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Double Entry Model

Section 3 of 12

Books of Prime Entry

Books of prime entry (also called subsidiary books) are where transactions are first recorded after the source document is received. They are not part of the double entry system themselves — they feed into it.

The Six Books of Prime Entry

BookSource documentRecords
Sales day book (SDB)Sales invoicesAll credit sales; one line per invoice
Purchases day book (PDB)Purchase invoicesAll credit purchases; one line per invoice
Sales returns day book (SRDB)Sales credit notesReturns from credit customers
Purchases returns day book (PRDB)Purchase credit notesReturns to credit suppliers
Cash bookCash receipts, cheque counterfoils, paying-in slips, bank statementAll receipts and payments — cash and bank
General journalInternal documentsNon-routine entries: opening balances, depreciation, bad debts, corrections of errors

How Totals Post to Ledgers

  • Each individual entry in a day book posts to the individual customer or supplier account in the sales/purchases ledger.
  • The monthly total of each day book posts to a single account in the general ledger (e.g. total credit sales → Sales account CR; total trade receivables → Trade receivables control account DR).
  • The cash book is both a book of prime entry and part of double entry — the cash/bank columns are the ledger accounts; the other side of each entry is posted to the general ledger.

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