What are subsidiary books? Why are they maintained?

What are subsidiary books? Why are they maintained?

Subsidiary book is the sub division of Journal. These are known as books of prime entry or books of original entry as all the transactions are recorded in their original form. In these books the details of the transactions are recorded as they take place from day to day in a classified manner.

The important subsidiary books used are as following:-

-Cash Book : Used to record all the cash receipts and payments.
-Purchase Book : Used to record all the credit purchases.
-Sales Book : Used to record all the credit sales
-Purchase Return Book : Used to record all goods returned by business to the supplier
-Sales Return Book : Used to record all good returned by the customer to the business.
-Bills Receivable Book : Used to record all accepted bills received by business.
-Bills Payable Book : Used to record all bill accepted by us to our creditors.
-Journal Proper : Used to record those transactions for which there is no separate book.

These subsidiary books are maintained because it may be impossible to record each transaction into the ledger as it occurs. And these books record the details of the transactions and therefore help the ledger to become brief. Future reference and any desired analysis becomes easy as transactions of similar nature are recorded together.