Double Entry System for Receipt

[Core Developer]

Hello Everyone,

I am a software engineer with less accounting background and I am developing a very small software for a client. I need to store the receipt in a double entry system, I know in double entry one entry is Dr. and another entry is Cr. but in a receipt we can face with the following types of payment:

Fields (Gross Total, Discount, Advance, Remaining)

Type 1:
Gross Total: $100
Discount: $0
Advance: $0
Remaining: $100

Type 2:
Gross Total: $100
Discount: $0
Advance: $100
Remaining: $0

Type 3
Gross Total: $100
Discount: $50
Advance: $50
Remaining: $0

Type 4
Gross Total: $100
Discount: $25
Advance: $25
Remaining: $50

Type 3
Gross Total: $100
Discount: $0
Advance: $50
Remaining: $50

Type 3
Gross Total: $100
Discount: $100
Advance: $0
Remaining: $0

Journal Table:
AccCode, ReceiptCode, Date, Dr. Cr. Description, EntryReference, EntryType, JournalType

Keeping above table in mind, how do I store the above types in Journal Table
Note: adding, removing table columns are appreciated.

Thanks

 

[Bad Medicine]

Core Developer,

It depends because every business first sets up a chart of accounts which is at least slightly different depending on the business, and that is what determines which accounts you're making transactions to/from.

For example, one business might have a checking account with the index "100", and a second checking account at another bank with index "101", and those might be cash accounts, or they might be making their sales on credit with an account "accounts receivable", or they might break up their accounts receivable in sub-journals with different accounts for each customer, maybe "accounts receivable - core_development" as a customer.

Transactions then happen as credits and debits. The basic types of accounts are asset, equity, liability, revenue/income, and/or expense. So, for example, a sale might involve the checking account and a "fee income" account if a fee was earned for a service provided, and whether it is a credit or debit depends on the account type and the direction you want it to move in. Basically - assets and expense are credited to decrease them, and debited to increase them. Everything else is credited to increase, and debit to decrease. So, as an example, if you want to increase cash (asset) during a sale and increase fees received (revenue), that would be a debit to cash (increasing it) and a credit to fees received (increasing it). In double entry, every transaction has at least two sides, and at least one debit and one credit. The reason "at least" is used is because some transactions are split - for example you might pay for something with two checks, 100$us from one account, 50$us from another, in the same transaction, in which case you would credit (decrease) both accounts and debit some asset category for whatever you bought, or expense for whatever you paid for, etc.

So, with all of that said, you basically have to sit down with the chart of accounts for each of the transaction types you have above and figure out which accounts you're going to debit/credit to make the transaction. I understand that's what you're asking, but hopefully you can see that it depends very much on how the books are set up - are these cash transactions in/out of a checking account ? or are they on credit with the customer paying after the fact ? or are they on credit with the customer prepaying before they receive the item or service ? All of these kinds of things affect how the transaction is entered into the journal.