Editing Bookkeeping (section)

== History ==
The origin of book-keeping is lost in obscurity, but recent research indicates that methods of keeping accounts have existed from the remotest times of human life in cities. Babylonian records written with [[Stylus|styli]] on small slabs of clay have been found dating to 2600 BC.<ref>{{cite EB1911|wstitle=Book-Keeping|volume=4|page=225}}</ref> [[Mesopotamia|Mesopotamian]] bookkeepers kept records on clay tablets that may date back as far as 7,000 years. Use of the modern double entry bookkeeping system was described by [[Luca Pacioli]] in 1494.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://fremot.edu/history-of-accounting/|title=History of Accounting|publisher=Fremont University|access-date=2022-07-15}}</ref>

The term "[[waste book]]" was used in colonial America, referring to the documenting of daily transactions of receipts and expenditures. Records were made in chronological order, and for temporary use only. Daily records were then transferred to a daybook or account ledger to balance the accounts and to create a permanent journal; then the waste book could be discarded, hence the name.<ref>{{cite web | publisher= Guides to Archives and Manuscript Collections at the University of Pittsburgh Library System |title= Pittsburgh Waste Book and Fort Pitt Trading Post Papers |url= http://digital.library.pitt.edu/cgi-bin/f/findaid/findaid-idx?c=ascead;cc=ascead;q1=General%20John%20Forbes;rgn=main;view=text;didno=US-PPiU-dar192503 |access-date= 2015-09-04 }}</ref>