Define key accounting terms： account， ledger， debit， and credit. The account can be viewed in the form of the letter “T”。 The left side of each T-account is its debit side. The right side is its credit side. The ledger， which contains a record for each account， groups and numbers accounts by category in the following order： assets， liabilities， and owner's equity (and its subparts， revenues and expenses)。
Apply the rules of debit and credit. Assets and expenses are increased revenues are increased by credits. Liabilities， owner's equity， and revenues are increased by credits and decreased by debits. The side—debit or credit—of the account in which increases are recorded is that account's normal balance. Thus the normal balance of assets and expenses is a debit， and the normal balance of liabilities， owner's equity， and revenues is a credit. The Withdrawals account， which decreases owner's equity， normal has a debit balance. Revenues， which are increases in owner's equity， have a normal credit balance. Expenses， which are decreases in owner's equity， have a normal debit balance.
Record transactions in the journal. The accountant begins the recording process by entering the transaction's information in the journal， a chronological list of all the business's transactions.
Post from the journal to the ledger. The information is then posted-transferred-to the ledger accounts. Posting references are used to trace amounts back and forth between the journal and the ledger. Businesses list their account titles and numbers in a chart of accounts.
Prepare a trial balance is a summary of all the account balance in the ledger. When double-entry accounting has been done correctly， the total credits in the trial balance are equal.
Set up a chart of accounts for a business. The first step in accounting is to set up the chart of accounts.
Analyze transactions without a journal. Decision makers must often make decisions without a complete accounting system. They can analyze the transactions without a journal.
We can now trace the flow of accounting information through these steps：
Business Transaction Source Documents Journal Entry Posting to Ledger Trial Balance.
New words
ledger 分类帐 debit 记入借方的款项，借方
assets 资产 liabilities 债务
subpart 分类 chronological 按时间顺序的
transfer 转移 chart 图表
accountant 会计
