self-referencing table with bridge (2 Viewers)

[MarkK]

There should not be any negative GL postings.

I think this is true from a purist perspective, but it's convenient to just sum a single field as opposed to summing credits, summing debits, and then summing the sums.

But it is proper accounting to have debit and credit accounts, and to post debits or credits independently.

 

[RonPaii]

I think this is true from a purist perspective, but it's convenient to just sum a single field as opposed to summing credits, summing debits, and then summing the sums.

But it is proper accounting to have debit and credit accounts, and to post debits or credits independently.

Have you ever known an accountant that wasn't a purist?

 

[LarryE]

It was my understanding that the OP wished to use ACCESS to post entries to an accounting system that is as close to Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) as possible. If you do that, then you don't use negative values in entries, and you always use offsetting debit and credit entries. The balancing of these entries should certainly occur on the entry form using the forms Before Update event where a message should alert the user that debits and credits are not balanced. I worked as an auditor for most of my working life and I can tell you that sometimes mistakes are made. If you are going to create normal Balance Sheets, Income Statements and all the other normal accounting reports, then you will need to implement something like I recommended with Asset, Liability and Equity accounts. But I was coming at it strictly from GAAP. Having said that, you'll notice I did not include any tables that track customer sales or vendor purchases orders or inventory. Those issues are handled separately but could certainly be part of the model.

 

[LarryE]

Have you ever known an accountant that wasn't a purist?

Nope.