hi
a question for anyone with some knowledge of accounting.
I'm building a double entry system for my web site and just wanted to know how you would approach the design of the ledger - I have 2 questions in particular that I'd like to get answers for but any other general suggestions would be great (my accounting knowledge is not that great!).
I currently have the following columns in the ledger table...
id (unique)
account (userid)
type (journal type)
asset ($, pounds etc for different currencies later down the track)
gross
date (of transaction)
rate (for asset conversion)
timestamp (date transaction entered into db)
description
What I'd like to know is....
1. Currently I am representing the total of each transaction under the 'gross' column, with either a '100.00' or '-100.00' value for credits and debits. Is a single 'gross' column ok, or would it be better for me to have two columns 'debit' and 'credit' for each ledger entry and fill the relevant one? - Why?
2. Regarding the bank account or holding account that each ledger entry relates to, should I add another 'holdingaccount' column to the ledger database, or create a separate table for the different holdingaccounts and another table that links each holdingaccount => ledgerentry? - Why?
any advice would be greatly appreciated!
regan
a question for anyone with some knowledge of accounting.
I'm building a double entry system for my web site and just wanted to know how you would approach the design of the ledger - I have 2 questions in particular that I'd like to get answers for but any other general suggestions would be great (my accounting knowledge is not that great!).
I currently have the following columns in the ledger table...
id (unique)
account (userid)
type (journal type)
asset ($, pounds etc for different currencies later down the track)
gross
date (of transaction)
rate (for asset conversion)
timestamp (date transaction entered into db)
description
What I'd like to know is....
1. Currently I am representing the total of each transaction under the 'gross' column, with either a '100.00' or '-100.00' value for credits and debits. Is a single 'gross' column ok, or would it be better for me to have two columns 'debit' and 'credit' for each ledger entry and fill the relevant one? - Why?
2. Regarding the bank account or holding account that each ledger entry relates to, should I add another 'holdingaccount' column to the ledger database, or create a separate table for the different holdingaccounts and another table that links each holdingaccount => ledgerentry? - Why?
any advice would be greatly appreciated!
regan