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Ledgers Written by HandA ledger is the main book that records financial transactions of companies, banks, institutions. Today, a ledger is usually a computer file, but, in the past, companies kept all the monetary transactions on paper. They were handwritten by people who kept the counting and who did a total at the end of the day. A ledger was an important element of the bookkeeping process. A general handwritten ledger represented five main accounts: expenses, assets, income, equity and liabilities. Its importance was crucial, that is why the person who hand wrote the ledger had to be very careful not to get the numbers mixed.
The origin of the term ledger implies that is was once a handwritten document. In the past, a ledger was a massive volume from the scripture that was kept in the church, always in the same place, and it was accessible to everyone. According to a chronicle by Charles Wriothesley from 1538, the main purpose of the ledger was to provide the attendants with the Bible so that they could read it if they wanted to. The modern usage of the term respects the quality of making a document public. That is why business houses or companies keep an account book that they share with clients and the general public.
The ledger was famous for its handwritten stenography. Because the information it contained was repetitive, mostly financial slang, the person who was in charge of writing the ledger had to come up with abbreviations for some of the words. For example, 'Depr' means 'depreciation', B/S is 'balance sheet' and A/P are 'accounts payable'.
Even in the past, ledgers were the perfect method to see if a company was doing honest business. Still, a person from the outside will come in periodically and check if all the ledgers are true to the facts.
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