Bookkeeping is an essential
accounting tool. A small business or company may employ only one bookkeeper,
who records all of the financial data by hand; large organizations my employ
many bookkeepers, who use electronic and mechanical equipment for a large part
of their work. Each organization has its own bookkeeping requipments, but all
systems operate on the same basic principles. The bookkeepers themselves must
be accurate, good in math, and meticulous; that is, they must be very careful
to record each detail in its proper place.
About 3,000 B.C., the Sumerians,
the Eqyptians, and other peoples of the Middle East developed the first known
business records. The results of tax collections, farming harvests, and the
transactions of merchants were recorded by means of written numbers. The Romans,
too, were prolific keepers of records. Indeed, Roman numerals were used in many
parts of Europe until the fifteenth century A.D The stimulus for
modern bookkeeping came with the introduction of Arabic, or Hindu-Arabic,
numerals and the decimal system in the twelfth century A.D Most people today
use Arabic numerals.
