An accounting note is that entry that will detail any commercial or economic movement that modifies the assets of a person or company.
In accounting, accounting notes are used to record each of the operations performed by a company. Each accounting note implies an accounting record in the daily book, and then a record in the ledger.
We will find an accounting note in the accounting book usually formed by:
- The date
- Accounting account
- The amount
- A short description
We will also identify it by the following words: Debit and Credit, there will be a note on the Debt (income or debit) and another note on the Credit (payments or credits), which generally affect the liability and the asset through a counterpart.
We can find the accounting notes in entries of:
- Simple game:We reflect the movement through a single point.
- Double Item:The movement influences at least two different accounts, so it will be an accounting entry with two accounting notes.
To understand double entry accounting entries, we could think of the following idea: There is no origin without destination, nor destination without origin.
What is an accounting note for?
It is an instrument of classification and accounting organization, because it allows us to know at any time each of the movements made, where they come from and where both assets and liabilities elements go.
Example of accounting note
Let’s imagine that we run Adagio SL a piano store.
We make a purchase for € 1,000 worth of merchandise, in our case pianos, which we will pay in cash to our supplier. When it comes to a company, this simple operation that our head performs automatically, needs to be registered.
Any movement that occurs will affect two different accounts, on which we will have to register an accounting note. In the case at hand, we must take out € 1,000 of cash (plus VAT ) to deliver them in exchange for our merchandise. Therefore, we will have to make an accounting note in the Cash account and another accounting note in the Goods Purchase account. In this case, as we also have to pay VAT, we will make a third accounting note in the Public Finance VAT Supported account.
Cash will decrease (570), but merchandise will increase (600), this maneuver will always be repeated in compound entries, because they contain at least two accounting notes, one increases and the other decreases.
