Books of accounts are typically opened by means of a principle journal, which is also known as the general journal. The principle journal is a book in which all financial transactions of a business are recorded in chronological order. These transactions include sales, purchases, returns, expenses, and other financial events.
The principle journal serves as the primary record of a company's financial activities, and it is used to create other financial reports such as balance sheets and income statements. Each entry in the principle journal includes a date, a description of the transaction, and the amount of money involved.
While there are other journals that may be used for specific types of transactions, such as the sales journal for recording sales or the purchases journal for recording purchases, the principle journal is the starting point for all financial transactions and is therefore considered the most important book of accounts.