Closing Entries: Videos & Practice Problems

After preparing the financial statements and adjusting the trial balance, the next step in the accounting cycle is to close the books for the year. This process involves making closing entries that serve to reset temporary account balances to zero. Temporary accounts are those that pertain to a specific time period, primarily found in the income statement, and include revenues, expenses, and dividends. It is crucial to note that dividends, while classified as temporary accounts, are not considered expenses.

Temporary accounts are essential for tracking financial performance over a given period, but they do not carry their balances into the next accounting period. In contrast, permanent accounts, which include asset, liability, and equity accounts, maintain their balances from one period to the next. For example, the cash account will always reflect a balance that may change but will never be closed out.

Additionally, the Income Summary account plays a vital role during the closing process. This temporary account is utilized solely for closing entries and is not used throughout the year. It helps facilitate the transfer of balances from temporary accounts to permanent accounts, ensuring that the financial records are accurately reset for the new accounting period.

To effectively close the books, one should refer to the adjusted trial balance and systematically execute the necessary closing entries. This process ensures that all temporary accounts are zeroed out, allowing for a fresh start in the upcoming financial year.

Closing entries are essential for preparing financial statements for the next accounting period. They involve transferring the balances from temporary accounts, such as revenues, expenses, and dividends, to permanent accounts like retained earnings. This process ensures that the temporary accounts start with a zero balance for the new accounting period.

To begin, the revenue accounts, which typically have a credit balance, are closed by debiting each revenue account for its full balance and crediting the income summary account. For instance, if the service revenue is $75,100, the entry would be to debit the revenue account $75,100 and credit the income summary account $75,100. This action effectively zeroes out the revenue accounts and reflects the total revenue in the income summary.

Next, the expense accounts, which generally carry a debit balance, are closed by crediting each expense account. For example, if the expenses include rent expense of $1,000, salary expense of $1,800, supplies expense of $300, depreciation of $400, utilities of $500, and income tax of $600, the total expenses amount to $46,100. Each expense account is credited by its respective amount, bringing them down to zero. The total of these credits is then debited to the income summary account, resulting in a new balance of $29,100 in the income summary after subtracting the total expenses from the total revenues.

Dividends, which are not considered expenses, are closed directly to retained earnings. If dividends amount to $32,100, the entry would involve debiting retained earnings and crediting the dividends account by the same amount. This action removes the dividends from the books and reflects the decrease in retained earnings.

Finally, the income summary account, which now has a credit balance of $29,100, is closed to retained earnings. Since this balance represents net income, a debit entry is made to the income summary account, and a corresponding credit is made to retained earnings. This increases the retained earnings by the amount of net income, thereby completing the closing process.

In summary, the closing entries involve debiting revenue accounts and crediting the income summary, crediting expense accounts and debiting the income summary, debiting retained earnings and crediting dividends, and finally debiting the income summary and crediting retained earnings. This systematic approach ensures that all temporary accounts are reset for the new accounting period, allowing for accurate financial reporting.