The preferred method for recording transactions is the double-entry system. This means that every transaction will affect two or more general ledger accounts.
To illustrate, let’s assume that a company pays monthly rent of $1,000. The account Rent Expense will be debited for $1,000 and the account Cash will be credited for $1,000. (When only one account is debited and one account is credited, the entry is referred to as a simple entry.)
If the rent of $1,000 consists of $400 for the office and $600 for the warehouse, the entry may be a debit of $400 to Office Rent Expense, a debit of $600 to Warehouse Rent Expense, and a credit to Cash for $1,000. (When an entry has more than one account being debited or more than one account being credited, it is known as a compound entry.)
Popular accounting software uses the double-entry system. However, the software may require that you enter only the account and amount to be debited. For instance, when a check is written, the software will automatically credit the Cash account and therefore you need only enter the account(s) and amount(s) to be debited.