Double-entry made simple

This is a presentation I created to teach double-entry in different accounting courses. Although it is the foundation of financial accounting, the mechanism can be very difficult to understand and apply. My tip for you is to think of it as the flow of money from one place to another.

Since money flows from one place to another, 2 (or more) places (i.e. accounts) must be involved. In this example, $20 departs from A and arrives at B. To understand the mechanism it doesn’t matter what A and B are.

If there are 2 transactions, you can do them one by one.

Similarly, transactions are entered one after another.

The transactions can also be shown as journal entries (horizontally). But the mechanism is the same.

So if now the names of the accounts are shown, it does not affect how the transactions are recorded.

If the transactions are shown in words, you need to determine the flow of money. After the flow is made clear, the transactions can be recorded accordingly.

They can be shown in the form of journal entries or in T-accounts.