I remember being told something along those lines during a tour of Westminster Palace; they had an exhibit, at the time, of "tally sticks" that the Exchequer would have used to mark the kingdom's balance sheet. Some limited Wikipedia research seems to confirm this, but can anyone flesh out how this system actually worked, and whether it really did remain into continuous use through that late date?
Michael Clanchy talks about them in From Memory to Written Word. Basically, if you needed to record money owed, you marked a stick with a series of grooves that represented the amount. Then the stick was split in half and both parties kept one side. When it was time for the debt to be settled, the stick was matched up and checked against the payment. Then the stick was supposed to be destroyed. Or it was stuck in a pile and burned irresponsibly, taking out parliament.