Series GR-4170 - Miscellaneous provincial treasury financial records

This series consists of 41 volumes of financial records likely created by the Provincial Treasury and Department of Finance from 1869-1948. The majority of records are waste books, journals, ledgers and cash books. However they may not be labelled clearly as such. Other types of records include day books, memoranda, authorities, promissory notes, blotters, form K, form J and other account books. The titles of each volume in the file list are transcribed directly from the cover or front page of the volume. Title information in [square brackets] is estimated or inferred by the archivist. The records document the financial transactions and balances of the provincial government in all aspects of its operations and functions.

Waste books are rough account book in which transactions are recorded as they occur. Waste book entries are often transferred to day books prior to summary in journals and ledgers. These transactions are entered chronologically by date and are arranged under various accounts. The accounts may be the type of expense, or the name of the office in which the transaction relates to. Information may be entered under the following headings: date, related journal page, amount and total. Only some books include a description of individual services or items of a transaction.

Journals are a type of financial record used in double entry book keeping to separate transactions into debits or credits. They are an intermediary record used to reorganize the chronological entries in rough day books or waste books into specific accounts, before they are ultimately copied into a ledger book. Information may be entered under the following headings: amount, associated ledger folio number, associated waste book page, date, a description of the transaction, and if the transaction was a debit or credit. The end of each year includes a sheet summarizing the balances for various accounts.

Ledger books are financial records in which each transaction is entered under a particular account or subject as a debit or a credit. The information may have been copied from a related daybook or journal before being sorted and copied into the ledger. Accounts can include anything that is a source of government income or expenditure. Account names may be indexed. Information may be entered under the following headings: date, related journal page, description of the transaction, and the amount. Debit transactions are recorded on the left side of a folio and credits on the right side.

Cash books list receipts and payments in date order and are used to determine total assets at any given time. Information may be entered under the following headings: date of receipt or payment, number of voucher; name of the person or department making or receiving the payment; reason for payment or receipt; amount received or paid; the heading under which the entry was recorded in the related waste book; and the waste book page number. Cash books may be referred to as collectorate books or records of receipts and payments.