ments made on their behalf, constitute the only two articles in which a solicitor deals, it is only requisite for him to transfer the several items from the attendance, cash, and disbursement-books,* to the accounts of the several clients, correcting them by the stationer's-book, which he has at hand. But these cannot be at once carried to the ledger, not only on account of their bulk, but of the variations which it may be necessary to make in the bills, to meet the taxation which may be made, and the difficulty of entering the items from so many different books at once in the right place. And as a solicitor is more especially under the jealous eye of the judges, and amenable in a very summary way for any misconduct or even mistake, it is imperative upon him to keep a most exact copy of every bill which he sends out, as well as to be extremely careful in the construction of his bills. To meet these difficulties, a solicitor's accountant generally draws out each bill in a rough draft, entering the chargeable items from the cash and attendance-books upon loose sheets, correcting them from time to time, as necessity requires. It is also very convenient to keep separate transactions dis tinct from one another, and to make different bills for each transaction. In this manner all the items of the cash, attendance, stationer's, and disbursement-books, become at length posted either in the draft bills or in the accounts of the ledger. When any bill is completed, it is written out fair, and an exact copy is entered in a large book called (rather improperly) the bill-book; and the bill is then delivered. * As he postssthe ledger or bills, instead of posting the 107. given to a clerk, which appears in the cash-book, he will post the items he finds in his disbursement-books. This bill-book is therefore a branch of the ledger, containing the items of business done for each client. The sum total only of each bill is carried into the ledger, to the debit of each client's account. If a solicitor only carries the amount of the bills to the debit of the client he may be said to keep his books by single entry; but in this he cannot have the advantage of balancing, because his attendance-book can scarcely by any chance be so well kept as to correspond in all things with the items carried into the bills; and therefore it is of but little use to be particular in carrying the items out into the margin of the attendance-book. But if a solicitor chooses to keep his accounts by double entry, his books are susceptible of the greatest accuracy; and it is effected as follows:-When he carries the total amount of each bill to the debit of his client, he should make a corresponding entry in another ledger-account, called the Business-account, to the credit of that account to the same amount. This is equivalent to the Goodsaccount of the merchant; and by opening this account his books will accurately balance, and this account will represent the gross income of the firm. It is a branch of the Profit and loss account. It is also very common for a solicitor to have money of his client passing through his hands. To meet this occurrence, a solicitor must open in his ledger separate accounts for these transactions; and with the bills deliver a general cash account current, comprising all the bills and transactions. In posting the cash-book into the ledger, the rent, taxes, salaries, petty disbursements, and different branches of the profit and loss may have separate accounts opened for them, as well as a private ac count for each partner if the concern be a partnership, and the accounts may be balanced in the usual way. I have seen, also, a very simple method adopted among partners careless in accounts, and who did not keep a banker, but made up their accounts as between themselves, half-yearly, each paying disbursements as it happened, sharing large receipts, and retaining small sums that came to their respective hands; and I mention it not as an example to be followed, but in general to be avoided; but it illustrates the preceding observations, and may be useful where accounts have run in arrear, or by any accident have become confused. Au account was opened for each of the three partners in a private ledger, in which each was debited with what he received or retained, and credited with his disbursements. An account of the partnership or Businessaccount was then made up, in which the partnership was credited with the amount of the bills received, and debited with all the disbursements, both which were picked out of the bills for the occasion. The amount of the bills received by the partnership would be of course equal to the amount received by all the partners together, and the amount of its disbursements to the amount paid by the three. The balance of the partnership account was, of course, the profits. It was divided into three parts, and one-third was then carried to the credit of each of the three partners, and the balances determined in the usual way; and thus they settled how much each was indebted to the other. Most persons in business have two sets of accounts, one for their business, and one for their private expenditure; and the receipts of the latter are but the profits of the former. Such are the private accounts of a merchant, a trader, or a professional man; and the accounts of an annuitant, or of a fundholder, or of a landholder receiving his rents regularly from a steward, who relieves him from the necessity of keeping the general accounts of his estates, are of a similar description. These private accounts so far differ from the accounts of business, that they have nothing to do with the earning of the money, but simply exhibit an account of its receipts and expenditure, where it is applied to household expenses, furniture, or the like. The accounts of business exhibit the production of a man's income, and his private accounts set forth its consumption. If a person find it convenient so to do, he may mix them together. Thus, if his private expenditure is inconsiderable, ard not worth opening books for, he can, by a little extending the private account opened in his general ledger, make that answer his purpose, or he can pay into another bank, or to a private account with the banker of his business, certain monthly sums which he can apply to household purposes, and those of his privy purse, without taking any account of them ; or he may reverse the process, if his dealings are like those of some professions, or if his business requires but few ledger accounts, as, for instance, an architect, whose profits generally come in large sums. person can keep his private accounts at large, and open in them an account of his professional business, and distinct accounts for the parties he deals with in his profession; and he may proceed by double or single entry as before. Such a The private accounts of a person are usually entered in a cash-book and ledger, which last can hardly be dispensed with, unless the party spends exactly what he receives, and keeps no special account of his furniture and other chattels that accumulate. Upon the debit side of this cash-book, he enters all the sums he receives, and upon the credit side all he expends; and as he comes to the end of each page, the balance will coincide with the sum he has in hand; and this balance is a perpetual check on the account. There is no necessity for him to pass every item of the cash-book into the ledger to their several accounts, but if he wish to do so, he can do it at the end of the year, or at the end of each month, by making an analysis of the items of his income and expenditure (by a process analogous to journalising on the extended scale); that is to say, by picking out the items upon a loose sheet of paper, and casting them together. And this analysis he may enter at the end of each year or month, at the foot of his cash account, where it will form a summary of his receipts and expenditure, and exhibit the exact state of his proceedings; and if he has extracted it correctly, the balance of it will agree with the balance exhibited by his cash-book, which is also the balance he has in hand. It is always advisable for every person, be his dealings ever so simple, thus, or in some manner, to examine his accounts at the close of each year, at least; not only to see that he has actually received all the rent, interest, or income, that he ought to have received, but also to bring before his eyes any particular items of expenditure in which he has been inordinately, and perhaps unintentionally, extravagant. If a person spends all that he receives, a cash account |