Book"keep`ing, n. The art of recording pecuniary or business transactions in a regular and systematic manner, so as to show their relation to each other, and the state of the business in which they occur; the art of keeping accounts. The books commonly used are a daybook, cashbook, journal, and ledger. See Daybook, Cashbook, Journal, and Ledger.

Bookkeeping by single entry, the method of keeping books by carrying the record of each transaction to the debit or credit of a single account. -- Bookkeeping by double entry, a mode of bookkeeping in which two entries of every transaction are carried to the ledger, one to the Dr., or left hand, side of one account, and the other to the Cr., or right hand, side of a corresponding account, in order tha&?; the one entry may check the other; -- sometimes called, from the place of its origin, the Italian method.