Introduction
As part of Lesson 1.3 Week Three: Definitions and Peer Review, this assignment helps us learn about the central role that definitions play in technical writing. One learning outcome of this assignment is that we will become more aware of audience, especially non-technical readers, and of our writing purpose. Another outcome is that we will be able to tell the differences between parenthetical definition, sentence definition, and expanded definition, and offer the right level of details in our definitions based on our individual reading situations.
Specifically, we are to choose a relatively complex term within our discipline or profession and write a parenthetical definition, sentence definition and expanded definition of the same term. In writing the definitions, we are encouraged to consult pages 397-411 of our textbook Technical Communication. Below is my assignment.
Reading Situation
A bookkeeper is explaining the term “double-entry bookkeeping” to a client that has little knowledge of bookkeeping or accounting.
Parenthetical Definition
The term double-entry bookkeeping (a type of bookkeeping that records debits and credits).
Sentence Definition
Double-entry bookkeeping is a bookkeeping system that records every business transaction two times, once as debits and once as credits.
Expanded Definition
Double-entry bookkeeping is a bookkeeping system that records every business transaction two times, once as debits and once as credits, in two separate places or accounts.
Double-entry bookkeeping is different from single-entry bookkeeping. The latter allows you to make one entry for each transaction in a place called the “cash book,” and this transaction can be either income or expense (Bookkeeping, 2020). Single-entry bookkeeping gives you the record transactions line by line, but the problem is that you may make more accounting mistakes because there is no matching system to keep track of your transactions (Bookkeeping, 2020).
Figure 1: Single-Entry Bookkeeping (Bookkeeping, 2020)
Unlike a single-entry bookkeeping system, which only records each transaction once in one account, a double-entry bookkeeping system keeps a record of all transactions two times in two accounts (Carlson, 2019). If your business remains small and has infrequent business activity, it is recommended that you use single-entry bookkeeping, but if your business is large and complex or if you expect it to grow, you can use double-entry bookkeeping (Carlson, 2019). The reason is that larger organizations tend to have more complicated asset and liability accounts, and double-entry bookkeeping allows you to keep track of those more clearly and efficiently than single-entry bookkeeping (Carlson, 2019).
Figure 2: Double-Entry Bookkeeping (Bookkeeping, 2020)
As shown in Figure 2, there is an entry of $500 in the credit column when you take money out of your cash account and another entry of $500 in the debit column when you, for instance, buy an office laptop (Bookkeeping, 2020). The first entry tracks the money that goes out or leaves your account, and the second entry records the money or the value of office supply that comes into your account (Bookkeeping, 2020). In other words, with double-entry bookkeeping, you can easily look at each transaction into and out of your business.
For double-entry bookkeeping to work, it is important that you keep your accounts balanced (ReliaBills, 2021). To do so, you can rely on various bookkeeping software programs available, such as QuickBooks, which uses complex accounting calculations to help users balance their debit and credit accounts (ReliaBills, 2021).
References
Bookkeeping. (2020, July 15). 23 Bookkeeping terms and what they actually mean for your business. Neat. https://www.neat.com/blog/23-bookkeeping-terms-and-what-they- actually-mean-for-your-business/
Carlson, R. (2019, Nov 8). Single- Vs. double-entry bookkeeping. The Balance Small Business. https://www.thebalancesmb.com/what-is-best-single-entry-or-double-entry-bookkeeping-393004
ReliaBills. (2021, Feb 28). What is QuickBooks Double Entry Bookkeeping?https://www.reliabills.com/blog/quickbooks-double-entry- bookkeeping/#:~:text=As%20you%20already%20know%2C%20QuickBooks%20uses%20double-entry%20accounting.,QuickBooks%20double- entry%20bookkeeping%20comes%20with%20its%20business%20package.
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