Free tax tool
Journal Entry Lab
Post a journal entry and watch it land on a balance scale. Assets sit on one pan, Liabilities and Equity on the other, and the two always hang level. Build an entry whose debits do not match its credits and the scale visibly tips, which is the shortest answer I know to "why do debits have to equal credits?"
Teaching tool · Debits and credits, T-accounts, and the accounting equationAssets = Liabilities + Equity
Both pans hang level, and they always will. Every entry adds the same amount of debit and credit, so neither side can outweigh the other.
Inside Equity
Owner’s Capital + Revenue − Expenses − Draws
Write a journal entry
Transaction library
Click one to load it into the journal entry above, then post it.
Guided scenario
Walk a class through a business’s first month, one entry at a time.
Debits and credits, in one card
Debit increases
- Assets
- Expenses
- Draws / Dividends
Credit increases
- Liabilities
- Equity (capital)
- Revenue
Every entry needs total debits = total credits. That is why the equation never breaks.
What this entry does
Preview- Build or load an entry to see a line by line explanation.
| Equation | Before | Change | After |
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T‑accounts
No account activity yet.
Books
A teaching tool, not tax or accounting advice. The sample transactions are simplified to make the mechanics visible, and a real set of books involves judgment this tool does not model. Nothing you enter leaves your browser, and nothing is saved. Built by Yehuda Tenenbaum, EA.