MOA 2008 Owners Drawing / Distributions to Owner

[CARLM]

I asked this question a week ago and never received an answer, so I am asking
again. (Microsoft......if you want to sell your product......you should have
pre-sales phone support.....I still have enough time left on my trial to
bail).

On the balance sheet, should the $$$ shown for Distributions to Owner (or
Owner's Drawing) appear as a positive or negative number?

In my old accounting program when I wrote checks to myself, the balance
sheet showed this number as positive. Now, when I write a check, my
Distributions to Owner account goes negative and a negative number shows up
on the balance sheet. Is this correct?

 

[DL]

If you are paying from your checking account to the Owners Drawing & it
shows corectly as a debit on your checking account it will show as a credit
in Owners drawing.
The final Balance sheet figure credit / debit depends on any opening balance

 

[CARLM]

If you are paying from your checking account to the Owners Drawing & it
shows corectly as a debit on your checking account it will show as a credit
in Owners drawing.
The final Balance sheet figure credit / debit depends on any opening balance

I am not an accountant. Debits and credits make my eyes glaze over. My brain
also starts to convulse and I end up in a fetal position on the floor staring
at the cat.

I was really more interested in hearing whether the Owners
Drawing/Distributions to Owner number on the balance sheet should appear as a
positive or negative number.

 

[Macy]

Carl, Get up and take it like a man. In all my years of accounting, I
have only encountered two instances where a debit caused death.
Credits is a different story.

Equity is how much you put in to the business plus the earnings of the
business. Your draw is a reduction of equity. The draw should be
subtracted from equity. In MOA draw should display with a minus sign
on the balance sheet.
Macy

 

[Macy]

DL, I applaud your enthusiasm to post and willingness to help answer
questions. However, you have again gotten your dr/cr backwards.

So we do not send more people like Carl into the fetal position,
perhaps you should use the terminology MOA uses. Instead of dr/cr use
payment, deposit, increase, decrease, etc.
Macy

 

[CARLM]

I have a very basic working knowledge of debits and credits....enough to get
by and function. I have valid reason for asking about positive or negative
numbers on the balance sheet. In my previous software that I used for years,
Owners Drawing was a positive number on my balance sheet. I was used to
seeing positive numbers on the balance sheet. When I entered opening
balances in MOA, I had a single box to enter $$$$ in for the Owners Drawing
that was being carried over from my old software. I didn't have 2 columns and
a choice. (Go to Chart of Accounts....select Distributions to Owner and right
click, then Open to see what I am talking about). Since I was used to seeing
positive numbers, I entered a positive number into that form. Everything
looked right until I entered my actual first Distribution transaction and the
amount subtracted from my balance sheet amount. I knew something was wrong.

So now I realize in MOA that the number is displayed as a negative. How it
can be both depending on the software you use or the accounting system
practices that occur under the hood don't matter to me. All I really need to
know is that when I write a check, does my bank balance get smaller. If it
gets bigger, something's wrong. If I write a check and the expense account
that I apply the transaction to gets smaller, something's wrong. I applied
this same simple logic to Owner's Drawing. I wrote a check to myself. My
checking account balance went down, but so did my Owner's Drawing account.
Something had to be wrong. Apparently not. I don't understand why, but since
I am not an accountant, I don't really care why. I care that my balances are
correct so that the IRS goes away happy after an audit.

Its sort of like driving a car. You don't need to know how the internal
combustion engine works to drive to the grocery store, nor do most people
want to learn. The same goes for accounting: Get me to and from the audit
undamaged, and I am happy.

 

[Macy]

Carl, I think you may have mixed my seperate replies to you and to DL.
I don't like the opening balance box. I have to stop and think is this
a plus or minus. Double check that your beginning balance sheet in MOA
matches your ending balance sheet in your old software.
Macy

 

[CARLM]

I probably clicked the wrong reply button. Anyway, thats why I was (and still
am) confused. The number on my old/closing balance sheet was positive. I
would write myself a check, and apply it to my Owners Drawing account. When I
ran my balance sheet my Owner's Drawing balance would increase by the amount
of the check. In my old program I did not have a choice as to whether I
wanted to make it a debit, credit, left hand column entry, right hand column
entry, etc.... I just filled out a form that was presented as an image
representation of a paper check and selected Owners Drawing as the offset
account to my checking account.

So when I was transferring new beginning balances from my old closing
balance sheet, I went to the MOA screen that I previously mentioned, entered
a positive number exactly as it appeared on my old closing balance sheet. I
then ran balance sheet and income statement reports before making any new
transactions and everything looked right.....until I wrote myself another
check and entered the transaction. The balance sheet number decreased by the
amount of the check instead of increasing as was the case in my old
accounting program. My knowledge of accounting is limited, but I knew that
was wrong.

So, it appears that my old accounting program displays a positive number,
MOA displays a negative number, and I can only assume that both are correct
due to the way the 2 programs handle the display of information in the
background.

With all due respect to those that are accountants that is why I stated I
don't want to know about debits, credits, and the accounting legalese that
goes along with explaining the technical aspects of the balance sheet. All I
want to know is, did I enter the transaction correctly (positive or negative
number), will my accountant be happy and will the IRS be happy. Everything
else is background noise.

 

[Chris Schatte]

Macy,
Thanks for that! Been a loong few weeks at the store and upon reading your
reply here has helped destress. Have a good day!!!

Chris
--
SBA 06>OA 07 08:
Office Live site:
www.texomagardens.com
My spaces blog:
http://ms-sba-user.spaces.live.com/

 

[Macy]

Carl, I apologize.
Macy

I probably clicked the wrong reply button. Anyway, thats why I was (and still
am) confused. The number on my old/closing balance sheet was positive. I
would write myself a check, and apply it to my Owners Drawing account. When I
ran my balance sheet my Owner's Drawing balance would increase by the amount
of the check. In my old program I did not have a choice as to whether I
wanted to make it a debit, credit, left hand column entry, right hand column
entry, etc.... I just filled out a form that was presented as an image
representation of a paper check and selected Owners Drawing as the offset
account to my checking account.

So when I was transferring new beginning balances from my old closing
balance sheet, I went to the MOA screen that I previously mentioned, entered
a positive number exactly as it appeared on my old closing balance sheet. I
then ran balance sheet and income statement reports before making any new
transactions and everything looked right.....until I wrote myself another
check and entered the transaction. The balance sheet number decreased by the
amount of the check instead of increasing as was the case in my old
accounting program. My knowledge of accounting is limited, but I knew that
was wrong.

So, it appears that my old accounting program displays a positive number,
MOA displays a negative number, and I can only assume that both are correct
due to the way the 2 programs handle the display of information in the
background.

With all due respect to those that are accountants that is why I stated I
don't want to know about debits, credits, and the accounting legalese that
goes along with explaining the technical aspects of the balance sheet. All I
want to know is, did I enter the transaction correctly (positive or negative
number), will my accountant be happy and will the IRS be happy. Everything
else is background noise.