Bookkeeping Basics

"Bookkeeping Basics" is not a textbook. It's a plain and simple explanation of
how basic accounting works and what it is to "keep the books," so that
bookkeepers can do the job in any kind of industry, for any company.

Back in the day when bookkeeping was done with pen and ink in journal books
and ledgers, bookkeepers, even the best of them, had a common problem. The
books would be "out of balance," sometimes by only pennies, and they could
spend hours and hours of blood, sweat and tears searching for errors.

Accounting programs have solved that problem but created another. There are
no transpositions, no mistakes in addition or subtraction, no "out of balance"
problems but no real necessity for users to understand bookkeeping either.

Some accounting programs require little or no bookkeeping skill but they confine
users to the functions and the accounts provided by the program while keeping
them isolated far from the double entry processes running in the background.
Other high-end programs need users to have some bookkeeping skill in order to
use them.

"Basics" aims to make bookkeeping so clear and simple that bookkeepers can
use any accounting program they choose! They'll not be excluded from using a
heavy duty program for lack of skill, nor become captive to a simpler one.

"Basics" teaches the accounting principles that have worked over time,
demonstrates every bookkeeping function from setting up the books through
generating the financial statements, and creating entries that tailor their reports
to their special needs.

Written by a career bookkeeper, "Basics" makes bookkeeping so easy to
understand that bookkeepers could do it with pen and ink if they wanted to.