Series consists of records which document expenditures by City committees and departments, and movements of cash into and out of accounts.
The series consists of a variety of types of bound volumes, which record expenditures at the level of individual transactions. The format of the records changed significantly over the course of the City's history as the administration grew, services increased, and accounting requirements evolved.
As a general rule, expenditures were recorded in two ways: by department or budget account (General ledgers) or by the appropriation which supplied the funding for the transaction (Appropriation ledgers or Detail Ledgers). In the early years, a single ledger contained both department/account information and appropriation information. In October 1950, the listing of transactions by appropriation was created in its own set of ledgers, called Detail ledgers until May 1956; as of June 1956, these were called Appropriation ledgers.
As of 1957, there are two sets of General ledgers: one which listed individual transactions by account, printed out each month, and a year-end ledger which listed each month's balances for each account.
Until 1950 the ledgers contain manual entries. As of the end of 1950, the ledgers are computer printouts.
The series also contains two Cash ledgers from the 1880s; these books document the value only of cash transactions from various licenses and other non-appropriation sources, and deposits into the City's bank accounts.
Vancouver (B.C.). Office of the City Accountant
