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IOR/L/AG/1

Record Id:

036-000944533

Hierarchy Root Ancestor Record Id:

036-000944533

MDARK:

ark:/81055/vdc_100000000015.0x000393

LARK:

SLARK:

Format:

ISAD(G)

Reference (shelfmark):

IOR/L/AG/1

Title:

East India Company and India Office Ledgers and Journals

Scope & Content:

The ledgers and journals are a series of complementary books of main accounts of the home administrations, although they also contain details of some translations with originated overseas e.g. trading transactions at the factories, and receipts and payments which were included in the Indian remittance accounts because they were required to be paid or recovered in England.

The earliest ledger [IOR/L/AG/1/1/1] has been missing probably since the 19th century. In the first surviving ledger, there are no items transferred immediately from the previous book other than a few advances made to owners of ships, but some items relating to the earlier period were subsequently brought into the ledger (see ledger headings 'Balance of former book' and 'Balance'). Entries relating to the liability for the amount of the Adventurers' stock appear for the first time in January 1675. Before then, there were Stock Books or Ledgers, now lost, and Stock Journals. It is possible to trace the names of all ships engaged in trade, details of their cargoes (particularly homeward), the various commodities off-loaded into the custody of the Company's warehouse keepers in London, goods leaving the warehouses after sale, and ledger accounts for the purchasers of goods, including particulars of the type of goods, price and quantity. The ledgers also record loans at interest, and loans between the Company and the Crown. In the earlier volumes, a separate ledger account was maintained for each person lending money to the Company at interest. As is usual with accounting records, the journals usually contain more detail, but it is difficult to trace a entry in the journal without the relevant ledger account. The ledgers and journals (up to letter K) of the London Company contain entries as late as 1713. The first of the United Company books (letter B) begins in 1705, but it seems certain that there was an earlier pair for the period 1703-1705, now lost. Annual balances of ledger accounts are first shown in 1756. Before then, balances appear only at the beginning and end of each volume, although they must have been taken more frequently, if perhaps irregularly.

Collection Area:

India Office Records and Private Papers

Project / Collection:

India Office Records

Hierarchy Tree:

[{ "id" : "036-000944533", "parent" : "#", "text" : "Hierarchy View unavailable. Click Hide Hierarchy button and use links in the catalogue record." }]

Hierarchy Record Ids:

032-000944532
036-000944533

Is part of:

IOR/L/AG : Accountant General's Records

IOR/L/AG/1 : East India Company and India Office Ledgers and Journals

Contains:

Click here to View / search full list of parts of IOR/L/AG/1

Hierarchy:

032-000944532[0001]/036-000944533

Container:

View / search within Archive / Collection: IOR/L/AG

Record Type (Level):

Series

Extent:

381 volumes

Digitised Content:

Languages:

English

Scripts:

Latin

Start Date:

1631

End Date:

1955

Date Range:

1631-1955

Era:

Access:

Available for research unless otherwise stated

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User Conditions:

Administrative Context:

The established system of recording financial transactions in Journals and posting them in double-entry to predetermined running accounts in ledgers provided the East India Company with its main series of accounting records, which were continued in modified form by the India Office. Until the nineteenth century both ledgers and journals were maintained in considerable depth and with greater use of separate ledger accounts than was the practice later. It is usually possible to trace an individual transaction by reference to the ledger index and then, if necessary, to the Journal. Subsequently, progressive use was made of subsidiary books (e.g. appendices to the ledgers, abstracts of receipts and payments, and registers) to record a particular kind of transaction in any one month and to post monthly totals only into the ledger. Many of these subsidiary volumes survive up to 1860 [see IOR/L/AG/1/14 and IOR/L/AG/9]. After 1860, the books of the section concerned- pay, pension, miscellaneous payments etc - offer a better route for tracing a payment. India Office financial transactions were mainly concerned with sums due to, or from, the revenue of India. For the purpose of the Indian accounts, payments had to be classified under some hundreds of different sub-heads. This analysis was effected by recording the payments in Registers (e.g. No. 1 Home Service Pensions; No.2 Salaries; No.3 Royal Indian Navy pensions), with 'miscellaneous' payments (Registers 15 and 21) being further sorted out by posting under the appropriate head in Abstract books. A similar system was used for analysing receipts. The total of the transactions was reconciled daily with the balance at the Bank. At the end of each month, the total for each sub-head was entered in a general Account of Receipts and Disbursements in which, in addition to these direct cash transactions, necessary adjustments of different kinds were shown (transactions of sub-accountants, transfers between sub-heads, refunds set off against payments, etc.). This account also built up the cumulative figures for the financial year for each sub-head, ending with the account for March. The latter would be subsequently revised to allow for belated adjustments in a 'Final' and a 'Supplementary' edition. The account for the year was then printed for presentation to Parliament and copies were sent for incorporation in the Government of India's accounts. The figures of cash transactions and adjustments appearing in the monthly Account against each sub-head were posted through the Journal to the Ledger. At the end of the year, the majority of these sub-heads, relating to the ordinary expenses of government, were closed and the totals written off, but on Suspense Accounts balances were carried forward to the following year. At some time before 1920, an important change was made. A system was introduced of noting the relevant 'adjustments' under each sub-head in the Abstract books, after the direct cash transactions of the month. This brought together conveniently in one place, and in greater detail than in the Ledger, the year's history of the sub-head in question. This made scrutiny of the figures easier and was particularly useful when detailed statements were required, as for example in the case of recoverable expenditure. In 1926 a separate Abstract was started for the Suspense sub-heads, a 'Ledger Abstract' in which receipts appeared opposite the payments, each side also showing in detail the month's adjustments. The year's opening and closing balances were also shown. The formal main Ledger thus became redundant and, after being continued for some years in an extremely summarised form, it was eventually abolished. From about 1941, as an economy measure, a loose-leaf system was adopted for the various Abstracts. This was rather inconvenient in the case of the Ledger Abstracts but, though a change in layout became necessary, the Abstract was maintained on the same basic principles as before. A special and fairly numerous class of payments and receipts were known as Remittance Transactions. These included items such as payment of motor car advances to officers on leave, which although 'final' as far as the India Office accounts were concerned nevertheless had to be recovered from the officer in India. In the reverse direction, recovery was effected from the United Kingdom Government Departments, for example of expenditure incurred in India on their behalf. Monthly schedules under various sub-heads of items 'adjustable in India' or 'adjustable in England' were sent to and received from the authorities in India. To watch the progress of adjustment and to ensure that all items were ultimately cleared, a pro forma Remittance Ledger was maintained. In 1930, however, it was found possible to bring this into the main India Office book-keeping system and, as in the case of the Suspense sub-heads, to deal with Remittance transactions in a separate Remittance Sub-heads Abstract in ledger form, subdivided for convenience into four sections.

Material Type:

Archives and Manuscripts

Legal Status:

Public Record(s)

Related Material:

For subsidiary volumes up to 1860, see IOR/L/AG/1/14 and IOR/L/AG/9.