I hope that I can explain my question when I create and report in general ledger it shows on this report debit and credit of the same ammounts for purchases I have checked the entries for these transactions and cant see where or why this is happening any explanation would be welcomed I was asked by our accountant about this subject
Thanks
@Richie, are you referring to the General Ledger Summary Report or the General Ledger Transactions Report? The first shows opening balance, debits, credits, net movement, and closing balance for each active account over a defined period. The second shows the balancing debits and credits for all transactions during a period, indicating which accounts they were applied to. Unless amounts were split between multiple accounts, it is usual for the debit and credit for a given transaction to match.
What you see is a fundamental characteristic of double-entry accounting. All transactions must have matching debits and credits. For an excellent introduction to principles of double-entry accounting, have a look at http://www.accountingcoach.com. There is very little you need to know that isn’t covered on that excellent web site.
Hi Many thanks for your reply and the infomation contained its much appreciated, it is the General Ledger Transactions I have been asked by and accountant why the same amount is showing in both credit & debit??
But I will look at the web site you kindly suggested
Again thanks
Richie
The use of the General Ledger Transactions report is to see, for any transaction, which accounts were cited to offset one another. For example, if you wrote a check for 950 (a credit), but couldn’t remember what for, that report might tell you that 400 was debited to Office Supplies, 500 to Professional Books, and 50 to Motor Vehicle Expenses. You could then look at the transaction registers for those accounts to get more details. And if the debits and credits don’t match, you’ll have something in Suspense and know you need to fix things.
Of course, an easier approach in this case would be to view the payment receipt under the appropriate bank account. But when troublesome problems are hiding, additional tools for discovering them are sometimes useful.