Double Entry Types of Balance Sheet

The Essence of Double Entry Principle

In accounting, the journal should has two ledger that is called double entry accounting. This method was introduce by Mediecci in 12th century at Italy. The father of accounting, Luca Paccioli is the first publisher of double entry accounting system.

Double entry accounting is a method in which each transaction is recorded in two separate a

ccounts, i.e. in one account as a debit and in the other account as a credit. In other words, in double entry principle each transaction that has a value added to the assets account also has a value subtracted from the liabilities account - these transactions are called credits. Conversely, each transaction that has a value added to the liabilities account has a value subtracted from the assets account - these transactions are called debits.

Double entry accounting principle is used more often than the single entry principle, in which each transaction is recorded in only one account. It is used more often since it prevents many errors and promptly alerts the business to possible errors so that they can be corrected on a timely basis. Since credits and debits should always be equal, i.e. according to the essence of accounting basics there must be an equation between debits and credits, if there is ever a discrepancy between the value of the credits and debits, it is an alert to the business that an error has occurred while recording the transaction in the books of the business. Thus, with the double entry accounting principle it is quick and easy to ensure that the accounts are always balanced. Also this principle is useful to record transactions separately and present proper and accurate data to its users for the purpose of decision making relating the entity.

Example 1

Consider the following example of the double entry principle. Cut to the Chase, a hair salon, buys hair brushes in bulk once every quarter, purchase is made on credit, i.e. cash for the purchase made is paid later on after the purchase. The bulk of brushes costs $250. So, every quarter the accountant for Cut to the Chase makes $250 entry in the liabilities account (adding to the value of the liabilities) and a $250 entry in the assets account (adding to the value of the assets). Below you can see how the entries look like;

D Inventory (Assets) $250

Accounts payable (Liabilities) $250

Example 2

The next example is the usage of the acquired brushes in the activities of the Cut to the Chase hair salon. Assume that during the next quarter the company used all the acquired brushes in its activities, i.e. $250 expenses were incurred and assets decreased by $250. The accountant will record a $250 entry in the assets account as a credit and a $250 entry in the equity account as a debit, i.e. expenses as a decrease in equity. Below you can see how the entries look like;

D Expenses (Equity) $250

C Inventory (Assets) $250

As these examples show, the bottom line of double entry principle is that for each entry made in one account (i.e. liabilities or equity), an opposite entry in the same amount of the original entry must be made in the other account (i.e. assets).

The Accounting Equation

All accounting entries in the books of account for an organisation have a relationship based on the 'accounting equation':

Assets

Assets are tangible and intangible items of value which the business owns. Examples of assets are:

• Cash

• Cars

• Buildings

• Machinery

• Furniture

• Debtors (money owed from customers)

• Stock/Inventory

Liabilities

Liabilities are those items which are owed by the business to bodies outside of the business. Examples of liabilities are:

• Loans to banks

• Creditors (money owed to suppliers)

• Bank overdrafts

Owner's Equity

The simplest way to understand the accounting equation is to understand what makes up “owner's equity”.

By rearranging the accounting equation you can see that Owner's Equity is made up of Assets and Liabilities.

Owner's Equity can also be expressed as:

Rearranging the equation again, therefore:

The accounting equation establishes the basis of Double Entry Bookkeeping

Double Entry Bookkeeping

All accounting transactions are made up of 2 entries in the accounts: adebit and a credit.

For example, if you purchased a book, your value of books would increase, but your value of cash would decrease by the same value, at the same time. This is double entry bookkeeping.

Ledger Accounts

A ledger account is an item in either the Profit & Loss account (which we'll discuss shortly) or the balance sheet. A Ledger account is either a:

• Asset

• Liability

• Equity

• Income

• Expense

The example of purchasing a book, mentioned above, can be shown in the form of ledger "T" accounts as follows:

“Dr” is short form “Cr” is short form for Debit for Credit

Purchases-Books

Dr Cash Cr

$20

Cash

Dr Cr

Books $20

If all transactions are entered into the books in this way, then the sum of all of the debits would equal the sum of all of the credits.

Balance Sheet

Balance Sheet is one of the three main Financial Statements. It reflects structure of the company's assets and financing sources used to finance these assets as of particular date (i.e. as of year end).

Referring to the Accounting Equation, where:

Balance Sheet reflects the same principle, i.e. one side of the Balance Sheet represents Assets and the other side - Liabilities and Equity. The must be a balance between the total value of the Assets and the total value of Liabilities and Equity.

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