Books of prime entry
Books of prime entry are the day books — sales, purchases, returns, cash book and the general journal — where a business first records a transaction from its source document before posting it to the ledger.
See it move
A sales day book lists three credit-sale invoices for €1,200, €800 and €500. None of these individual amounts touches the general ledger directly. Only their total, €2,500, is posted once, debiting the receivables control account and crediting sales — the single summary entry that keeps the ledger free of one posting per invoice.
Check yourself
During one week a business raises four credit sales invoices for €640, €910, €275 and €1,175, and issues one credit note for €95 to a customer returning faulty goods. What total is posted from the sales day book to the receivables control account in the general ledger for the week (the credit note is recorded separately in the sales returns day book)?