The work of any enterprise is impossible without the use of accounting accounts. In the course of its economic and financial activities, an enterprise or organization needs to keep a current record of the state of all property (assets) of the enterprise and all sources of its formation, recording their movement, as well as accounting for other business operations. The best way to do this is to keep accounts. They are more convenient for daily accounting than the general balance sheet of the enterprise or other financial statements. Accounts have a fairly simple structure. The account is made up of three main elements:
1. Name of the account and its number.
2. The debit side (debit).
3. Credit side (credit).
What are active accounts and what is their financial nature? In accounting use such accounts: active and passive, active-passive. Almost all active accounts, like passive ones, have only one balance:
- active - debit;
- passive - credit.
Third party accounts have both debit and credit balances. The account on active accounts reflects information on the property of the enterprise. On the passive, information on all obligations of the enterprise (methods of forming property) is taken into account.
What are active accounts intended for? With their help, the cash assets of the enterprise and all their changes are recorded. Balances (balances) on them are almost always indicated in the asset balance. On active accounts, the balance (start, end) is recorded in his debit. All business transactions leading to an increase in the assets of the enterprise are reflected in the debit, and those reducing them - in the loan. The final balance of any active account is determined by summing up the opening balance and all debit transactions and reducing the result by the amount of credit transactions. Since information on the assets of the enterprise is reflected in these accounts, their final balance is almost never credit.
Active accounting accounts:
- “Fixed assets”.
- "Finished products".
- “Materials”.
- "Payment account".
- "Cashbox".
- “Settlements with debtors”.
Passive accounts are:
- "Authorized capital".
- "Budget financing."
- "Reserve capital".
- "Settlements with the staff."
- "Bank loans."
- “Settlements with creditors”.
In an accounting record, assets and its sources are reflected at the same time on an active-passive account. Such accounts are intended primarily for settlements with various creditors and debtors. The status of these calculations affects what balance will be in this account. So, if the company owes others (debtors), the balance of such an account is debit and will be reflected in the asset of the company. If the company owes to another (creditor), then the balance is credit and is recorded in the liability of the balance sheet. Sometimes situations arise when an enterprise is both a debtor and a creditor at the same time, then its balance can be both debit and credit, and a record of it can be reflected in both the asset and the liability. This form of accounting is called extended. For ease of accounting, some accountants make it collapsed (write the difference between the balances in debit or credit).
Active-passive accounts include:
“Profit or loss.”
- “Settlements with debtors and creditors”.
Some traditionally active accounts sometimes become active-passive in their economic nature. So, when the company draws up a credit line (overdraft), the active account “Settlement Account” can become active-passive, because the company does not use its own funds, but borrowed ones. In this case, he may have a credit balance.