[GNC] [OT] Why is Debit abbreviated Dr?

Stephen M. Butler kg7je at arrl.net
Wed Sep 5 15:37:10 EDT 2018


On 09/05/2018 12:05 PM, Christian Kluge wrote:
> Am 05.09.2018 um 20:42 schrieb Geoff Jankowski via gnucash-user:
>> David
>>
>> I would love to agree with you but…..
>>
>> In standard journal notation cr is a debt and dr an asset.  This is because it is nothing to do with credit (+ve) and debit (-ve) in any sense (or tense) but to do with a creditor (to whom we owe) and a debtor (who owes us).  Hence dr and cr relate to debtor and creditor and not to any form of debit or credit.
>>
>> For example, if I take cash from the cash box and deposit it at the bank I enter a cr to the cashbook and a dr to the bank account. 
> Actually you should a transit account for the period in between taking
> and out of the cash box and that journal entry and the day the bank
> actually books this deposit on your banking statement.
>
>> Totally counterintuitive which is why accountancy is a black art and should be banned.
>>  

Which is why I, as a software/database guy, just cringe when my wife,
the accountant, yells out, "You reversed the journal entries again!"

I tried to reason it out know I got it wrong last time by trying to
reason it out from the time before when I also got it wrong.  I'm no
longer sure that three rights make a left.  I'm pretty sure that two
rights make a U turn of which I am doing a lot lately.
> Every form of accounting assumes that the debit side will give its value
> back one day as the original Italian formulations «deve dare» “shall
> give“ and «deve avere» “shall have”, everyone knows that’s never going
> to happen but still, nothing counterintuitive there.
>
> Kind regards
>
>
> Christian Kluge
>
> _______________________________________________
> gnucash-user mailing list
> gnucash-user at gnucash.org
> To update your subscription preferences or to unsubscribe:
> https://lists.gnucash.org/mailman/listinfo/gnucash-user
> If you are using Nabble or Gmane, please see https://wiki.gnucash.org/wiki/Mailing_Lists for more information.
> -----
> Please remember to CC this list on all your replies.
> You can do this by using Reply-To-List or Reply-All.


-- 
Stephen M Butler, PMP, PSM
Stephen.M.Butler51 at gmail.com
kg7je at arrl.net
253-350-0166
-------------------------------------------
GnuPG Fingerprint:  8A25 9726 D439 758D D846 E5D4 282A 5477 0385 81D8



More information about the gnucash-user mailing list