Account (accountancy)

An account (in book-keeping) refers to assets, liabilities, income, expenses, and equity, as represented by individual ledger pages, to which changes in value are chronologically recorded with debit and credit entries. These entries, referred to as postings, become part of a book of final entry or ledger. Examples of common financial accounts are sales, accounts receivable, mortgages, loans, PP&E, , sales, services, wages, and payroll.

A chart of accounts provides a listing of all financial accounts used by particular business, organization, or government agency.

The system of recording, verifying, and reporting such information is called accounting. Practitioners of accounting are called accountants.KO

An account may be classified as real, personal or as a nominal account

Example: A sales account is opened for recording the sales of goods or services and at the end of the financial period the total sales are transferred to the revenue statement account (Profit and Loss Account or Income and Expenditure Account).

Similarly expenses during the financial period are recorded using the respective Expense accounts, which are also transferred to the revenue statement account. The net positive or negative balance (profit or loss) of the revenue statement account is transferred to reserves or capital account as the case may be.

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