Why was income summary not used in the dividends closing entry? Only income statement accounts help us summarize income, so only income statement accounts should go into income summary. Notice the balance in Income Summary matches the net income calculated on the Income Statement.

If we go back and look at the trial balance for Printing Plus, we see that the trial balance shows debits and credits equal to $34,000. Presentation differences are most noticeable between the two forms of GAAP in the Balance Sheet. Under US GAAP there is no specific requirement on how accounts should be presented. Liquidity refers to how easily an item can be converted to cash.

Close income summary account

The total debit to income summary should match total expenses from the income statement. Likewise, shifting expenses out of the income statement requires one to credit all of the expense accounts for the total amount of expenses recorded in the period, and debit the income summary account. This is the first step to take in using the income summary account.

In other words, the income summary account is simply a placeholder for account balances at the end of the accounting period while closing entries are being made. The income statement generally comprises permanent accounts and displays the business’s income earned and expenses incurred by the business. The income summary is a summarization and compilation of temporary accounts of the revenues and expenses. The information from the income statement can be transferred to the income summary statement to establish whether a business made a profit or loss. Whenever such a thing happens, the accounts in the income statement are debited, and accounts in the income summary are credited.

Final thoughts on closing entries

In the event of a loss for the period, the income summary account needs to be credited and retained earnings reduced through a debit. The balance in dividends, revenues and expenses would all be zero leaving only the permanent accounts for a post closing trial balance. The trial balance shows the ending balances of all asset, liability and equity accounts remaining.

• Income summary is an account in which the balances of temporary accounts, i.e., revenues and expenses accounts, are transferred at the end of the accounting year.
• Rather than setting out separate requirements for presentation of the statement of cash flows, IAS 1.111 refers to IAS 7 Statement of Cash Flows.
• It is used when a company chooses to transfer the balance of individual revenue and expense accounts directly to retained earnings.
• The statement of retained earnings is prepared before the balance sheet because the ending retained earnings amount is a required element of the balance sheet.
• Notice that the balances in the expense accounts are now zero and are ready to accumulate expenses in the next period.

The account has a zero balance throughout the entire accounting period until the closing entries are prepared. Therefore, it will not appear on any trial balances, including the adjusted trial balance, and will not appear on any of the financial statements. Income summary is an account in which the balances of temporary accounts, i.e., revenues https://investrecords.com/the-importance-of-accurate-bookkeeping-for-law-firms-a-comprehensive-guide/ and expenses accounts, are transferred at the end of the accounting year. It is also a temporary account, closed to retained earnings account. The net amount in this account is the loss or profit for that period. Closing entries are entries used to shift balances from temporary to permanent accounts at the end of an accounting period.

Balance Sheet

The income statement reflects your net income for the month of December. This entry zeros out dividends and reduces retained earnings by total dividends paid. If your business is a corporation, you will not have a drawing account, but if you paid stockholders, you will have a dividends account. If you paid dividends for the month, you will need to close that account as well.

This net balance of income summary represents the net income if it is on the credit side. On the other hand, if it is on the debit, it presents the net loss of the company. Because you paid dividends, you will need to reduce your retained earnings account, which is what this entry accomplishes. The adjustments total of $2,415 balances in the debit and credit columns.

Finally, you are ready to close the income summary account and transfer the funds to the retained earnings account. The purpose of the closing entry is to reset the temporary account balances to zero law firm bookkeeping on the general ledger, the record-keeping system for a company’s financial data. To better visualize debits and credits in various financial statement line items, T-Accounts are commonly used.