Accounting -- Chapter 2 -- terms

Recording Business Transactions

Account -- the detailed record of the changes in a particular asset, liability, or owners equity during a specific timeframe. The basic summary device of accounting
Journal -- a chronological accounting record of an entity's transactions
ledger -- the record holding all the accounts
trial balance -- a list of all the accounts with their balances
debit -- the left side of an account
credit -- the right side of an account
posting -- copying amounts from the journal to the ledger
normal balance -- the balance that appears on the side of an account, debit or credit, where we record increases
chart of accounts -- list of all the accounts and their account numbers in the ledger