Files
wanderbooks/bookspec/spec/rules-index.md
T
swaitsandClaude Fable 5.1 1fbc1383cb feat(bookspec): the specification text and an example for the ledger's own laws (P13 step 4)
bookspec/spec holds the first edition: the model and the five laws
(00-model.md) and one file per area, each B-rule a section with its
status, a MUST/MAY statement, sources pinned either to a vendored source
with a verbatim quotation or to an exact external paragraph, its symbolic
form, its examples and its applicability. B-39, B-40, B-43 and B-45 are
reserved sections (allocated, not yet stated in rules.md); B-44 is stated
in rules.md and now carries its bookspec id and CONVENTION status.

Eight new examples show the laws that had none, each figure worked by
hand: an unbalanced entry is refused (Pacioli ch. 36, Pub. 583), a
negative or zero line is refused, a fraction of a cent is refused (ISO
4217), a child account takes its parent's type, the trial balance and the
accounting equation on one small book (cash 6550.25 = loan 2000 + capital
5000 + (sales 750.50 - rent 1200.25)), a reversal leaves the original
standing and a second reversal is refused, a close sweeps revenue and
expenses into Retained Earnings (3999) and the closed quarter takes no
late entry, and cents add exactly. The refusal vocabulary gains
unbalanced, negative_amount, zero_amount, too_few_lines,
finer_than_minor_unit, parent_type_mismatch, already_reversed and
period_closed; a refused entry may carry a non-positive amount.

The checker's spec.rs fails the build on a rule without its section, a
statement without MUST/SHOULD/MAY, a pin that is not verbatim in its
vendored source, examples that differ from the catalogue, or more than 60
pages.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Fable 5.1 <noreply@anthropic.com>
Claude-Session: https://claude.ai/code/session_01HS8WZziDnyxunC23MUxrLp
2026-10-29 12:51:30 -06:00

8.5 KiB

bookspec's rule index

Every rule of docs/spec/rules.md (B-1 to B-45), its bookspec identifier BS-<area>-<n> (plan/served.md P13 step 3), its area, what its statement rests on and the examples that demonstrate it.

A rule whose only source is a human choice carries rules.md's CHOICE, bookspec's status of the same name: the specification names the options, an engine declares its pick (claims.choices, bookspec_checker::Claims). Rules B-39, B-40, B-43 and B-45 are allocated in plan/served.md 8.0.3 and not yet stated: their identifier and area are fixed here so a later unit fills them in without moving anyone else's number.

B bookspec id area status rule examples
B-1 BS-entry-1 entry AUTHORITY Every entry is a double entry: debits equal credits entry-an-unbalanced-entry-is-refused, statement-the-books-balance-and-the-equation-holds
B-2 BS-entry-2 entry CONVENTION A line's amount is positive; its side gives the direction entry-a-line-amount-is-positive
B-3 BS-ledger-1 ledger AUTHORITY One money through the ledger; foreign amounts at the transaction-date rate ledger-a-fraction-of-a-cent-is-refused
B-4 BS-ledger-2 ledger AUTHORITY Five elements, closed list ledger-a-child-account-has-its-parents-type
B-5 BS-ledger-3 ledger CONVENTION Normal balances statement-the-books-balance-and-the-equation-holds
B-6 BS-statement-1 statement AUTHORITY The trial balance balances statement-the-books-balance-and-the-equation-holds
B-7 BS-statement-2 statement AUTHORITY The accounting equation statement-the-books-balance-and-the-equation-holds
B-8 BS-ledger-4 ledger AUTHORITY Posted is forever: the book is written only forward ledger-a-mistake-is-reversed-never-erased
B-9 BS-ledger-5 ledger AUTHORITY A mistake is corrected by an opposite entry, never erased ledger-a-mistake-is-reversed-never-erased
B-10 BS-ledger-6 ledger CHOICE An entry is reversed at most once; a closing entry never ledger-a-mistake-is-reversed-never-erased
B-11 BS-period-1 period AUTHORITY Revenue and expenses close into profit and loss, and that into capital period-a-close-sweeps-the-year-into-capital
B-12 BS-period-2 period CONVENTION A closed period takes no new postings; periods close in order period-a-close-sweeps-the-year-into-capital
B-13 BS-partner-1 partner AUTHORITY Partners share income by the partnership agreement; capital accounts carry it members-close.odd-cent-across-closes, members-close.statement-before-and-after-a-close, members-close.thirds-over-twelve-months, members-close.true-up-of-a-per-close-split, p3-party-members-equity-and-k1
B-14 BS-statement-3 statement AUTHORITY Statements: P&L for a period; cash flows by the direct method cash-flow.debt-to-equity, cash-flow.government-fees, cash-flow.paid-on-the-companys-behalf, cash-flow.part-cash-purchase, cash-flow.reversal-of-a-reversal, cash-flow.reversed-property-contribution, cash-flow.two-member-llc-first-year, period-a-close-sweeps-the-year-into-capital
B-15 BS-asset-1 asset CONVENTION Depreciation: straight line, salvage never depreciated, partial months by days assets-acquired-before-in-service, assets-a-reversed-run-is-not-posted, assets-book-value-is-what-the-books-carry, depreciation-catch-up-month, depreciation-disposal-after-a-late-change-undone, depreciation-disposal-before-a-later-run, depreciation-disposal-in-final-month, depreciation-disposal-inside-a-posted-month, depreciation-disposal-mid-month, depreciation-final-month-by-days, depreciation-final-month-drift, depreciation-reversal-before-its-run-is-refused, depreciation-run-reversed-after-its-month
B-16 BS-prepaid-1 prepaid AUTHORITY Prepaid expenses and deferred revenue are recognized over the period benefited or earned schedule-daily-deferred-revenue, schedule-daily-small-first-and-last-month, schedule-equal-months-start-on-the-first
B-17 BS-revenue-1 revenue AUTHORITY Platform payouts are recorded gross when the business is the principal —
B-18 BS-arap-1 arap CONVENTION Aging buckets: Current, 1-30, 31-60, 61-90, 90+ days past due —
B-19 BS-1099-1 1099 AUTHORITY 1099 reporting thresholds, payment methods, and decisions 1099-a-dated-status-applies-by-payment-date, 1099-a-members-check-through-financing-counts, 1099-and-party-totals-for-a-members-payment, 1099-card-payments-are-excluded, 1099-money-between-own-accounts-pays-no-one, 1099-money-from-a-payee-is-netted-only-as-a-refund, 1099-the-threshold-is-the-years, 1099-worksheet-through-as-of
B-20 BS-ledger-7 ledger AUTHORITY Every transaction has supporting documents; records are kept —
B-21 BS-entry-3 entry AUTHORITY Exact amounts in the books; rounding only on returns entry-cents-add-exactly
B-22 BS-asset-2 asset AUTHORITY Expense or capitalize (book policy, mirrors tax) —
B-23 BS-ledger-8 ledger CONVENTION Control roles: one account each, of the right kind, moved only when empty arap-hand-control-posting-refused
B-24 BS-asset-3 asset CHOICE Asset tags: one label per asset, never reused —
B-25 BS-asset-4 asset AUTHORITY Tax figures beside book value: the section 723 basis, the depreciable basis, the section 704(c) built-in gain assets-723-basis-apart-from-depreciable-basis, assets-built-in-gain-fixed-at-contribution, assets-four-contributed-devices
B-26 BS-partner-2 partner AUTHORITY Parties: one directory, no full TIN in the books p3-party-tin-last4
B-27 BS-format-1 format CHOICE The journal format gate: newer is not corrupt —
B-28 BS-entry-4 entry CONVENTION What new commands take: four-digit years, amounts a line can carry —
B-29 BS-ledger-9 ledger CHOICE The books keep how they are kept —
B-30 BS-period-3 period AUTHORITY A report asked for without dates covers this fiscal year so far default-period-fiscal-year-to-date
B-31 BS-ledger-10 ledger CHOICE Renaming an account changes its label, nothing else rename-changes-no-amount
B-32 BS-ledger-11 ledger AUTHORITY Every revenue and expense account maps to a line of the return tax-category-required
B-33 BS-statement-4 statement CONVENTION A package as of a day shows the books through that day as-of-package-stops-at-as-of
B-34 BS-format-2 format AUTHORITY The QuickBooks Desktop file (IIF): plain ASCII, every entry through as_of, closes left out, classes carried iif-quickbooks-journal-file
B-35 BS-partner-3 partner CONVENTION A party's part of an entry, and a party's totals p3-party-accrual-counts-once, p3-party-distribution-still-owed, p3-party-gift-card-is-a-promise, p3-party-members-equity-and-k1, p3-party-own-liability-never-pays, p3-party-reversed-card-payment, p3-party-signs-and-reversals
B-36 BS-partner-4 partner AUTHORITY The K-1 worksheet reports tax-basis capital beside book capital partnership-k1-tax-basis-capital, partnership-k1-tax-basis-odd-cents
B-37 BS-statement-5 statement CHOICE A project is a class with its facts; its figures are its tagged lines projects-invoice-and-bill-lines-count-by-project, projects-net-is-its-tagged-lines, projects-on-spec-costs-are-expenses
B-38 BS-arap-2 arap CHOICE A document's figures are its ledger lines that stand; a control account is its documents arap-hand-control-posting-refused
B-39 BS-arap-3 arap — Terms: when a document is due (allocated, not yet stated) —
B-40 BS-arap-4 arap — Numbers and the issued copy (allocated, not yet stated) —
B-41 BS-arap-5 arap CHOICE A debt that will not be collected is written off, and a recovery is income bad-debt-direct-write-off
B-42 BS-arap-6 arap CONVENTION A settlement is exact, one party, and names its lines; the gross discount and the gross fee —
B-43 BS-entry-5 entry — Drafts and evidence (allocated, not yet stated) —
B-44 BS-ledger-12 ledger CONVENTION Evidence is read from the bytes, never trusted over them; identical files are kept once —
B-45 BS-ledger-13 ledger — Audits and attestations (allocated, not yet stated) —