Daniel Defoe famously applied double-entry bookkeeping in his novel Robinson Crusoe, published in 1719. Shipwrecked and alone on the island, Crusoe uses double entry to assess his life, drawing up his 'State of Affairs' and stating 'very impartially, like Debtor and Creditor, the Comforts I'd enjoyed, against the Miseries I suffered', the left-hand side headed 'Evil' and the right-hand side 'Good'. Like the best English shopkeeper, Crusoe keeps account of himself in two columns and 'by this experiment I was made master of my business'.

— Double entry by Jane Gleeson-White (25%)