Abstract: The present invention relates to a data processing system capable of creating and maintaining the balances necessary for effective accounting of financial transactions by using a computed balance maintenance approach as opposed to the current standard event-driven, daily cycling approach. In particular, the data processing system creates nominal balances based on the life-to-date value of the instruments traded, then compares those nominal balances with the historic balances, and finally, creates the journal entries necessary to account for the differences between them, as opposed to the traditional approach of having daily entries drive accounting journals, which are then used as a foundation for subsequent account balance maintenance procedures.