Open Journal of Accounting, 2013, 2, 16-18
http://dx.doi.org/10.4236/ojacct.2013.21004 Published Online January 2013 (http://www.scirp.org/journal/ojacct)
Tutorial Accounting Fundamentals: A New Look of British
and American Accounting System
Nousheen Tariq Bhutta1*, Syed Zulfiqar Ali Shah2
1Faculty of Management Sciences, International Islamic University, Islamabad, Pakistan
2Higher Studies and Research, Faculty of Management Sciences, International Islamic University, Islamabad, Pakistan
Received November 1, 2012; revised December 7, 2012; accepted December 15, 2012
ABSTRACT
This paper aims to highlight the perception of graduate and undergraduate students regarding accounting fundamentals
across British system and American system. The design of this paper is to derive a unique model which proves the both
approaches are in same sense however, they are framed differently. Moreover, it provides a good justification of basic
questions like why income and expense are treated as credit side and debit side of trading profit and loss account, re-
spectively. Ultimately, it helps educators/instructors in influencing the perceptions of their students with regard to dif-
ferent accounting systems.
Keywords: Accounting Fundamentals; American Accounting; British Accounting; Students’ Perceptions
1. Introduction
Debit and credits are merely right or left conventions
used in accounting, however, many countries treat them
differently like some economies follow the left way for
driving and some follow right way. There is no hard and
fast rule to treat them as left and right. Countries use
debits and credit based on theses assumption [1].
Table 1 shows that debit and credit rules to different
charts of accounts. Assets are increased by debit and de-
creased by credit whereas liabilities and owner’s equity
are increased by credit and decreased by debits. Expense
is increased by debits and decreased by credits and in-
come is increased by credit and decreased by debits.
In Pakistan, college students read financial accounting
course based on British accounting system; however,
university students read financial accounting course
based on American accounting system. Students perceive
differently to analyze the business transactions across
American and British accounting system. So, in order to
address this issue, this study provides an excellent under-
standing towards both approaches, reflecting the prime
objective of this study.
One approach regarding to American accounting system
is when we provide benefit is credit and when we take
benefit is Debit. It satisfies the debit and credit rules for
income and expenses, assets, liabilities and owner’s eq-
uity [2]. The rules of debit and credit for each account
are presented in Table 1, as discussed in [3].
However, the other approach i.e. British accounting
defines those things which would come into business are
referred as Debit and those things which would go out
from business are referred as Credit. According to this
assumption it satisfies the rules for debit and credit for
balance sheet items only like assets, liabilities and
owner’s equity, however does not apply for income state-
ment items like incomes, expenses and net income/net
loss. As income comes into business it must be debit and
expenses are costs go out from business it must be credit.
But why they both have their normal balance adversely
related to the above assumption. Moreover, why they
both treated oppositely in trading profit and loss account
regarding the aforementioned logic, highlights the second
theme of this study [4]. There is no study till date that
investigates this gap in literature. So the second specialty
of our study is to gain the attention of academicians and
practitioners towards this gap and provide a new look
(simultaneous) approach.
Table 1. Debits and credits rule.
Account TypeIncrease is recorded by Decrease is recorded by
Assets Debit Credit
Expense Debit Credit
Revenue Credit Debit
Liability Credit Debit
Owner’s EquityCredit Debit
*Corresponding author.
C
opyright © 2013 SciRes. OJAcct

N. T. BHUTTA, S. Z. A. SHAH 17
2. Research Questions
Why income and expenses treat as credit and debit respec-
tively?
3. Theoretical Framework
Assets are economic resources that will provide benefit
in future whereas liabilities are debt obligation which we
have to meet in future. Generally, assets have debit bal-
ance and liabilities have credit balance [2].
As per accounting all debits must be equal to all cred-
its. Therefore, we can say that assets must be equal to
liabilities, shown in Equation (1)
Assets = Liabilities (1)
Assets have debit normal balance; however liabilities
have credit normal balance. We assume that Debits are
(+) and Credits are (−), so we can assign symbol to assets
as (+) and liabilities (−) respectively, shown in Table 2.
Moreover, liabilities can be internal and external as
well. The liabilities generated due to external financing
(like account payables) are referred to liabilities. The
liabilities are of internal nature referred to Owner’s Eq-
uity (William, et al., 2002). Thus, the breakup of liabili-
ties of Equation (1) is shown in Equation (2)
Assets = Liabilities + Owner’s Equity (2)
As owner’s equity is a part of liabilities, it must have
same credit and negative nature, as shown in Table 3.
We used (+) for assets and (–) for liabilities and owner’
equity.
The components of each variable of Equation (2) have
been presented in ensuing paragraphs.
There are two types of assets, based on nature [5].
Tangible: Those have physical existence like Plant &
Machinery, Land and furniture.
Intangible: Those don’t have physical existence like
Goodwill, Patents and Copyright.
Based on liquidity and duration, assets can be divided
into two classes.
Current Assets: Those assets which are easily con-
vertible into cash. They are converted to cash within a year.
Table 2. Balance sheet equation.
Assets Liabilities
Debits Credits
+ −
Table 3. Balance sheet equation.
Assets Liabilities Owner’ Equity
Debits Credits Credits
+ − −
We can refer them as short term assets.
Fixed Assets: Those assets which are not easily con-
verted into cash, referred as long-term assets, particularly
3 - 5 years while concerning the other side of balance
sheet equation, liabilities are of two types.
Current Liabilities: Those we retire within a year.
These are short term liabilities.
Long term liabilities: Those we retire within 3 - 5
years, called long term liabilities.
The other element of balance sheet equation is Owner’s
Equity. The components of owner’s equity have been
discussed in following points:
3.1. Direct/Single Effect Components
 Investment: It is additional capital provided by own-
er or external financer. As it is injection of capital in
business, it will increase the capital account. Thus, it
is of positive nature and we assign it (+).
 Drawings: Owners withdraw goods or cash for his
business use. It reduces the capital account. Thus, it is
of negative nature and we assign it (−).
 Dividend: It is distribution of profit to shareholders.
It reduces the capital account. Thus, it is of negative
nature and we assign it (−).
3.2. Indirect/Dual Effect Components
 Income/Sales: Value of goods and services charged
from customer. It increases the business revenue and
the capital amount. Thus, it is of positive nature and
we assign it (+).
 Expenses: It is cost incurred for generating the reve-
nue. It diminishes the business income and the capital
amount. Thus, it is of negative nature and we assign it
(−).
 Net Income: It is overall profit of business transact-
tions. It will enhance the business revenue and the
capital amount. Thus, it is of positive nature and we
assign it (+).
The components of Owner’s Equity are shown in Ta-
ble 4. We assigned (+) and (−) sign to above mentioned
components based on their normal nature. Like (+) is
used for investment, sales/revenue and net income; how-
ever, (−) is used for drawings, dividend and expenses.
As it is part of Owner Equity, We placed owner’s eq-
uity as additional left column to Table 5. We used (−) for
owner’s equity based on its credit nature.
In next step the sign of components changed due to (−)
sign of owner equity, as shown in Table 6. The new sign
of investment, sales/revenue and net income is (−) and
drawings, dividend and expenses is (+). Then we used
debit for (+) and credit for (−). Therefore, drawings,
dividend and expenses have debit nature and investment,
sales/revenue and net income have credit nature.

N. T. BHUTTA, S. Z. A. SHAH
18
Table 4. Components of owner equity .
Direct/Single Effect Components Indirect/Dual Effect Components
Investment Drawings Dividend Revenue/Sales Expenses Net Income
Debits Credits Credits Debits Credits Debits
+ − − + − +
Table 5. Old position of components of owner equity.
Direct/Single Effect Components Indirect/Dual Effect Components
Owner’s Equity
Investment Drawings Dividend Revenue/Sales Expenses Net Income
Credit Debits Credits Credits Debits Credits Debits
− + − − + − +
Table 6. New position of owner equity components.
Direct/Single Effect Components Indirect/Dual Effect Components
Owner’s Equity
Investment Drawings Dividend Revenue/Sales Expenses Net income
Credit Debits Credits Credits Debits Credits Debits
− + − − + − +
New Position
Investment Drawings Dividend Revenue/Sales Expenses Net Income
− − + + − + −
Credit Credit Debit Debit Credit Debit Credit
On the basis of above analysis, we derived the basic
justification for why income and expenses are credit and
debit normal balance respectively. Thus, income and
expenses are shown on credit side and debit side of trad-
ing profit and loss account respectively.
4. Conclusion and Practical Implication
This paper highlights the accounting principles across
British accounting and American accounting systems.
Students perceive differently regarding accounting fun-
damentals based on these two approaches. It derives a
unique model which confirmed the both approaches are
same however, they frames differently. Furthermore, it
provides a good validation of basic questions like why
income and expense are treated as credit side and debit
side of trading profit and loss account, respectively. The
practical implication of this paper is to help instructors to
mould the students’ perceptions regarding American and
British accounting systems. This study provides a mile-
stone for future research in order to eliminates the confu-
sion in accounting fundamentals regarding to thoughts of
different school.
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