Debits and Credits

03/19	Is an entry made for outstanding checks when preparing a bank reconcil.. No entry is made to a company's general ledger for outstanding checks when preparing..
03/05	What is the entry for a loan to an employee? When a company lends money to one of its employees, the company will debit the asset..
02/27	How is the account Cash Short and Over used? Cash Short and Over is an income statement account in which shortages or overages in..
02/25	What type of account is the Dividends account? When a corporation declares a dividend on its common stock, it will credit a current..

   View All Debits and Credits Q&A

If the words "debits" and "credits" sound like a foreign language to you, you are more perceptive than you realize—"debits" and "credits" are words that have been traced back five hundred years to a document describing today's double entry accounting system.

Under the double entry system every business transaction is recorded in at least two accounts. One account will receive a "debit" entry, meaning the amount will be entered on the left side of that account. Another account will receive a "credit" entry, meaning the amount will be entered on the right side of that account. The initial challenge with double entry is to know which account should be debited and which account should be credited.

Before we explain and illustrate the debits and credits in accounting and bookkeeping, we will discuss the accounts in which the debits and credits will be entered or posted.

To keep a company's financial data organized, accountants developed a system that sorts transactions into records called accounts. When a company's accounting system is set up, the accounts most likely to be affected by the company's transactions are identified and listed out. This list is referred to as the company's chart of accounts. Depending on the size of a company and the complexity of its business operations, the chart of accounts may list as few as thirty accounts or as many as thousands. A company has the flexibility of tailoring its chart of accounts to best meet its needs.

Within the chart of accounts the balance sheet accounts are listed first, followed by the income statement accounts. In other words, the accounts are organized in the chart of accounts as follows:

• Assets
• Liabilities
• Owner's (Stockholders') Equity
• Revenues or Income
• Expenses
• Gains
• Losses

Click here to see a sample chart of accounts.

Because every business transaction affects at least two accounts, our accounting system is known as a double entry system. (You can refer to the company's chart of accounts to select the proper accounts. Accounts may be added to the chart of accounts when an appropriate account cannot be found.)

For example, when a company borrows $1,000 from a bank, the transaction will affect company's Cash account and the company's Notes Payable account. When the company repays the bank loan, the Cash account and the Notes Payable account are also involved.

If a company buys supplies for cash, its Supplies account and its Cash account will be affected. If the company buys supplies on credit, the accounts involved are Supplies and Accounts Payable.

If a company pays the rent for the current month, Rent Expense and Cash are the two accounts involved. If a company provides a service and gives the client 30 days in which to pay, the company's Service Revenues account and Accounts Receivable are affected.

Although the system is referred to as double entry, a transaction may involve more than two accounts. An example of a transaction that involves three accounts is a company's loan payment to its bank of $300. This transaction will involve the following accounts: Cash, Notes Payable, and Interest Expense.

(If you use accounting software you may not actually see that two or more accounts are being affected due to the user-friendly nature of the software. For example, let's say that you write a company check by means of your accounting software. Your software automatically reduces your Cash account and prompts you only for the other accounts affected.)

Special Feature:
Review what you are learning by working the three interactive crossword puzzles dedicated to this topic. They are completely free.  Click here for the Debits & Credits Puzzles

After you have identified the two or more accounts involved in a business transaction, you must debit at least one account and credit at least one account.

To debit an account means to enter an amount on the left side of the account. To credit an account means to enter an amount on the right side of an account.

Debit means left
Credit means right

Generally these types of accounts are increased with a debit:

     Dividends (Draws)
     Expenses
     Assets
     Losses

You might think of D – E – A – L when recalling the accounts that are increased with a debit.

Generally these types of accounts are increased with a credit:
     Gains
     Income
     Revenues
     Liabilities
     Stockholders' (Owner's) Equity

You might think of G – I – R – L – S when recalling the accounts that are increased with a credit.

To decrease an account you do the opposite of what was done to increase the account. For example, an asset account is increased with a debit. Therefore it is decreased with a credit.

The abbreviation for debit is dr. and the abbreviation for credit is cr.

  Part 1    Part 2    Part 3    Part 4        To Top