Debits and Credits Made Simple
The one idea that makes all of accounting click.
Taught by Pooja Adhikari · Chartered Accountant
What you'll learn
- Explain the accounting equation and show how every transaction keeps it balanced
- Decide instantly whether to debit or credit any asset, liability, equity, revenue or expense account
- Draw T-accounts, post entries to them and compute a closing balance
- Write correct journal entries for sales, purchases, payments, loans, owner investments and drawings
- Post a journal to the general ledger and prepare a trial balance that balances
- Record adjusting entries for accruals, prepayments and depreciation and spot errors a trial balance cannot catch
About this course
Debits and credits confuse almost everyone at first, yet they are the single idea that makes every other accounting topic click. This free beginner course is for students, small-business owners, bookkeepers in training and anyone starting an accounting or finance role who wants the double-entry system to feel obvious rather than memorised. You will start with the accounting equation, learn the one rule that decides whether an account is debited or credited, draw T-accounts, write journal entries for dozens of everyday transactions, post them to the general ledger and prove your work with a trial balance. You will finish with adjusting entries for accruals, prepayments and depreciation, and a reliable method for finding errors. No prior accounting knowledge is needed; a pen, paper and a calculator are enough.
Course content
7 lessons- 1The Accounting Equation: Assets = Liabilities + EquityWhy every business balances, the five account types, and how a transaction always touches at least two of them.Preview
- 2Debits and Credits: The Rule That Never ChangesDebit means left, credit means right, and which side increases an account depends only on its type.
- 3T-Accounts: Seeing Balances at a GlanceDraw T-accounts, post debits and credits to the right side, and foot them to find a closing balance.
- 4Journal Entries: Recording Transactions in OrderThe format of a journal entry, the questions to ask before writing one, and a month of worked entries.
- 5From Journal to Ledger to Trial BalancePost journal entries to ledger accounts, extract the balances, and prove the books with a trial balance.
- 6Adjusting Entries: Accruals, Prepayments and DepreciationMove income and expenses into the right period with accruals, prepayments, depreciation and bad-debt entries.
- 7Closing the Books and Finding ErrorsClose revenue and expense accounts into equity, and use a systematic method to locate the errors a trial balance can and cannot reveal.