Bookkeeping is the recording of financial transactions. Transactions include sales, purchases, income, and payments by an individual or organization. Bookkeeping is usually performed by a bookkeeper. Bookkeeping should not be confused with accounting.  The accounting process is usually performed by an accountant. The accountant creates reports from the recorded financial transactions recorded by the bookkeeper.  Any process that involves the recording of financial transactions is a bookkeeping process. The main reasons for bookkeeping are:

• To keep records of  income (money coming in) and expenditures (money spent) so the the profit or loss during a period of time can be easily worked out.