work previously performed, and to add the value of
work performed during the current period which remains unpaid. In the
majority of businesses those accounts which deal with various forms of
standing expenses are thus dealt with, and in consequence the record, as
it appears from day to day, is _pro tanto_ incomplete. Another very
important series of transactions which is not included in the ordinary
day-to-day record is that representing the loss gradually accruing by
reason of waste, or depreciation, of assets or general equipment of the
business; proper allowance for these losses must of course be made
whenever it is desired to ascertain the true position of affairs.

History.

The origin of book-keeping is lost in obscurity, but recent researches
would appear to show that some method of keeping accounts has existed
from the remotest times. Babylonian records have been found dating back
as far as 2600 B.C., written with a stylus on small slabs of clay, and
it is of interest to note (_Records of the Past_, xi. 89) that these
slabs or tablets "usually contain impressions from cylinder seals, and
nail marks, which were considered to be a man's natural seal," thus
showing that the modern method of identifying criminals by finger prints
had its counterpart in Babylonia some 4500 years ago. Egyptian records
were commonly written on papyrus, and contemporary pictures show a
scribe keeping account of the quantities of grain brought into and
removed from the government store-houses. It will thus be seen that some
form of book-keeping existed long before bound books were known, and
therefore the more general term _accounting_ would seem to be
preferable--the more so as the most modern developments are in the
direction of again abandoning the bound book in favour of loose or
easily detached sheets of paper or card, thus capable of being
rearranged as circumstances or convenience may dictate. Most of the
earlier accounting records are in the nature of a mere narrative of
events, which--however complete in itself--failed to fulfil the second
requirement of an adequate system of book-keeping already referred to.
Prior to the use of money nothing in this direction could of course well
be attempted; but for a long time after its employment became general
money values were recorded in Roman figures, which naturally did not
lend themselves to ready calculation.

At the present-time it may be generally stated that all book-keepi