to Accountancy BY LAWRENCE R. DICKSEE, M.Com., F.C.A. (OF THE FIRM OF SELLARS, DICKSEE & Co.) Formerly Professor of Accounting at the University of Birmingham. SECOND EDITION. LONDON: GEE & CO., PRINTERS AND PUBLISHERS, 34 MOORGATE STREET, E.C. 1907. BOOKKEEPING FOR COMPANY SECRETARIES." (Third 3/6 BOOKKEEPING EXERCISES FOR ACCOUNTANT STUDENTS." (Second Edition) "GOODWILL AND ITS TREATMENT IN ACCOUNTS." (Third Edition) 3/6 BANKRUPTCY TRUSTEE'S ESTATE BOOK." (Secord Edition) 5/6 4/ GEE & CO., Printers and Publishers, 34 Moorgate Street, London, E.C. As the Regulations of the Institute of Chartered Accountants are liable to fluctuation, it is desirable that proper inquiries be instituted in all cases before acting upon the information contained in this Handbook. Every effort has been made to secure absolute accuracy, but no responsibility can be accepted in the matter by either the Author or the publishers. THE STUDENT'S GUIDE TO ACCOUNTANCY. CHAPTER I. A SKETCH OF THE ACCOUNTANCY PROFESSION. CCOUNTANCY is a comparatively modern institution, and has its rise in the principle of distribution of labour which, during the past century or so, has found increasing favour with all classes of the community, and especially among commercial men. The earliest authentic evidence of the existence of professional Accountancy dates from the year 1720, and is in connection with one of the numerous side-issues that attended the failure of the South Sea Company, which is, perhaps, better known as the "South Sea Bubble." So far as can be gathered from the contemporary records, the Accountants of those days occupied a very different position from that which they now hold, and with but few exceptions they seem to have been mere teachers of bookkeeping and writing; while our knowledge of the capacity of those who teach bookkeeping and writing in public schools, even at the present day, is certainly suggestive that these earlier Accountants had no special claim to pose as authorities upon the subject of accounts. We may, no doubt, take it that "Accountants" (as signifying business men who have a special knowledge of accounts and |