Normal Balance

Normal balance is the accounting classification of an account. It is part of double-entry book-keeping technique.

An account has either credit (Abbrev. CR) or debit (Abbrev. DR) normal balance. To increase the value of an account with normal balance of credit, one would credit the account. To increase the value of an account with normal balance of debit, one would likewise debit the account.

The fundamental accounting equation is the following:

Asset = Liability + Owner's equity

The account on left side of this equation has a normal balance of debit. The accounts on right side of this equation have a normal balance of credit. The normal balance of all other accounts are derived from their relationship with these three accounts.

Normal balance of common accounts:

  • Asset: Debit
  • Liability: Credit
  • Owner's Equity: Credit
  • Revenue: Credit
  • Expense: Debit
  • Retained Earnings: Credit
  • Dividend: Debit

Famous quotes containing the words normal and/or balance:

    “The obese is ... in a total delirium. For he is not only large, of a size opposed to normal morphology: he is larger than large. He no longer makes sense in some distinctive opposition, but in his excess, his redundancy.”
    —Jean Baudrillard (b. 1929)

    ““What I want is a strange conjunction with you—” he said quietly; “Mnot meeting and mingling;Myou are quite right:Mbut an equilibrium, a pure balance of two single beings:Mas the stars balance each other.””
    —D.H. (David Herbert)