A QUOTE FROM THE PAST
It is not commonly known that Daniel Defoe ,the author of Robinson Crusoe, was also an accountant. Over 250 years ago he wrote the following. It was true then and remains true to this day.
"A tradesman's books are his repeating clock, which upon all occasions are to tell him how he goes on, and how things stand with him in the world;
There he will know when 'tis time to go on, or when 'tis time to give over; and upon his regular keeping, and fully acquainting himself with his books, depends at least the comfort of his trade, if not the very trade itself.
If they are not duly posted, and if everything is not entered in them, the debtors accounts kept even, the cash constantly balanced , and the credits all stated, the tradesman is like a ship at sea, steer'd without a helm;
He is all in confusion, and knows not what he does, nor where he is; he may be a rich man, or a bankrupt, for in a word, he can give no account of himself to himself, much less to anybody else."
Daniel Defoe 1726