Account (accountancy)
The account (from Latin computus, " calculation "; over Italian conto, "Invoice" ) is the central data structure in the accounts and payment transactions.
Installation and use
Principle is an account a table with as many rows and two (as debits and credits referred to ) columns absorb the funds. These two columns come pick up in practical applications almost always additional auxiliary columns, the information such as the posting date, a serial number of the line item, explanatory text etc..
The account itself is identified by a (usually numeric, alphanumeric rare ) account number and almost always carries in addition a concise description. In many cases, information such as the type of account (see below) coded in its number, which requires a process called chart of accounts or accounts as a framework scheme for number assignment.
For teaching purposes and as an aid to assignment an account is usually depicted as a so -called T- Account: About a horizontal line are the account number and name and including a divided by a vertical line space for debits (left) and credit entries (right).
An account can be posted with a monetary amount: One or more rows are added to the account. In active inventory accounts and expense accounts an amount is credited by being registered in the target column of the account. If an amount deducted from the account, it is placed in the Have column. In passive inventory and revenue accounts in accordance vice versa. The difference between the totals of the debit and credit entries is known as the net effective balance.
The 10 Account classes
Chart of accounts for the financial accounting are constructed according to the decimal system and divided into 10 classes accounts routinely regardless of the industry.
Accounts circles of double-entry bookkeeping
In the double-entry bookkeeping one distinguishes two accounts circles: the stock account and the profit and loss accounts circle.
Balance sheet accounts are derived from the balance sheet. They contain the holdings of assets (assets) and capital (liabilities) and hold their changes. Your balance will be continued: The opening balances at the beginning of the financial year comply with the closing stock of the previous period. Also, bank accounts, according to this definition stock accounts.
Profit and loss accounts record expenses and income, ie the income or profit- effective operations. They are, therefore opened at the beginning of the year "empty" without beginning stocks and complete at year-end on the profit and loss account. Its balance then flows over the stock account equity in the same balance sheet item. The equity account connects the two accounts circles.
For the transmission of values from the balance on the account and back again requires two auxiliary accounts. At the beginning of the fiscal year, the items in the opening balance sheet on the opening balance sheet account ( SFBC) are transferred to the balance sheet accounts. The opening balance sheet account is the exact mirror image of the opening balance sheet: The principle applies. In closing, the closing balance sheet account ( SBK ) is used, after consultation with the inventory, the retransfer of new balances in the closing balance sheet.
Current account
The Kontokorrentbuchführung wraps the ( non-cash ) business from a company with its customers and suppliers. In order to identify the assets and liabilities to each individual business partner, are in the ledger accounts Kontokorrentbuch " demands a LL" (read: trade payables ) broken down and " liabilities a LL" in personal or business friends accounts. A distinction customer accounts for customer and vendor accounts for suppliers. The current account is mainly used for monitoring of payments. Every person holding account in the master data record contains information about the relevant business partner (for example, address, bank details, payment terms or billing plans ). For unique and infrequent business contacts one-time or collection accounts are maintained in the current account.
Billing account
About a billing account companies, specific, non-cash transactions, it is handled by customers or vendors, separately. These accounts can be provided by third parties. Examples of these billing accounts are centralized billing accounts for the business travel management (English travel management ). This typical travel expenses and business transactions such as hotel, flight or car rental bookings are handled by a run from third parties account. The main advantage of such a billing account is that it can be integrated into existing company processes simple, but later in the settlement provides valuable analysis and individual analysis capabilities.