Manual accounting is ever decreasing but is still the first choice for many small businesses. In some cases they are still run in addition to a computerised system as an extra layer of protection and an additional layer for internal control.
Manual accounting involves various ledgers and files, which would usually include a cash book, sales day books, purchase day books and petty cash books.
There are advantages of keeping manual records such as:
a)Data Corruption keeping manual records in a safe place eliminates the dangers that can be faced from a computerised system such as; viruses, loss of data etc.
b)Cost- Updating the software on a computerised system can confuse many people and lead to data loss and is costly, as updates tend to take place almost every year.
c)Loss of Back Ups back ups transferred to disks can get corrupted or damaged easily if not taken good care of.
d)Correcting Errors is a lot more complicated in computerised systems and can leave messy audit trails due to deleted or changed entries.
Generally for small businesses and the self employed it would be a far cheaper option to use account books and ledgers than to invest in fully computerised accounting systems.
The sales of items like the cathedral analysis book, petty cash books, Simplex D Books, Guildhall accounts books and ledgers are still strong, otherwise they wouldnt be making them anymore. So not everything has been taken over by the personal computer.
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