Abstract In recent random reading, the author encountered a reference to a Rhode Island firm with copies of business records dating to the early 1700's. The firm is The John Stevens Shop of Newport, Rhode Island. Upon inquiry, a photo-offset copy of the original account book was obtained from the present proprietor, and an interesting investigation was underway. One of the first obvious accounting facts to present itself is the debit and credit notation. This particular individual used the present style of debits as left-side entries, and credits as right-side entries, as indicated by a number of pages in which individuals are charged on the left pages of the book and credited on the right pages. With the customary English practice of presenting balance sheets with the items reversed from American practice, there is some uncertainty regarding this method of presentation. Regardless of the reason, the record keeper consistently maintained this separation. There is some evidence to support the contention that this must have been one of the earliest uses of the double entry book-keeping method in America.
Robert Jennings (Mon,) studied this question.