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Glossary

Double-entry bookkeeping

The system where every transaction is recorded in at least two accounts, keeping the books self-checking.

The five-century-old system where every transaction touches at least two accounts: money doesn't just leave, it leaves one place and arrives in another. The built-in symmetry makes the books self-checking; if debits and credits don't match, something is wrong.

In Bizdivers: the ledger underneath all the automation is genuine double-entry, with journal entries, a trial balance, and a general ledger a bookkeeper can verify. See The bookkeeper's toolkit.