General Journal
Accounting transactions are recorded through journal entries that show account names, amounts, whether those accounts are recorded in debit or credit side of accounts, and description.
- Debits and Credits/Double Entry
Under the double-entry system, every business transaction is recorded in at least two accounts. One account will be “debit” entry, meaning the amount will be entered on the left side of that account. Another account will be “credit” entry, meaning the amount will be entered on the right side of that account.
Debit is abbreviated “Dr.”, and credit is abbreviated “Cr.”.
- Account Types of Business Transactions
There are seven account types for accounting as follows:
- Asset
- Liability
- Equity
- Revenue or income
- Expense
- Gain
- Loss
- Increase or Decrease for Debit (Dr.) and Credit (Cr.)
Account Types: | Increase | Decrease | |
Asset | Dr. | Cr. | |
Contra asset | Cr. | Dr. | , |
Liability | Cr. | Dr. | |
Contra liability | Dr. | Cr. | |
Equity/capital | Cr. | Dr. | |
Contra Equity/capital | Dr. | Cr. | |
Revenue | Cr. | Dr. | |
Contra Revenue | Dr. | Cr. | |
Gain | Cr. | Dr. | |
Expense | Dr. | Cr. | |
Loss | Dr. | Cr. | |
Contra expense | Cr. | Dr. |
- Journal Entries of Business Transactions
The first accounting records of business transactions are written in a general journal entry. Each general journal entry lists the date, the account title(s) to be debited and the corresponding amount(s) followed by the account title(s) to be credited and the corresponding amount(s) and description.
Examples for Journal entry are as follows.
Date | Account Name | Debit | Credit |
1/2/17 | Cash | 5,000 | |
Equity | 5,000 | ||
Owner, Mr. A, invests $5,000. | |||
1/29/17 | Fixed asset, | 1,000 | |
Cash | 1,000 | ||
Buy two computers | |||
2/3/17 | Inventory | 2,000 | |
Account Payable | 2,000 | ||
Purchase inventory on credit. | |||
2/10/17 | Account Receivable | 3,000 | |
Sale/revenue | 3,000 | ||
Sold goods to customers on credit. | |||
2/20/17 | Sale return | 1,500 | |
Account Receivable | 1,500 | ||
Customers return half of goods purchased on Feb 10,2017 | |||
2/27/17 | Drawing | 500 | |
Cash | 500 | ||
Owner, Mr. A, withdraws fund. | |||
2/28/17 | Payroll expense | 900 | |
Cash | 900 | ||
Payroll expense for employees on February. |