ABSTRACT
Bookkeeping is about keeping a record of relationships. The relationship between a business and those with whom it has dealings is recorded by the use of double entry bookkeeping which reduces each relationship to a monetary figure. A business will establish a relationship with a variety of parties, such as its bank, customers, suppliers and also its owner. Bookkeeping treats the business and its owner as separate entities and the accounts of a solvent business will show its owner as a creditor to whom it owes money. In this sense, bookkeeping ignores the legal reality of some types of business medium, such as the sole trader and partnership which in law do not have a personality separate from their owner.
