This chapter and those which follow are offered with the idea of presenting to the beginning student a simple, practical study of the basic principles of bank bookkeeping. Their purpose is to impress upon the pupil's mind the methods and practices of bookkeeping as well as the duties, technical knowledge and vocabulary of the bookkeeper. The items which follow are briefly explained not for their abstract value, but in the belief that the elementary student, with a more or less limited experience in the banking business, could not understand what follows without some knowledge of the underlying facts of bank statements.