Accounting Transactions Examples with Answers

What are Accounting Transactions?

Accounting Transaction is an event that has an impact on entity’s financial statements. In this tutorial, we are going to learn how basic transactions move through the accounting equation. What we need to remember is that because the accounting equation always balances, every movement in the equation must be countered by another movement of the same amount.

Accounting Transactions Examples

Check following example of accounting transactions, here’s what the bakery’s accounts look like right now:

ASSETS	LIABILITIES
Bank $20,000	Loan $9,000
Computer $1,500
Oven $2,000	OWNERS EQUITY $15,000
iPhone $500
Balance $24,000	Balance $24,000

As you can see, on the left side we have assets of a $20,000 in the bank, a computer which cost $1,500, our favorite Bakemaster X Series oven worth $2,000, and an iPhone we scored off eBay for $500. On the right side, we have a single liability which is a loan from Anne at the bank for $9,000. The balance is made up of Owners Equity of $15,000.

Notice how both the debit side and the credit side are in balance with each other, as they both add up to $24,000.

That’s a good start.

Now it’s time for business. Below are some everyday transactions in the life of your bakery. Let’s start selling cakes!

Accounting Transaction Exercise 1

You buy some cake mix for your store for $3,000

Purchasing our famous cake mix is like purchasing inventory. For now, we are going to classify inventory purchases as an expense. Hence, our expenses are going to increase. Remember, this will result in an increase in the debit side.

So now that expenses (CAKE MIX) have increased on the debit side, another movement is needed to keep the equation in balance. The other side of our transaction will need to be either:

• An increase on the credit side
• A decrease on the debit side

In this case, because we are spending cash to buy the cake mix, the movement is obviously a decrease in our bank account of $3,000.

Hence the transaction will look like:

DEBIT SIDE		CREDIT SIDE
Account	Amount	Account	Amount
Bank (asset)	-$3,000
Cake mix (expense)	+$3,000
Movement	$0	Movement	$0

Notice how our debit side increased by $3,000 due to an increase in the Cake Mix Expenses. Then, our debit side decreased by $3,000 because our bank account, an asset, decreased when we paid for the cake mix. The result is that both entries cancel each other out and our equation stays in balance. Perfect!

Accounting Transaction Example 2

Anne the loan officer calls. She asks for the interest of $1,000 to be paid on the loan.

OK, so we’re dealing with an expense, which is interest. We know that expenses sit on the debit side. That means we’ll record interest expenses of $1,000.

To pay the interest, we took money out of the bank account, so the other side of the equation will be a decrease in our bank account of $1,000. Let’s see how it balances.

DEBIT SIDE		CREDIT SIDE
Account	Amount	Account	Amount
Bank	-$1,000
Interest expense	+$1,000
Movement	$0	Movement	$0

Perfect!

Now it’s your turn. Have a go at dragging the correct accounts and their amounts onto the correct side.

Accounting Transaction Problem 3

You sell a box of cakes for $5,000.

Hint- SALES is revenue. Revenue sit on the credit side. When you make sales, you receive money in the BANK.

DEBIT SIDE Account     Amount

CREDIT SIDE Account     Amount

Example of Accounting Transactions 4

You pay your telephone bill of $300

Hint – TELEPHONE bill is an expense. Expenses sit on the debit side. Paying your telephone bill will require money to be taken from the BANK.

Transaction Example 5

You sell another box of cakes for $2,000

DEBIT SIDE Account     Amount

CREDIT SIDE Account     Amount

Accounting Transaction Exercise 7

It’s time to go on holiday. Hawaii maybe? You withdraw $1,000 from the bakery’s bank account to purchase your ticket.

Hint – When an owner withdraws money for personal reasons, this is considered DRAWINGS. Drawings sits on the debit side.

Accounting Transaction Example 8

You visit Johns Car Shop to buy a delivery car. You choose the pink beetle with yellow polka dots and a big flower in the middle. It costs $3,000. You purchase the car on credit, meaning you will pay for it in full next month.

Hint – CAR is an asset. Assets sit on the debit side. When you purchase something on credit, it is similar to debt. You owe money, which is a liability. Liabilities sit on the credit side.

DEBIT SIDE Account     Amount

CREDIT SIDE Account     Amount

We’ve just had eight new transactions run through our business. Let’s have a look at what our accounts look like now:

The below table is simply an expanded version of our accounting equation. Notice how on the left side we still have assets, expenses, and drawings. On the right side, we have revenue, liabilities and owner’s equity.

Debit side		Credit Side
Bank	$21,650	Sales	$7,000
Computer	$1,500
Car	$3,000
iPhone	$500
Oven	$2,000	Loan	$9,000
		Johns Car Shop	$3,000
Cake mix expense	$3,000
Interest expense	$1,000	Owner’s Equity	$15,000
Telephone expense	$300
Repairs	$50
Drawings	$1,000
Balance	$34,000	Balance	$34,000

It can also be helpful to classify our “accounts” into their respective categories. For example, “bank” is an asset. Hence we can display it in the Assets category. Sales are a form of revenue, and hence we can place it in the Revenue category.

This allows us to split our debit side up into assets, expenses, and drawings, while our credit side is split up into liabilities, revenue and owner’s equity. This is very helpful when trying to monitor changes in our accounting/bookkeeping equation.

Let’s go ahead and break down our debit and credit side into categories. As long as each account is in the right place, everything should stay in balance:

Debit side		Credit Side
ASSETS		REVENUE
Bank	$21,650	Sales	$7,000
Computer	$1,500
Car	$3,000
iPhone	$500	LIABILITIES
Oven	$2,000	Loan	$9,000
EXPENSES		Johns Car Shop	$3,000
Cake mix expense	$3,000
Interest expense	$1,000	OWNERS EQUITY	$15,000
Telephone expense	$300
Repairs	$50
DRAWINGS	$1,000
Balance	$34,000	Balance	$34,000

Still in balance? Perfect!