Week 3 — Recording Transactions: Debits, Credits, and the Trial Balance
Why this matters
Whether you keep a food truck's weekly books, track a clinic's supply budget, or manage a student club's accounts, every event goes on the left or the right of an account, and the two sides must agree.
In plain language
This week you learn how accountants write events down so the books stay in balance. Each item a business tracks, such as its cash or the money it owes, gets its own record called an account (one running list for one item). Every amount goes on the left or the right of an account; the left is called a debit (an amount on the left side) and the right a credit (an amount on the right side). Every event is written in a diary of entries called the journal (the first place an event is recorded), then copied into the accounts. At the end, a list called the trial balance (every account's balance in a left or right column) checks that the two sides agree.
- Already covered: Week 1 gave you the users and the rules; Week 2 gave you the equation.
- This week: debits, credits, the journal, the ledger, and the trial balance.
- How they connect: each journal entry is the Week 2 analysis in a new form.
- Where we're going next: Week 4, Accrual Accounting and Adjusting Entries.
Focus
How do accountants record a transaction so the books stay in balance, and what does a balanced trial balance prove?
By the end of this module, you should be able to:
- [ ] give the normal balance of any account
- [ ] write a balanced journal entry
- [ ] post entries and find each balance
- [ ] prepare an unadjusted trial balance
- [ ] name three errors it cannot catch
To-do
Plan your week
- Read Chapter 3 (~40–50 minutes), then the lecture and slides.
- Work the lecture tutorial (60–90 minutes).
- Do the practice exercises (15–25 minutes).
- Do the Accounting Workshop (about 90 minutes), discussion, and assignment.
- Take the quiz.
This week's checkpoint: journalize one transaction and check that its debits equal its credits.
You've got this
Take it in order, and ask your instructor early if stuck.
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