26 topics
Accounting help, from the first journal entry to the statements
Almost everyone who is drowning in an introductory accounting course is drowning in one thing: which side of the entry a number belongs on, and why 'debit' does not mean 'add'. Everything downstream — the trial balance, the adjusting entries, the statements — is that one decision repeated a few hundred times, which is why a shaky first two weeks turns into a failed midterm rather than a small gap.
Where students get stuck
I learned 'debit means increase' and now half my entries are backwards
Debit means the left side of an account and credit means the right side. That is the whole definition; neither word carries a direction. Which side increases an account depends on where that account sits in Assets = Liabilities + Equity. Assets are on the left of the equals sign, so they grow on the left, with debits. Liabilities and equity are on the right, so they grow with credits. Revenue increases equity, so revenue accounts are credited; expenses reduce it, so they are debited. Check every entry against the equation rather than against a memorised word and the backwards entries stop, because you are deriving the side instead of recalling it.
My trial balance balances, so the books must be right
A trial balance proves one thing only: total debits equal total credits. It is blind to an entry left out completely, an entry posted twice, a debit and credit swapped between two accounts, and an amount recorded wrong in both halves — all of those keep the columns equal. The expensive one is the error of principle: a repair charged to the equipment account instead of repair expense. Debits still equal credits, but cost has moved off the income statement onto the balance sheet, so profit and assets are both overstated. Catching these takes source documents, bank reconciliations and a look at whether each account's balance is even the normal side for its type.
Accrual or cash — I never know which period the entry goes in
Under accrual accounting, revenue is recorded when it is earned, meaning the goods have been delivered or the service performed, no matter when the money moves. Expenses are recorded when incurred and matched to the revenue they helped produce. So a sale on credit on 20 December is December revenue plus an account receivable, even though the cheque arrives in February. That mismatch is exactly what period-end adjusting entries clean up: accruals for things that happened but were never recorded, deferrals for cash that moved before the event, like prepaid insurance or unearned revenue. The question to ask is never 'has the money moved' — it is 'has the thing happened'.
Depreciation lowers profit but no money leaves the bank
Because none does. The cash left once, when the asset was bought, and that was an investing outflow rather than an expense. Depreciation then spreads that cost over the years the asset earns revenue, which is the matching principle applied to something that lasts. It is an allocation, not a payment — which is precisely why the indirect-method cash flow statement starts at net income and adds depreciation straight back. The credit does not go to cash either: it goes to accumulated depreciation, a contra-asset with a credit balance that sits under the asset and reduces its carrying amount. The bank account is never touched by the entry.
What's covered
Accounting topics you can work through with a tutor, generate practice on, or turn into flashcards and a study plan.
The accounting cycle
- The accounting equation and double-entry
- T-accounts, journalising and posting
- The unadjusted trial balance
- Adjusting entries: accruals, deferrals and depreciation
- Closing entries and the post-closing trial balance
- The worksheet
Financial statements
- Income statement and statement of changes in equity
- Balance sheet and classified balance sheet
- Cash flow statement, direct and indirect methods
- Notes and disclosure
- Users of financial statements and the qualitative characteristics
Merchandising and inventory
- Perpetual and periodic systems
- Cost of goods sold and gross profit
- FIFO and weighted average cost
- Lower of cost and net realisable value
- How an inventory error distorts two periods
Assets, liabilities and control
- Bank reconciliations and cash controls
- Accounts receivable and the allowance for doubtful accounts
- Capital assets: straight-line, declining balance, units of production
- Asset disposal, gains and losses
- Current liabilities, payroll and notes payable
Analysis and management accounting
- Liquidity, solvency and profitability ratios
- Horizontal and vertical analysis
- Cost behaviour and cost-volume-profit basics
- Job costing and overhead allocation
- Budgets and variance analysis
Accounting questions
Is this financial accounting or managerial accounting?
Mostly financial — the cycle, the statements and the accounts that feed them, which is what a first course and most high-school accounting covers. The last topic group is the managerial side that usually arrives in the second course: cost behaviour, job costing, budgets and variances. Say which one you are in and it stays on that side of the line.
Does it follow IFRS or ASPE, or American GAAP?
Tell it which your course uses and it matches the terminology and presentation. Double-entry mechanics are identical everywhere, but the wording is not — 'statement of financial position' versus 'balance sheet' — and the differences that actually cost marks are real ones, such as LIFO being permitted under US GAAP but not under IFRS or ASPE.
Can I show it the practice set I am stuck on?
Yes. Share your screen or hold the page up to the camera and it reads the journal, the T-accounts or the worksheet you have written. That matters more here than in most subjects, because one wrong entry in week two propagates through every statement, and finding the first bad line is most of the work.
My trial balance is out by a number I cannot find. Can it help?
Yes, and it works the way an accountant does rather than by rechecking everything. A difference divisible by nine points at a transposition, a difference equal to twice a figure in the ledger points at an entry posted on the wrong side, and a round difference points at a posting missed entirely. It narrows the search before you start re-adding columns.
Stuck on accounting right now?
Talk it through out loud, share your screen, and watch it worked out step by step on a whiteboard.
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