journalizing
/ JER-nuh-ly-zing /
Once you have figured out what a transaction did to your accounts, you need to write it down somewhere first, in date order, before scattering it across the ledger. Journalizing is that act of recording a transaction in the journal — the chronological 'diary' of the business — as a formal entry of debits and credits.
Each journal entry names the accounts affected, the amount debited, the amount credited, and usually a short explanation. By a firm rule of double-entry, total debits must equal total credits in every entry. For instance, paying $300 cash for rent is journalized as: debit Rent Expense $300, credit Cash $300 — the two sides match. Entries are written in the order they happen, which is why the journal is called the 'book of original entry'.
Journalizing matters because it creates the complete, time-ordered record everything else is built on. It comes after transaction analysis (the thinking) and before posting (the sorting into accounts). A frequent misunderstanding: a debit is not 'minus' and a credit is not 'plus' — they are just the left and right sides of an entry, and which one increases an account depends on the type of account.
The business pays $300 cash for this month's rent. Journalized: debit Rent Expense $300, credit Cash $300. Debits equal credits, a short note ('paid June rent') is added, and the entry takes its place in date order in the general journal.
A balanced debit-and-credit entry recorded in date order.
In every journal entry total debits must equal total credits, but a debit does not mean 'decrease' and a credit does not mean 'increase' — the effect depends on the account type.