Excerpt from 20th Century Bookkeeping and Accounting: A Treatise on Modern Bookkeeping, Accounting, and Business Customs, as Illustrated in the "Business Transactions" Which Accompany This Text The successful business man should know that a profit will result from the transactions in connection with his business before they are completed. To deter mine this he should have such information as will show the detailed operating cost, the profit from trading or other operations, the net profit for each fiscal period, its source, and the increase or decrease over previous periods. A report concerning the failure or suspension of a business, accompanied with the statement that the creditors will not know what percentage of their claim may be collected until the experts have audited the books, indicates that the manage ment did not have all the facts available in connection with the business. Such a statement is so common in the newspaper announcement of failures that it sug gests a connection between accounting and success. If these conditions are to be improved, it is necessary to teach the correct principles of accounting and the best practice in applying them. The bookkeeping student of to-day is the bookkeeper or business man of to-morrow. If he has a knowledge of the correct principles, as bookkeeper, he will apply them, or, as manager, he will see that they are applied by the bookkeeper. The purpose of this text is to present the correct principles of bookkeeping and accounting, - principles advocated and practiced by modern bookkeepers and accountants. The information upon which it is based was obtained from standard authorities on accounting and from consultations with practicing book keepers and accountants. The text is prepared primarily for the student and not for the practicing book keeper or accountant. The presentation permits the beginner to master first, the simple principles of accounting as applied in a small business. When he understands these, he can then appreciate the more complicated principles of accounting necessary in recording the transactions for a business of extensive operations. A study of the text would result in only a theoretical knowledge of the subject. Practice, is necessary in applying the principles. This practice is provided in the sets that accompany the text. Each set has its outline of accounts based on the nature of the business and the number of transactions in connection therewith. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.