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

[Geoff Jankowski]

Happily

I am not married to my accountant!



Geoff Jankowski
+33 6 22 93 00 53
+44 7770 584838

iPhone 5SE

> On 5 Sep 2018, at 21:37, Stephen M. Butler <kg7je at arrl.net> wrote:
> 
>> 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
>> 
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> 
> -- 
> Stephen M Butler, PMP, PSM
> Stephen.M.Butler51 at gmail.com
> kg7je at arrl.net
> 253-350-0166
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