Abstract
The advent of electronic data processing (EDP) systems, especially those centered around full-fledged computers, has made striking changes in the way data are recorded, summarized, and reported. In pre-computer accounting systems, transactions were generally recorded on source documents, transferred to journals, posted to detail ledgers, summarized in control ledgers, and reported in summary statements at intervals ranging up to one year. Before the invention of accounting machines, these steps were performed entirely by hand—bringing to mind the illustration of Dickens' "Christmas Carol" which shows Bob Cratchit sitting on a high stool with his green eyeshade and sleeve garters laboriously copying figures from one sheet of paper to another. The earliest accounting machines left the accounting cycle unchanged, merely substituting machine-printed figures for handwritten ones. Later accounting machines began to combine several steps in the process into one operation, with cash registers creating source documents, journalizing and summarizing transactions at the same time; and general purpose machines combining, for instance, journalizing collections and posting these collections to the customers’ accounts. It should be noted that these machines left printed records of all transactions that were recorded, and that the ledgers to which the transactions were posted were in printed form so that they could easily be examined, checked, and hand-posted should the need arise. For accounting systems ranging from strictly hand systems to machine accounting systems, a body of principles of internal control evolved to ensure proper recording of transactions and safeguarding of assets.