MSG Team's other articles

9972 What is Internal Rate of Return (IRR) ?

The Internal Rate of Return (IRR) is another very important metric that can be used to determine whether or not a company must invest its resources in a project. If the company does decide to invest its resources in all the projects then the IRR can help us understand what should be the priority of […]

9439 Gender Gap in Pension Systems

The gender gap in pension systems around the world is a very real and pressing issue. Numerous studies have been conducted on this matter and almost all of them have concluded that the gender gap is a systematic problem that needs to be addressed by pension funds as well as by pension fund regulators across […]

12139 Managing Start-ups During an Economic Downturn

Economic cycles are a reality of life. Founders need to be aware of the fact that their start-up company could find itself in the middle of an economic downturn. Such situations tend to be the real test of start-up companies. The poorly managed start-ups face severe cash flow issues during such recessions. A lot of […]

12024 Why Timing the Market is a Bad Idea ?

Stock market investments can be akin to gambling depending on the procedure used for making these investments. If the investments are rooted in fundamental research, then they are the result of skilled judgment and therefore cannot be called gambling. On the other hand, many investors invest in the stock market as if it was a […]

8873 Defined Benefit Pension Plans

Whenever a person from the baby boomer generation hears the term pension plan, they refer to defined benefit pension plans. Defined benefit pension plans were the predominant type of pension plan just a few decades ago. In the 1980s, defined benefit plans accounted for over 80% of all types of pension plans which were offered […]

Search with tags

  • No tags available.

The double entry system of bookkeeping is said to have revolutionized growth in modern business. It is only because businesses are able to keep track of their growing scale of transactions efficiently that they grow further. This has been facilitated by a well designed, error preventing accounting system called the double entry system. Here are more details about this system:

What Is Double Entry System ?

In a double entry bookkeeping system there are two sides to every transaction. The sides are equal in magnitude i.e. the debits must always equal the credits.

Large Firms

When a firm grows beyond a certain size it has to use double entry system of accounting. This is both because it is mandated by law as well as because it is the most efficient system.

Complete Records

Double entry accounting system keeps a record of all major accounting transactions. These could be transactions outside the firm with third parties. Or they could be intra firm transactions where raw material has now been converted to Work In Progress (WIP). By making sure every record about credit as well as intra firm transactions is being accounted for, double entry system provides the most accurate record.

Automatic Reconciliation

As the scale of a business grows, it becomes more prone to clerical errors. A clerk accounting for a large number of transactions all day is bound to make some mistakes. However, the double entry system does not allow these mistakes to have a cascading effect. This is because the system is constantly checking whether total debits equal total credits. When they are not, accountants know they are dealing with an error. They can then find out the error, correct it and then move forward. This saves a lot of time and builds incredible accuracy in the system.

However the double entry accounting system is not 100% error proof. There is a possibility that an entry may have been completely omitted or that there may have been compensating errors done while passing the entry.

Fraud is Difficult

Just like reconciliation, when a business grows, more and more responsibilities need to be entrusted to workers. Many times this leads to frauds by the workers as they embezzle cash and make use of resources for personal benefits. However, the double entry accounting system, when used correctly prevents such situations from arising. The system has strong inbuilt controls to avoid misuse of any resources.

Article Written by

MSG Team

An insightful writer passionate about sharing expertise, trends, and tips, dedicated to inspiring and informing readers through engaging and thoughtful content.

Leave a reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Related Articles

Cash vs. Accrual Basis of Accounting

MSG Team

Objectives of Accounting

MSG Team