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Synonyms

bookkeeping

American  
[book-kee-ping] / ˈbʊkˌki pɪŋ /

noun

  1. the work or skill of keeping account books or systematic records of money transactions (distinguished from accounting).


Other Word Forms

Etymology

Origin of bookkeeping

First recorded in 1680–90; book + keeping

Explanation

Bookkeeping is keeping track of a business's financial transactions. Most bookkeeping these days happens on computers rather than in actual books. The activity of keeping your own financial records and the job of doing the same thing for a company are both considered bookkeeping. Some people teach themselves basic bookkeeping and others hire experts to do it for them. The word bookkeeping comes from the sense of book that means "record" or "written document," and it has the distinction of being one of very few words in English with three consecutive double letters.

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Vocabulary lists containing bookkeeping

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

See Examples For:

It also offers bill payments, procurement, travel booking, treasury services and automated bookkeeping.

From The Wall Street Journal May 7, 2026

The riskiest segments included administrative support, data entry, bookkeeping, and editing, said the study.

From MarketWatch Apr. 17, 2026

Their statement also stresses that they effectively opened up their entire bookkeeping system to the Premier League for the purposes of the investigation.

From BBC Mar. 16, 2026

"Mr Kahn's work for Epstein was precisely the same kind of accounting and bookkeeping work that thousands of professionals provide to clients on a daily basis," Dan Ruzumna told the BBC.

From BBC Mar. 10, 2026

His sole claim to fame during a lackluster tenure on the city council was detecting a bookkeeping error that would have cost the city a million dollars.

From "The Best of Enemies" by Osha Gray Davidson

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