

8000

3 27 SHIP ADELA Dr. - to PROFIT AND LOSS Interest, &c. as Account Current

3

16 5 4

275 1 3 9113 9

366 15 0

THE LEDGER.

The accounts opened in the present Ledger are those which have been directed to be debited and credited in the entries of the transactions in the Cash Book and Journal, with the account of William Barclay, whose books, as husband of the Adela, are here supposed to be kept, and also the account for the 12th voyage of the ship.

Previous to making the entry of any transaction in these accounts, the former balance of each, or the state of each account at the opening of the new accounts, must be recorded: this is usually done from the previous balance account, made out similarly to that of the like account given at the close of this ledger; but, in the commencement of a new set of books, statements of the balances to be brought forward are frequently made as opening entries of the journal, in the following forms, for those now to be brought into these accounts.

These entries are to be posted into the ledger by debiting each of the accounts in the first entry, writing To Balance, and crediting each of the accounts in the second entry, writing By Balance, placing to each its specified sum, and its date the 1st of May, 184—. The counterpart credit and debit of the balance account is not necessary to be made, as the amounts of the entries correspond.

The ledger thus opened is ready for the entry of the transactions from the cash book and journal, according to the directions given in the introduction to each of these books.