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Comment by lisper

2 years ago

> +Asset +Income aka sold something

Don't you mean -Asset here?

Nope, in these examples the +Asset on the left means you received say cash. The right side shows various ways to balance that out based on the accounting equation

I did an explanation with numbers here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40021506

  • > in these examples the +Asset on the left means you received say cash.

    Ah. So... where is the value of the lemonade before you sold it? Wasn't that an asset before you sold it?

    • I guess technically this would be selling a service instead of a good.

      I was going through the 4 combinations of balanced two-line entries, based on the accounting equation, to show how it helps when thinking through how to record something.

      If you get into more than two lines, then yup selling a good would be

        +Asset -Asset +Income
      

      or if you include sales tax and son shipping costs:

        +Asset -Asset +Liability +Income +Expense
      

      Using an updated accounting equation and negative numbers is a lot more intuitive than credits and debits. In this larger example it tells you:

        Cash Asset - COGS Asset - Tax Liability = Sales Income - Shipping Expense
      
      

      It tells you what types of accounts balance, with a syntax that matches your intuitions: more asset = good, less asset = bad, more expense = bad, less expense = good.

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