Ask Me Help Desk - Prepare a journal

I'm a little confused over what some of these are supposed to mean. I assume this is a vet clinic. :)

Quote:

Vaccination - Cash
Vaccination - Accounts

Like this. I can't tell if "vaccination - accounts" means the vaccination account, or whether you mean vaccinations on account.

In a way it doesn't matter, because I think understanding the concept behind these general types of entries will do more good than these specific entries.

All your vaccinations, exams, surgery, etc are all going to be your revenue accounts. Whether they are all individual accounts or lumped together in some way doesn't matter. You will record these as a credit into the appropriate revenue account at the time the service is done, whether they paid cash. If the service is done, you have earnings, and therefore you record the earnings. It doesn't matter if they paid cash or charged it.

If they pay cash at the time of service, you then debit cash. If they do not pay at the time of service, you then debit Receivables (or Debtors or whatever you're calling that account). Even though you didn't get paid, you still do have an asset. A receivable is a promise to pay in the future which has a worth to you.

The important thing to note is that you'll record the revenue whether they pay on the spot. It's the debit that may change.

Later when they pay the bill, the original service is not involved because you have already recorded that. They are simply paying on their bill. So you debit the cash you get and you credit the receivable/debtor account because they no longer owe it.

It doesn't matter between "vacinnations-cash" and "pet consulation - cash" -- those are both revenue for cash and are handled the same way. Learn one and you have them all.

As for additional cash from the owner -- if you follow the concepts instead of trying to memorize individual things, you should already know what to do with the cash. Cash coming in is cash coming in. Makes no difference where it came from. What that affects is the credit, which is the capital account because it came from the owner.