Memorandum records

For some firms, the control account will be used as a check on the numerical accuracy of the sales and purchases ledger. The control account in this case is not part of the double-entry system. In this case, the control accounts would be known as memorandum records - they are simply there as a back up to the normal double entry system.

However in some larger firms, all the control accounts are kept as an integral part of the double-entry system of bookkeeping. The personal accounts as found in the sales and purchases ledger would then become the memorandum records and would be used for information only. Here, the control accounts, as found in the general ledger, would be used for the trial balance and so on.