Journal entries explained step by step

Every journal entry comes from four decisions made in order: which two accounts a transaction touches, what type each one is, which rule applies, and so which account is debited and which is credited. Beginners learn that reasoning best when it is shown to them one transaction at a time, in the format their exam expects, before they practise on their own.

Why do debits and credits confuse beginners?

Because the same word does opposite things to different accounts. A debit increases an asset or an expense but decreases a liability, capital or income. India’s National Institute of Open Schooling teaches it as two rules: assets and expenses are debited when they increase, and liabilities, capital and revenue are credited when they increase. Until those rules are automatic, every transaction is a puzzle.

Experiments with accounting students show what helps. In a 2011 field experiment with students learning to journalise, Fred Phillips and Lindsay Heiser of the University of Saskatchewan found that students who wrote down each transaction’s effect on the accounting equation were at first more successful at journalising, though the advantage faded within a week, and that starting with simpler balance-sheet transactions helped them later with harder ones. In a 2005 study of 93 students, Abdel Halabi and colleagues found that worked examples were more efficient than problem-solving exercises for students with no prior accounting knowledge, and just as efficient for those who had some. And Paul Blayney, Slava Kalyuga and John Sweller found that first-year university accounting students with less expertise learned more when the parts of a task were presented separately first, while more expert students learned more from the whole task at once.

How big is the need?

Large, and it costs families. In India, the Institute of Chartered Accountants’ result analysis for the September 2026 CA Foundation exam counts 104,240 candidates who appeared and 19,736 who passed, 18.93%. Foundation is the first of the course’s three levels, its first paper is Accounting, and a pass needs at least 40% in every paper and 50% overall, according to ICAI’s own guide. Coaching costs peak in the final years of school: India’s 2025 national survey of school education found average spending on private coaching of ₹6,384 a student in higher secondary.

How do students learn journal entries today?

From textbook solutions that print the finished entry, from coaching classes, and from long recorded lectures. Three things get in the way:

• The reasoning is missing. A finished entry shows the answer, not why Cash is debited.
• Formats differ. An Indian textbook writes the debited account first with “Dr.”, the credited account below it starting with “To”, and a narration in brackets (NIOS). An American one lists the debit first and indents the credit below it, followed by a short description (OpenStax). A video in the wrong format confuses more than it helps.
• Time. A teacher can work a few transactions on the board in class; the exercise at home has many more.

What should an explanation of a journal entry show?

1. One transaction at a time, with the transaction kept in view.
2. The two accounts, and the type of each, in the terms the course uses.
3. The rule, then the decision: which account is debited, which is credited, and the amount.
4. The entry written row by row in the house format, with its narration.
5. The check: debits equal credits.
6. Rising difficulty: simple cash transactions before credit ones, simple entries before compound ones.

What does one entry look like?

Take “April 1: Ram started business with cash ₹50,000.”

• The two accounts: Cash and Capital.
• Their types: Cash is an asset, and it increases. Capital is the owner’s capital, and it increases too.
• The rule: an increase in an asset is a debit; an increase in capital is a credit.
• The entry, in the Indian format: “Cash A/c Dr. 50,000”, then “To Capital A/c 50,000” on the next line, then the narration “(Being business started with cash)”.
• The check: debits 50,000, credits 50,000.

In an American course, the same entry lists the debit to Cash first and the credit to Capital indented below it, followed by a short description. The reasoning is identical; only the layout changes, which is why a video should match the layout the student’s exam uses.

What does the Accounting problems skill do?

We make Chasca, so read our part of this with that in mind. The Accounting problems skill works journal entries, ledgers, trial balances, depreciation and ratios on a teacher’s board:

• Paste the transactions with their dates and amounts, or add photos, a PDF or a document of the question, up to 20 pages. Your amounts and dates are never changed.
• Each transaction gets its own board, headed by its date: the two accounts and their type, the rule that applies, then debit and credit, written in short lines as they are said.
• The entry is written into a ruled journal row by row, in your course’s format: “Cash A/c Dr.” then “To Capital A/c” for Indian boards, debit first and credit below for US and UK courses, Debe and Haber in Spanish. Amounts keep your grouping, such as 1,25,000.
• Ledger accounts and trial balances are drawn as tables, each posting as it is explained, with the totals row highlighted.
• Debits and credits are added up before the video is drawn, and every answer is also solved a second time, separately. If anything doesn’t agree, the video’s page tells you which question to check.
• The narration is in your language, in any of 30 narrators or your own voice. In Hindi, it keeps accounting terms such as debit, credit and capital in English.

For more ways to use videos alongside your lessons, see Chasca for education.

Who is it for?

Commerce and accountancy teachers, tutors for CA Foundation and other professional exams, and anyone who explains the same first transactions to a new group of students every term.

What won’t it do?

• Change your amounts or dates.
• Hide debits and credits that don’t agree. You’re told which question to check.
• Draw T-accounts yet. Ledger accounts are shown as tables.
• Advise on a real business’s books. It explains textbook and exam problems.

How do you make one?

1. Open Accounting problems in Chasca.
2. Paste the transactions with their dates and amounts, or add a photo or PDF of the question, and say which course or exam it’s for so the format matches.
3. Pick the language, the voice and a black board or whiteboard, then make the video.
4. Check the video’s page for any flagged question before you share it.

Your first two videos are free, up to a minute each, watermarked and with no card required; a free video works the first transactions that fit in its minute. Plans start at $9.99 a month (pricing).

Sources

• National Institute of Open Schooling. Accountancy, Lesson 5: Journal.
• Phillips, F., & Heiser, L. (2011). A field experiment examining the effects of accounting equation emphasis and transaction scope on students learning to journalize. Issues in Accounting Education, 26(4), 681–699.
• Halabi, A. K., Tuovinen, J. E., & Farley, A. A. (2005). Empirical evidence on the relative efficiency of worked examples versus problem-solving exercises in accounting principles instruction. Issues in Accounting Education, 20(1), 21–32.
• Blayney, P., Kalyuga, S., & Sweller, J. (2010). Interactions between the isolated–interactive elements effect and levels of learner expertise: experimental evidence from an accountancy class. Instructional Science, 38(3), 277–287.
• The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (2026). Result of CA Foundation Examination held in September 2026 declared.
• The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (2026). Frequently asked questions on the CA course.
• Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation, Government of India (2025). Results of Comprehensive Modular Survey: Education, 2025.
• OpenStax (2019). Principles of Accounting, Volume 1: Financial Accounting, 3.5 Use journal entries to record transactions and post to T-accounts.