How should I record my business transactions? A good
recordkeeping system includes a summary of your business
transactions. Business transactions are ordinarily summarized in
books called journals and ledgers. You can buy them at your
local stationery or office supply store. A journal is a book
where you record each business transaction shown on your
supporting documents. You may have to keep separate journals for
transactions that occur frequently. A ledger is a book that
contains the totals from all of your journals. It is organized
into different accounts. Whether you keep journals and ledgers
and how you keep them depends on the type of business you are
in. For example, a recordkeeping system for a small business
might include the following items. Daily summary of cash
receipts Monthly summary of cash receipts Check disbursements
journal Employee compensation records Note: The system you use
to record business transactions will be more effective as you
follow good recordkeeping practices. For example, rec