Accounting and Finance Foundations

Unit 6

Accounting and Finance Foundations Unit 6: Journalizing 465

Journalizing

Chapter 6

Lesson 16.2 Journalizing in the General Journal

Journalizing in the general journal must include all of the accounts from the chart of accounts. If you

need an account that is not listed, you should create a new account in the chart of accounts relevant

to the business transaction.

Journalizing in the general journal is typically divided into five basic steps:

1. Record the date.


2. Record the relevant chart of account number.


3. Record a description of the chart of account number.


4. Record the debit or credit.


5. Record a description of the transaction that took place.

Sometimes, you may have an entry that requires more than one debit and/or credit, also called

a compound entry. To make reading and analyzing the general journal easier, you should line

up the debits to the left and the credits to the right when recording business transactions.

Student Guide

Chapter 16

Page 1

General Journal

Date Account^

Number

Description of Transaction Debit Credit

1 XX/XX/20YY 110 Cash $30,000.00

2 310 Capital, Mrs. King $30,000.00

3 Deposit to open the business account.

4 XX/XX/20YY 170 Store Equipment $2,500.00

5 210 Accounts Payable, Displays Inc. $2,500.00

6 Mrs. King bought glass shelves for displays.

7

8

9

10

It’s important to have

the pages of the general journal

numbered—all of the transactions

are in chronological order.

Step 3

Step 2

Step 5

Step 4

Step 1