How accounting works
Posted by: admin under Accounting
This article is for beginners of accounting profession who just started their long way and already struggling to understand the basics. The starting point of almost any accounting course is an explanation of the double-entry bookkeeping system which then stands as a core of any further studies. If you did not clearly understand how it works in the beginning the effect of further education will be zero.
I?ll try to illustrate the basics of accounting in the simplest possible way, avoiding in the beginning the use of such confusing terms like assets, liabilities, debits and credits, etc.
Let?s start:
Assume we have some Company X, which was established a year ago and now we are at the year-end, trying to draft accounts of Company.
All we can guess from the ?accounting? word itself, that it is a bunch of accounts. Great! That would be a starting point for us. Let?s put down some accounts on a paper (if you?re reading this article on your PC, it?s advised to do the below manipulations in Excel spreadsheet):
Account A
Account B
Account C
Account D
Account E
Account F
Account G
Account H
Account I
What you see above is just a list until we put some values opposite every account. The only point to bear in mind is that overall total of listed values should eventually be equal to 0:
Account A