Reading. Money is a commodity that is used and accepted as payment for the purchase of goods and services, to pay outstanding debts

Money is a commodity that is used and accepted as payment for the purchase of goods and services, to pay outstanding debts, and for trading purposes. Money also serves as a medium of exchange and a standard of value.

So the most important functions of money are:

Ø to serve as a medium of exchange, a commodity universally accepted in exchange for goods and services and for the discharge of debts or for the dis­charge of contracts;

Ø to act as a unit of account, the unit that makes the operation of the price system possible and provides the basis for keeping accounts and calculating cost, profit, and loss;

Ø to serve as a standard of deferred payments, the unit in which loans are made and future transactions are fixed;

Ø to provide a store of wealth, a convenient form in which to hold any income not immediately required for use.

The money used in a country - euros, dollars, yen, etc. - is its currency. Money in notes (banknotes) and coins is called cash. Most money, however, consists of bank deposits: money that people and organizations have in bank accounts.

The British pound

The pound sterling, denoted by GBP, is the official unit of currency used in the United Kingdom. The sign for the pound is £ (or rarely, just "L"). The pound sterling is one of the world's most widely traded currencies, along with the United States dollar, the Japanese yen, and the euro. It is the highest valued of the major currency units. The pound is subdivided into 100 pence, the singular of which is "penny." The symbol for the penny is "p." The denomination of the pound is £5, £10, £20, £50. Each denomination has its own size and colour.

All the banknotes bear HM The Queen's head on one side and a famous historical person on the other side. Queen Elizabeth II is the first monarch to have her portrait printed on a banknote. It was first done in 1960 as a way of helping to prevent forgeries.

The current £5 note features Elizabeth Fry, who made her name fighting for improved living conditions for women in European jails.

The current £10 note features Charles Darwin, the Victorian naturalist who developed the theory of evolution.

The current £20 note features Sir Edward Elgar, a British composer.

The Bank of England issued a new-style £20 note on 13 March 2007. The note features Adam Smith, one of the fathers of modern economics.

The current £50 note features Sir John Houblon, the first Governor of the Bank of England.