Double-entry bookkeeping
The system where every transaction touches at least two accounts, one debited and one credited, so the books check themselves.
In Solo Superstars
You never post a double-entry record by hand. Sending an invoice, paying a bill, recording a card payment, or approving one of Alison’s categorizations writes the two-sided entry for you, in the same database transaction as the thing you did.
The pay-off is that nothing can silently go out of balance. The database refuses to save an entry whose debits and credits differ, so a report that does not add up points at a real problem, not a typo.
Example
You send a $500 invoice for services. The app debits 1100 Accounts Receivable for 500 and credits 4010 Services for 500. When the customer pays by bank transfer, it debits 1010 Checking and credits 1100 — two entries, four lines, always balanced.
Codes shown are the defaults a new workspace starts with. Yours may be renamed or renumbered — check Accounting › Chart of accounts. See the full default chart.
Also called
- double entry
Related
- Journal entry — The record of one event in your books, written as balanced debit and credit lines. Every invoice, bill, payment, and refund creates one behind the scenes.
- Debit and credit — The two sides of every entry. Debits increase assets and expenses; credits increase liabilities, equity, and revenue. Neither means good or bad.
- Balanced entry — A journal entry whose debits equal its credits. The database refuses to save one that does not, so your books cannot drift out of balance.
- Trial balance — A list of every ledger account with its debit or credit total for a date range. The two grand totals must match.