double entry

a method in which each transaction is entered twice in the ledger, once to the debit of one account, and once to the credit of another.

Compare single entry.

Origin of double entry

First recorded in 1715–25

dou·ble-en·try, adjective

One may add up the whole sum according to the bookkeeping of Fate, by double-entry, credit and debit, profit and loss.

Now It Can Be Told |Philip Gibbs
The critic was a kind of literary book-keeper who went upon the double-entry system.

Thomas Carlyle |Hector Carsewell Macpherson
After this book-keeping by double-entry, my gossip took to engraving on copper.

Translations from the German (Vol 3 of 3) |Thomas Carlyle
There must be, of course, or where would be the use of this double-entry business?

The Works of Robert Louis Stevenson - Swanston Edition Vol. 7 (of 25) |Robert Louis Stevenson

And there comes Stubberud, the man the Aftenpost said was so clever at double-entry book-keeping.

The South Pole, Volumes 1 and 2 |Roald Amundsen

double entry

a book-keeping system in which any commercial transaction is entered as a debit in one account and as a credit in anotherCompare single entry
(as modifier)double-entry book-keeping