Method Community

In the Method DB "Account" table, the Balance column shows the $ amount.  But there is no indicator of whether the $ balance is a Debit or a Credit.  How can I know the Debit/Credit sign for each $ Balance?

Dave,

I've moved your post into this forum group since this question isn't an API question but rather a QuickBooks related question.  Please keep questions on the Method API forum related to the Method API.

 Danny,

This is a VERY important question which will affect every Method user, consultant and API user.   How does Method determine if the $ balance is a debit or a credit?

   Dave

Hi DaveS,

Someone might chime in and correct me if I'm wrong on this, but QuickBooks handles double-entry accounting for you, meaning every transaction you enter automatically becomes a debit to one or more accounts and a credit to one or more other accounts; in other words the focus here is the business transaction v.s. the debits and credits in the General Ledger. The accounting happens behind the scenes, and it finds the balances for you. Similarly, these same balances appear in Method, so you won't find debits and credits, you will find the balance OF debits and credits, which, if negative, will appear with a preceeding minus symbol. If you look in your Chart of Accounts in QuickBooks, you will find all Method does is pull those same figures.

For reference, I recommend taking a peak in the help section found in your QuickBooks application, as the explainations there are quite helpful in explaining how double entry accounting is handled in QuickBooks.

Regards,
Denis

DaveS:

 Danny,

This is a VERY important question which will affect every Method user, consultant and API user.   How does Method determine if the $ balance is a debit or a credit?

   Dave

Hi Dave,

Denis actually just answered the question so I won't steal the spotlight.  However, this question is totally related to QuickBooks and an understanding of balances.  It has nothing to do with our API or how Method treats balances. 

I'll chime in too!

Yes, this is just accounting fundamentals, in my mind.

If it is an asset account, a positive balance means its a debit, if it is a liability account, a positive balance means it is a credit, etc.  Nothing to do with Method.

Paul

Dear Method,

Thanks for the responses.  So it appears if the debit/credit sign is correct (Assets and Expense = Debit, Liability & Income = Credit, etc), then QB displays absolute value which is postive.  If the sign is the opposite, QB displays with a dash/negative sign.  That would make it easy for developers like me to identify debit/credit.   I will test it out and let you know what I find.   Thanks again.

  Dave