Page 24 - Account 10

A. Alphabetical Filing Method
In alphabetical classification, records and files are arranged in alphabetical order.
Alphabetical filing is a process of arranging and classifying records alphabetically by
applying the alphabetic indexing rules. Under this method, files are kept systematically
from the front to the back or from the left to the right in drawer or cabinet in the order of
alphabets like A, B, C, .............. Z, in English script and s, v, u, ===================== 1 and c, cf,
O, ======================= cM. in devanagari script. If several names occur from the same alphabet,
the second letter is considered and again if the first two letters are same, then the third
letter is taken and so on. For example, if there are two names as Abdul and Abbal then,
Abbal is taken first because the third letter is ‘b’ in Abbal whereas it is ‘d’ in Abdal i.e.
‘b’ is the earlier letter than ‘d’. The alphabetical filing may be used for correspondence of
files, records, etc. It has two special merits, viz. (a) it is based on alphabetic sequence to
which everyone is familiar and (b) no card index is required for this filing method.

Key Point The process of the arrangement of files and folders in a drawer according to
the names of correspondents in alphabetical order is known as alphabetical
filing method.

Rules for Making Order of Names in Folder
The following are the rules for making order of names in the folders.
Individual Name
Suman Regmi as Regmi, Suman
Ram Babu Sedhai as Sedhai, Ram Babu
Individual Name with title and degree
Dr. Gyandra Neupane as Neupane, Gunandra (Dr.)
Dean. Dr. Bharat Thapa as Thapa, Bharat (Dean, Dr.)
Capt. Subash Thapa as Thapa, Subash (Capt.)
Firm Name
Bharati Textile Industry as Bharati Textile Industry
Piya Trade Links as Piya Trade Links
Individual as well as firm Name
Ganesh Neupane Motor Parts as Neupane, Ganesh Motor Parts
Sabina Neupane Jewelers as Neupane, Sabina Jewelers
Rules for Alphabetical Filing
Most of the organizations file their records in alphabetical order. In organizing
alphabetical filing, there are some common rules, which are introduced below in short:
i. Primary guide card
Primary guides are those guides, which divide the folders into major alphabetical
sections. These guide cards are kept at the beginning of each section respectively. It has a
tab at the top left corner before the individual folders. Alphabetical captions are written
in the tab of such primary guides.

24 Aakar’s Office Practice and Accountancy - 10 Filing 25