Special Journals

                        Special Journals

In small business concern only one journal and one ledger may serve the purpose, because the number of transactions is very small. But in large  business concerns number of transactions are numerous, just one journal and one ledger will not do the job . That will cause much inconvenience .i.e , if if we have only one journal in a ledger scale business, it is not possible for one book-keeper to record all the transactions in time. On the other hand, it will not possible for more then one persons to use the same journal with the result that the accounting work will fall in arrear.Under double entry system transactions are first of all recorded in journal and thereafter posted to the ledger. We already know that the "Ledger" is the main book of account. The book which gives additional help to the main book (Ledger) is called Subsidiary Book. Thus the journal is the subsidiary book and the ledger is the main book. The 'journal' is an old french word meaning 'Daily Record' , and it is called so because everything that happens everyday is recorded into the book at once , before the exact details of transactions are forgotten. It is in journal that the 'Original Documents' are recorded.

There are, however , some more factors which necessitate the use of more than one subsidiary book (Journal:)

(1) If all the transactions are recorded in one book (Journal) , the book will be very large, bulky and difficult to handle .

(2) If one book-keeper is ask to record all the transactions, the possibility of errors and mistakes will be great. It will be also create opportunities for committing fraud.

(3) If all the transactions are recorded in one book, it will be difficult to trace out a particular transaction in future.

Advantages:

The following advantages are derived from division of journal:

(1)Because of subdivision the books cannot be bulky and hence there will be no difficulty in handling them.
(2) Accounting work is divided amongst a large number of employees. So work is done nicely and promptly and no work  is left in arrear.
(3) Each employee can be held responsible for mistakes committed by him. This serves as caution and care to the employees.
(4) The efficiency increase, because of the division of labour.
(5) By keeping the book under the custody of different employees the chances of frauds and defalcation are minimized.