Debits and Credits - The Five Accounting Elements

The Five Accounting Elements

There are five fundamental elements within accounting. These elements are as follows: Assets, Liabilities, Equity, Income and Expenses. Income is also called Revenue. The five accounting elements are all affected in either a positive or negative way. It is important to note that a credit transaction does not always dictate a positive value or increase in a transaction and similarly, a debit does not always indicate a negative value or decrease in a transaction. An asset account is often referred to as a "debit account" due to the account's standard increasing attribute on the debit side. When an asset has been acquired in a business such as a delivery vehicle, the transaction will affect the debit side of that asset account illustrated below:

Asset
Debits (dr) Credits (cr)
X

The "X" in the debit column denotes the increasing effect of a transaction on the asset account balance (total debits less total credits), because a debit to an asset account is an increase. The asset account above has been added to by a debit value X, i.e. the balance has increased by £X or $X. Likewise, in the liability account below, the X in the credit column denotes the increasing effect on the liability account balance (total credits less total debits), because a credit to a liability account is an increase.

All "mini-ledgers" in this section show standard increasing attributes for the five elements of accounting.

Liability
Debits (dr) Credits (cr)
X
Income
Debits (dr) Credits (cr)
X
Expenses
Debits (dr) Credits (cr)
X
Equity
Debits (dr) Credits (cr)
X


Summary table of standard increasing and decreasing attributes for the five accounting elements:

ACCOUNT TYPE DEBIT CREDIT
Asset +
Liability +
Income +
Expense +
Equity +

Read more about this topic:  Debits And Credits

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