bookkeeping

American  

[book-kee-ping] / ˈbʊkˌki pɪŋ /

noun

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

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Other Word Forms

• bookkeeper noun

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.

Example Sentences

There’s not a textbook for empathy the way there is for Python or for bookkeeping.

From MarketWatch • Apr. 11, 2026

In death as in life, the only relief he can find is in the bookkeeping drudgery that has become not just his identity but his very soul.

From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 18, 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

Burrowes draws from his bookkeeping records to support his claims, including one that Combs reneged on a promise to pay for Notorious B.I.G.’s public funeral.

From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 14, 2025

The idea that accurate figures could make a fundamental difference started with double-entry bookkeeping in the thirteenth century; it then spread to the sciences, and outwards from both accountancy and science to government.

From "The Invention of Science" by David Wootton