Isak Hansen wrote:
> On Mon, Oct 13, 2008 at 2:57 AM, justin <justin@emproshunts.com> wrote:
>
>> [...] Also you want to split out the debit and credits instead of
>> using one column. Example one column accounting table to track values
>> entered how do you handle Crediting a Credit Account Type. is it a negative
>> or positive entry???
>>
>
> How is crediting a credit account different from crediting any other account?
>
> YMMV, but I think a single amount column makes for a more consistent design.
>
>
My accounting knowledge is really rusty, but I do remember that "credit"
and "debit" have specific meanings in accounting theory and refer to the
left (debit) and right (credit) columns of a "T" account. The sum of the
debit columns across all accounts in the ledger must match the sum of
the credit columns (the books are "balanced"). To keep the ledger
balanced, every transaction requires two (or more) entries into the
appropriate accounts and the debit-side and credit-side entries must match.
So if you are modeling a standard general-ledger double-entry accounting
system, two columns is an appropriate approach.
Cheers,
Steve