ply the government with copies of
their annual accounts, which are published in a state newspaper, and in
the United States certain classes of companies have to submit their
accounts to an official audit. In general terms it may be stated that at
the present time the employment of card and loose-leaf ledger systems is
more general in the United States than in Great Britain.

Education.

Apart from the organizations of professional accountants, there is none
of note devoted to the scientific study of book-keeping other than
purely educational institutions. Among the universities those in the
United States were the first to include accounting as part of their
curriculum; while in Great Britain the London School of Economics
(university of London), the university of Birmingham, and the Victoria
University of Manchester have, so far, alone treated the subject
seriously and upon adequate lines. Quite recently Japan has been making
a movement in the same direction, and other countries will doubtless
follow suit. In England there have for a number of years past been
various bodies--such for instance as the Society of Arts, the London
Chamber of Commerce and Owens College, Manchester--which hold
examinations in book-keeping and grant diplomas to successful
candidates, while most of the polytechnics and technical schools give
instruction in book-keeping; these latter, however, for the most part
regard it as a "craft" merely.

AUTHORITIES.--Those interested in the bibliography of book-keeping are
referred to the catalogue of the library of the Institute of Chartered
Accountants in England and Wales, which probably contains the most
complete collection in existence of ancient and modern works on
accounting, both British and foreign. The following short list
comprises those most likely to be found of general interest: G. van de
Linde, _Book-keeping_ (1898); L.R. Dicksee, _Book-keeping_ (5th ed.,
1906) and _Advanced Accounting_ (2nd ed., 1905); _Encyclopaedia of
Accounting_, ed. by G. Lisle (1903); _Accountants' Library_, ed. by
the editor of _The Accountant_ (1901); J.W. Heaps, _The Antiquity of
Book-keeping_ (1898); _History of Accounting and Accountants_, ed. by
R. Brown (1905). (L. R. D.)

BOOK-PLATES. The book-plate, or _ex-libris_, a printed label intended to
indicate ownership in individual volumes, is nearly as old as the
printed book itself. It bears very much the same relation to t