Agreed. The "magic" of double entry bookkeeping is that it is a financial version of the Principal of the Conservation of Energy. It isn't as strict in that it

Agreed. The "magic" of double entry bookkeeping is that it is a financial version of the Principal of the Conservation of Energy. It isn't as strict in that it allows for assets to alter in value, for profits or losses to be made. But it does keep track of the way that money and "value" circulates in different forms, e.g. as cash, assets, debts, depreciation, etc. The "double entry" keeps track of the transformation of the nature of "value". This is hard to do using a simple household-style "cash-in" and "cash-out" set of accounts.