debit n : an accounting entry acknowledging sums that are owing [syn: debit entry] [ant: credit] v : enter as debit [ant: credit]

Debit \Deb"it\, n. [L. debitum what is due, debt, from debere to owe: cf. F. d['e]bit. See Debt.] A debt; an entry on the debtor (Dr.) side of an account; -- mostly used adjectively; as, the debit side of an account.

Debit \Deb"it\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Debited; p. pr. & vb. n. Debiting.]
1. To charge with debt; -- the opposite of, and correlative to, credit; as, to debit a purchaser for the goods sold.
2. (Bookkeeping) To enter on the debtor (Dr.) side of an account; as, to debit the amount of goods sold.

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Debit and credit are formal bookkeeping and accounting terms. They are the most fundamental concepts in accounting, representing the two sides of each individual transaction recorded in any accounting system. A debit indicates an asset or an expense transaction, a credit indicates a transaction that will cause a liability or a gain. A debit transaction can also be used to reduce a credit balance or increase a debit balance. A credit transaction can be used to decrease a debit balance or increase a credit balance. Debit and credit form the basis of the double-entry bookkeeping system. Every debit and credit value are recorded in ledgers and from these ledgers financial reports can then be prepared.

Debits and credits are a system of notation used in bookkeeping to determine how and where to record any financial transaction. In bookkeeping, instead of using additions '+' and subtraction '-' symbols, a transaction uses the symbol DR (Debit) or CR (Credit). In double-entry bookkeeping debit is used for asset and expense transactions and credit is used for liability, gain and equity transactions. For bank transactions, money received in is treated as a debit transaction and money paid out is treated as a credit transaction. Traditionally, transactions are recorded in two columns of numbers: debits in the left hand column and credits in the right hand column. Keeping the debits and credits in separate columns allows each to be recorded and totalled independently. Where the total of the debit value amounts is lower than the total of the credit value amounts, a balancing debit value is posted to that nominal ledger account. That nominal ledger account is now "balanced". An account can have either a credit value balance or a debit value balance but not both.

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