What Is The Difference Between Book-keeping, Accountancy And Auditing?

Book keeping is the art of recording the transaction in the books of original entry and the ledgers. This work is usually performed by junior clerks who are sometimes called book keepers or account keepers. This work is less of mechanical nature and does not require any specialized knowledge of the principles of accountancy. The work of such clerks is supervised by a man who is called an accountant.


Accountancy involves the preparation of the final accounts to show the results of the business at the end of a particular period. The man who is ensured with this work is called an accountant. His work is not only supervising the work of book keepers but also to analyze, review and draw conclusions from the final accounts. His work is of specialized nature and he must be well versed with the principles of accountancy.

Auditing is quite a different thing from book keeping and accountancy. Auditing has nothing to do with the writing of the books of accounts or preparation of the final accounts. Auditing is a careful and critical examination of the books of accounts to find out their accuracy, whether the profit and loss account and the balance sheet have been properly drawn up and whether they exhibit at true and correct view of the state of affairs of the business.