Meaning of Incomplete Records

Accounting records that are not strictly kept according to the double entry system are known

as incomplete records. Many writers describe this as the single entry system, but that term

is really a misnomer — there is no organised "system" of maintaining records here, and it is not

a short-cut alternative to double entry either.

It is better understood as a mechanism of keeping records in which some transactions are

recorded with proper debits and credits, while for others only one side is entered, or no entry is

made at all. Typically, the cash book and the personal accounts of debtors and creditors …