What is Meant by Double Account System?
The double entry system of accounting or bookkeeping means that every business transaction will involve two accounts (or more). For example, when a company borrows money from its bank, the company’s Cash account will increase and its liability account Loans Payable will increase. If a company pays $200 for an advertisement, its Cash account will decrease and its account Advertising Expense will increase.Double entry means that every transaction will involve at least two accounts. For example, if your company borrows money from the bank, the company’s asset Cash is increased and the company’s liability Notes Payable is increased. If your company pays the six-month insurance premium, your company’s asset Cash is decreased and its asset Prepaid Insurance is increased. If an employee works for hourly wages, the company’s account Wages Expense is increased and its liability account Wages Payable is increased. When the employee is paid, the account Wages Payable is decreased and Cash is decreased.
Double entry also requires that one account be debited and the other account be credited. Accounting software might record the effect on one account automatically and only require information on the other account. For example, if you are preparing a check, the software will automatically reduce the Cash account. Therefore, the accounting software needs only to prompt you for information on the other account involved in the payment being processed.
Double entry also allows for the accounting equation (assets = liabilities + owner’s equity) to always be in balance. In our example involving Advertising Expense, the accounting equation remained in balance because expenses cause owner’s equity to decrease. In that example, the asset Cash decreased and the owner’s capital account within owner’s equity also decreased.
A third aspect of double entry is that the amounts entered into the general ledger accounts as debits must be equal to the amounts entered as credits.
