Skip to main content Skip to search

Archives for Bookkeeping Services

What’s with the pink pig?

This is Pepito!  He’s our mascot.  He represents the fun side of what we do.  Bookkeeping isn’t always drab and boring like some people may think.  Pepito the pig keeps things interesting and makes us smile.  I mean, just look at that face!

Where did piggy banks come from? If you’re interested in learning more about how the first piggy bank came to be, read on.

Otherwise, be sure to sign up for our newsletter or if you have any questions, call us at (904) 717-2277 or Contact Us for more information.

The Origin of the Piggy Bank

These days the piggy bank is taken for granted — it’s a coin bank, shaped like a pig. Kids love them. But where did they really come from? Why do people around the world stuff loose change into small pink pigs?

The origin of piggy banks dates back nearly 600 years, in a time before real banks even existed. Before the creation of modern-style banking institutions, people commonly stored their money at home — not under the mattress (or hay rack), but in common kitchen jars. During The Middle Ages, metal was expensive and seldom used for household wares. Instead, dishes and pots were made of an economical orange-colored clay called pygg. Whenever folks could save an extra coin or two, they dropped it into one of their clay jars — a pygg pot.

Vowels in early English had different sounds than they do today, so during the time of the Saxons the word pygg would have been pronounced “pug.” But as the pronunciation of “y” changed from a “u” to an “i,” pygg eventually came to be pronounced about like “pig.” Perhaps coincidentally, the Old English word for pigs (the farm animal) was “picga,” with the Middle English word evolving into “pigge,” possibly because of the fact that the animals rolled around in pygg mud and dirt.

Over the next two hundred to three hundred years, as the English language evolved, the clay (pygg) and the animal (pigge) came to be pronounced the same, and Europeans slowly forgot that pygg once referred to the earthenware pots, jars and cups of yesteryear. So in the 19th century when English potters received requests for pygg banks, they started producing banks shaped like pigs. This clever — albeit accidental — visual pun appealed to customers and delighted children.

Early models had no hole in the bottom, so the pig had to be broken to get money out. Some people say that’s where we get the expression “breaking the bank,” but serious academics disagree. The idiom “break the bank” means to ruin one financially, or to exhaust one’s resources. The term is believed to originate in gambling, where it means that a player has won more than the banker (the house) can pay.
So that explains where the “pig” part came from, but how about the word “bank.” Way back when, the word “bank” originally meant the same thing as “bench.” You see, when money first started changing hands in Northern Italy, lenders did business in open markets, working over a table. These Medieval Venetian banks were set up in main squares by men who both changed and lent money. Their benches would be laden with currencies from the different trading countries. The Italian word for bench or counter is “banco” from which the English word “bank” is derived. (Some argue this is where the term “broke the bank” comes from. The Italian expression “banca rotta” means “broken bench,” with a broken bench possibly symbolizing that a money lender was out of business.)
Courtesy of By Jeffry Pilcher, CEO/President & Publisher of The Financial Brand

Call us at (904) 717-2277 or Contact Us for more information.

Sign up for our newsletter!

Read more

Our Services-What Do We Do?

Welcome to our blog!  Systemz Bookkeeping is here to take care of all of your needs.

Bookkeeping & Accounting

We offer bookkeeping/accounting services to businesses all over the United States using remote bookkeeping.  What is Remote Bookkeeping?

Systemz Bookkeeping was founded by Rachel Spell and is located in Jacksonville, Florida.

Rachel Spell – Owner

After 20 years of working as bookkeeper, accounting manager and controller for small business owners, Rachel Spell saw a need for reputable, efficient bookkeeping for those businesses that didn’t have a need for a full-time bookkeeper.

As a Certified QuickBooks ProAdvisor, we have the experience to help all types of businesses with their bookkeeping and accounting needs.

Our Services include:

Professional Organizing

We also offer professional organizing to businesses and homeowners in the Jacksonville, FL area.  This includes Saint Augustine, Nocatee, Mandarin, Orange Park, Arlington, Southside and other surrounding areas.

We love to help in these areas:

  • kitchen/pantry
  • closets
  • bedrooms
  • home office
  • entryway/mud room
  • laundry room

We offer expert guidance in:

  • time management
  • bill/mail maintenance
  • paper filing systems
  • whole-house decluttering
  • desktop decluttering
  • daily paperwork management

Call us at (904) 717-2277 or Contact Us for more information.

Sign up for our newsletter!

Read more

Put some order back in your life

Systemz Bookkeeping will help you put some order back into your life.  Numbers, organization, systems and processes are our specialty.  We love helping our customers save time, money and their sanity.

Bookkeeping/Accounting

  • Are you a small business owner who always feels behind with your business finances and bookkeeping?
  • Do you get behind with your numbers? Does it make you dread tax season and push back meetings with your accountant because you haven’t updated your books?
  • Do you feel like too much of your valuable time is spent inputting income and expenses into Quickbooks each month?
  • Are you getting an accurate picture of your business finances with monthly reports such as Profit & Loss Statements and Balance Sheets?
  • Do you think your time could be more profitable by working on other aspects of your business, rather than focusing or stressing over crunching numbers?

If you answered yes to any or all of the above questions, then we can help you.

We offer bookkeeping services that start with you and your goals for your business. We set up your accounts, reconcile with your bank accounts and credit cards each month, and run the necessary monthly reports to help you maintain a financially healthy business.

Systemz will save you time and money!  We offer a full range of bookkeeping and accounting services without the need of having to hire an employee.  This saves you money by not having to pay payroll taxes, benefits and saves you time by not having to interview, look through resumes, testing and hiring a new bookkeeper.

Call us at (904) 717-2277 or Contact Us for more information.

Sign up for our newsletter!

Read more