balance the books

English

Pronunciation

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Verb

balance the books (third-person singular simple present balances the books, present participle balancing the books, simple past and past participle balanced the books)

1. (idiomatic, accounting) To add up all the debits and credits.
   • 2021 December 1, Philip Haigh, “TfL's deepening financial crisis puts Tube services at risk”, in RAIL, number 945, page 58:

     I hardly think that cancelling Yorkshire's HS2 line counts as levelling up, but must admit that the South has its troubles too - particularly in London, where Transport for London is facing the prospect of cutting services to balance its books, as the pandemic continues to deter passengers and government appears unwilling to help.

2. To put or keep any closed or conservative system or its analysis in balance.
   • 1992, Margaret Walworth with Donald F. Moores and Terrence J. O'Rourke, A Free Hand: Enfranchising the Education of Deaf Children, page 155:

     Let us not balance the books of oppression of the deaf on the backs and minds of other oppressed linguistic ethnic and cultural minorities.

   • 2007, John Gribbin, The Origins of the Future, page 76:

     If you want to make a negatively charged particle, such as an electron, out of energy, you also have to make a positively charged particle to balance the books.

   • 2003, T. J. MacGregor, Black Water, page 358:

     When you broke one of his rules, you had to sacrifice something to earn forgiveness or to balance the books.

See also

• payback
• settle up
• settle accounts
• trial balance