Lesson 5 - Basic Financial Accounting & Reporting: Lesson 5 - 1 Recording Business Transactions
Lesson 5 - Basic Financial Accounting & Reporting: Lesson 5 - 1 Recording Business Transactions
Lesson 5 - Basic Financial Accounting & Reporting: Lesson 5 - 1 Recording Business Transactions
REPORTING
Source document - Transactions and events are the starting points in the
accounting cycle. By relying on source documents, transactions and events
can be analyzed as to how they will affects performance and financial
position. Source documents identify and describe transactions and events
entering the accounting process.
The Journal - a chronological record of the entity’s transactions. A journal
entry shows all the effects of a business transaction in terms of debt and
credits. Each transaction is initially recorded in a journal rather than directly
in the ledger. A journal is called the book of original entry. The nature and
volume of transactions of the business determine the number and type of
journals needed. The general journal is the simplest journal.
Format
The standards contents of the general journal are as follows:
1. Date. The year and month are not rewritten for every entry unless the year
or month changes or a new page is needed.
2. Account Titles and Explanation. The account to be debited is entered at
the extreme left of the first line while the account to be credited is entered
slightly indented on the next line. A brief description of the transaction is
usually made on the line below the credit. Generally, skip a line after each
entry.
3. P. R. (posting reference). This will be used used when the entries are
posted, that is, until the amounts are transferred to the related ledger
accounts. The posting process will be described later.
4. Debit. The debit amount for each account is entered in this column.
5. Credit. The credit amount for each account is entered in this column.
Assume the Park Bo Geum established his own management agency with an
initial investment of P250,000 on November 1.
Chart of Account - a listing of all the accounts and their account numbers in
the ledger. The chart is arranged in the financial statement order, that is,
assets first, followed by liabilities, owner’s equity, income, and expense.
POSTING (STEP 3)
Posting means transferring the amounts from the journal to the appropriate
accounts in the ledger. Debits in the journal are posted as debits in the
ledger, and credits in the journal as credits in the ledger. The steps are
illustrated as follows:
1. Transfer the date of the transaction from the journal to the ledger.
2. Transfer the page number from the journal to the journal reference (J.R.)
column of the ledger.
3. Post the debit figure from the journal as a debit figure in the ledger and
the credit figure from the journal as a credit figure in the ledger.
4. Enter the account number in the posting reference column of the journal
once the figure has been posted to the ledger.
Locating Errors
An inequality in the totals of the debits and credits would automatically
signal the presence of an error. These errors include:
1. Error in posting a transaction to the ledger:
✓ An erroneous amount was posted to the account.
✓ A debit entry was posted as a credit or vice versa.
✓ A debit or credit posting was omitted.
2. Error in determining the account balances:
✓ A balance was incorrectly computed.
✓ A balance was entered in the wrong balance column.
3. Error in preparing the trial balance:
✓ One of the columns of the trial balance was incorrectly added.
✓ The amount of an account balance was incorrectly recorded on the trial
balance.
✓ A debit balance was recorded on the trial balance as a credit or vice versa,
or a balance was omitted entirely.
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