Accounting Transactions

Accounting Transactions Definition

An Accounting Transaction is a business activity or transaction that has a monetary impact on a company’s financial statements. For example, Apple representing nearly $200 billion in cash & cash equivalents in its balance sheet is an accounting transaction. Recording of such transactions is based on the fundamental accounting equation: Asset = Liabilities + Equity.

Accounting Transaction Examples

Example #1

Kathy owns a florist shop, and to expand her business with deliveries, she bought a second-hand delivery van worth $30,000. She made the cash payment to the seller. Note the entries in her book of accounts.

Solution:

Example #2

Now, with the same example, consider Kathy hired an employee on January 1st, 2019, on a monthly salary payable of ,000 on the 1^st day of the next month. She made total sales of $30,000 in January. However, her customers paid only $22,000 in cash (including $6,000 as advance payments), and $8,000 was to be received from them after deliveries in the month of February. Can you help Kathy record these transactions in her books of accounts for January?

Solution:

Let’s see what entries we can make for Kathy:

*To be realized by payment in Cash on February 1st.

Types

There are two types of Accounting Transactions – Internal and External Transactions.

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For eg:
Source: Accounting Transactions (wallstreetmojo.com)

External Transactions: These kinds of transactions occur between two companies or organizations. Since this is an intercompany transaction; hence, it involves monetary or asset exchange. Buying a good or raising debt from creditors is a kind of example for External Transactions.

If a company buys a fixed assetFixed AssetFixed assets are assets that are held for the long term and are not expected to be converted into cash in a short period of time. Plant and machinery, land and buildings, furniture, computers, copyright, and vehicles are all examples.read more, usually, it does not account for the total value of an asset as an expense even though the company has bought that asset in cash upfront. Below will be accounting for an asset that has been purchased upfront.

Fixed Asset	(debit) $100,000
Cash	(credit) $100,00

The above journal entry is an external accounting transaction example.

Internal Transactions: These involve the process within the organizations, for example, by reducing the value of an asset by depreciating it year on year.

Once, the firm has bought the asset, it will depreciate its value in each period, and only that depreciation amount will be treated as an expense in the income statement. So after one-year journal entry of that Asset depreciationJournal Entry Of That Asset DepreciationDepreciation Journal Entry is the journal entry passed to record the reduction in the value of the fixed assets due to normal wear and tear, normal usage or technological changes, etc. where depreciation account will be debited and the respective fixed asset account will be credited. The main objective of a journal entry for depreciation expense is to abide by the matching principle.read more will be like below:

Fixed Asset	$100,000
(-) Depreciation	$10,00
Net Fixed Asset	$ 90,000

This $10,000 will flow into the income statement before EBIT as an expense. Since this entry is only an accounting entry but not the actual money transfer, hence it is known as Internal Transaction.

Recommended Articles

This has been a guide to Accounting Transaction and its definition. Here we discuss the two types along with practical examples. You can learn more about accounting from the following articles –

• Examples of Journal Entries 
• Accounting Equation
• Closing Accounting Entries
• What are the Objectives of Financial Accounting?