From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishbooksbooks[plural] a) BBBaccounts written records of the financial accounts of a business An accountant will examine the company’s books. a small firm that is having problems balancing the books (=keeping its profits and spending equal)on the books They have £50 billion worth of orders on the books. → cook the books at cook1(3) b) jobsBBC the names of people who use a company’s services, or who are sent by a company to work for other peopleon somebody’s books an agent with a lot of popular actors on his books → book
Examples from the Corpus
on the books• A mistress too ill to keep her eye on the books!• Well-structured - providing background to the race and the books, then focusing on the books themselves.• The five-bedroom house is on the books of Jackson-Stops & Staff with Stimsons at £250,000.• Washington, which has had notification laws on the books for seven years, quickly learned from the arson experience.• Canada has had gun control legislation on the books since 1978.• Several major cities, including San Francisco, have similar measures on the books.• Their unsuccessful efforts included a move to block the Environmental Protection Agency from enforcing provisions of environmental laws now on the books.• So long as your investment stays on the books, the adviser receives payment. 