Just finished a nightmare job and was chilling our reading todays posts and it dawned on me that I don't know the correct spelling of book-keepers, my chosen profession.
I'm guess its been debated on here and other forums before, but I can't seem to find a relevant thread, so thouhght i'd start a new one.
Is it;
a.) book keepers
b.) bookkeepers or
c.) book-keepers
d.) Another - I haven't thought of
Any why - is the chosen spelling more right than the others??? I have looked at the ICB, IAB, AAT and HMRC and they all seem to have differing views.
If anybody has any thoughts - it would be great to hear them.
As a pedant you need to correct another spelling mistake. Sorry
Sheila
I'm always getting his other one wrong. Unfortunately on this forum spelling mistakes aren't pointed out. Well, they are - by other users - not while you type.
As for bookkeepers, bookkeeping - it's funny that if you look at the ICB on Companies House they originally used the hyphen and now don't use it.
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Never buy black socks from a normal shop. They shaft you every time.
The ICB used to be book-keepers like the IAB, but changed back in 2006 in line with the Oxford English Dictionary, also to make the word the only one in the English language with three consecutive doubled letters as Bill pointed out.
I went with the Collins English Dictionary spelling of book-keeper (with a hyphen) when I set up The Book-keepers Forum in 2006.
Also, when completing my ACCA training I worked in a very traditional and old fashioned chartered accountancy practice, where the senior partner (who had previously worked for the revenue) told us to spell book-keeping with a hyphen. I've followed suit ever since.
We were also barred from using blue pens in the office but that's a different story!
A web design client of mine had a similar problem with the spelling of the word website. He could never fully decide if it was website, web site or web-site.
John
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John
Full Time Book-keeper, Dad of 3 Teenage Girls, Part-Time Taxi Driver :)
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