Stephen asked that specs come from recognized documents, not from
anyone's memory. There is no single US bookkeeping bible; authority is
layered, and this records it:
- docs/spec/sources/: verbatim excerpts (whitespace normalized), each
with URL, retrieval date, and the SHA-256 of the fetched file, of
public-domain texts: Pacioli's 1494 treatise in Geijsbeek's 1914
translation (double entry, the trial balance, one money, write only
forward, correct by opposite entry, close into capital); IRS Pub. 583,
538, 946, 15; the 1099-MISC/NEC instructions (2025 and 2026); 26 U.S.C.
§6041, §6041A, §704; Treas. Reg. §1.263(a)-1(f) and -4(f); Notice
2015-82; Rev. Proc. 98-25; Form 1065 instructions; 17 U.S.C. §105. The
excerpts were extracted by matching each passage against the fetched
file, so none can contain text the source doesn't.
- docs/spec/rules.md: the rule catalog, B-1 to B-22. Each rule says
AUTHORITY, CONVENTION, or DECISION; cites its sources (FASB's
Codification and Concepts Statement 8 and OpenStax quoted briefly,
never copied: copyright and CC BY-NC-SA); and names the code that
enforces it and the tests and proofs that check it.
- Spec blocks in the code now carry SOURCE: lines into the catalog;
AGENTS.md makes sourcing rule 0 of the formal-methods bar.
Corrections the sources turned up: the de minimis limit is $500 in the
regulation and $2,500 by Notice 2015-82 (both now cited); 1099
thresholds after 2026 are inflation-indexed, so the engine's flat
$2,000 for 2027+ is an open question (B-19). Unverified ASC paragraphs
(360-10-35-4, 340-10, 230-10-45-10, 606-10-55-37B, 210) are listed in
docs/spec/README.md until someone with a FASB basic-view login reads
them.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
Claude-Session: https://claude.ai/code/session_01GWVo7x3UHw5kwCUaWxiejX
The money arithmetic every invariant rests on now lives in one kernel,
ledger-core/src/kernel.rs: signing a line, totals, net, per-account
movements, reversal, normal balances, trial-balance columns, closing
lines, and the rounding plug for member splits. It is generic over a
checked `Amount` trait. The engine runs it on Decimal (validate,
movements, reverse_entry, account_balance, close_period_to, allocate,
trial_balance): there is one copy of the arithmetic, and it is the one
under proof.
Three layers, docs/verification.md maps every law to its proofs:
- Kani (src/proofs.rs): 17 harnesses prove the kernel at i64 for every
input up to 4 lines over 3 accounts. An entry is accepted exactly
when it is two or more positive, in-range lines whose debits equal
credits; accepted entries net to zero; grouping by account loses
nothing; a reversal mirrors and cancels its original; trial-balance
columns balance iff the books net to zero; closing lines zero their
accounts and a close balances however the net is split; the plug
makes parts sum to the whole. No panics, no overflow. kani::cover!
shows the proofs are not vacuous.
- Lean 4 (verify/lean): 24 headline theorems for books of any size. The
ledger is a state machine (add account, draft, post, reverse, open,
close), and in every reachable state the books net to zero, the trial
balance balances (as of any date), and the accounting equation holds.
Posting only appends ("posted is forever"), closed periods are
frozen, a close zeroes revenue and expenses and credits exactly the net
income, and period statements add up. Audit.lean shows standard axioms
only, no sorry.
- Bridge (tests/kernel_bridge.rs): the Decimal and i64 kernels agree.
What the proofs found (each one missed by every test, fuzzer, and
mutant):
- The engine accepted negative line amounts; only MCP refused them. Now
NegativeAmountLine: direction is the side's job.
- Summing lines near Decimal::MAX panicked. Lines are now capped at one
quadrillion and ten decimal places (AmountOutOfRange), which keeps
every realistic sum exact, and the kernel's sums are checked.
- FX conversion (foreign_amount * fx_rate) could panic the same way; it
is now a checked multiply.
- Kani itself: 0.68 mis-models symbolic-length copy_from_slice
(model-checking/kani#4904) and reported a reversal that doesn't net to
zero. The counterexample, replayed natively, passes, and a 15-line
standalone crate reproduces the bug. Harnesses avoid bulk copies, and
a should_panic canary will flag the upstream fix.
`just prove` runs it all (Kani memory- and time-capped, fails on an
unsatisfiable cover or a non-standard Lean axiom). AGENTS.md now makes
formal coverage part of every core change.
Also, docs: GnuCash is *an* oracle, never *the* oracle (Stephen). The
spec is accounting principles, proved. Golden files are recomputed from
principles. External implementations (GnuCash, the old Sheet, QBO/Xero)
are cross-checks whose disagreements get adjudicated, never obeyed.
docs/oracle.md gains "Who is right"; AGENTS, README, architecture,
roadmap, parity, and STATUS are reworded to match.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
Claude-Session: https://claude.ai/code/session_01GWVo7x3UHw5kwCUaWxiejX
swaitsandClaude Opus 5.5