double-entry bookkeeping
Debits equal credits
Double-entry bookkeeping is an accounting system where every transaction is recorded in two places—as a debit in one account and a credit in another.
The two entries must balance, providing a built-in check against errors.
This method, developed in medieval Italy, remains the foundation of modern accounting: She learned double-entry bookkeeping before tackling the company's finances.
- debitSubtraction from account
- chart of accountsCategorized ledger structure
- creditRecognition or payment deferral
- ledgerFinancial record book
- accounting softwareProgram for financial records
journal · trial balance · audit trails · paper trail · spreadsheets · number crunching · depreciation · expense account · tax liability · reconciliation · loan repayment · sales revenue · general ledger · balancing · closing the books · bean counter · cash flow · interest income
- early bankingmoney changers, moneylenders, moneylending, money lending, loans
- inventionsprinting press, steam engine, lightbulb, light bulb, microscope
- trade historycommerce, merchant, trade routes, traders, colonial economy
- medieval trademerchant, merchant guilds, trader, craft guilds, guild
double-entry bookkeepingmental accounting
Categorizing money by source
guesswork · napkin math · off-the-books · ballpark estimates
double, doubles, doubled, doubling, doubly, entries, entered, entering, booked