Why is debit a negative number?
submitted by jakaylah

Rachel

You must understand that whenever you record an accounting transaction, one account is debited and another account is credited. In addition, the amount of the debit must equal the amount of the credit. This is called double-entry bookkeeping.

From a math perspective, think of a debit as adding to an account, while a credit is subtracting from an account. (This is the opposite of what you may believe!) Keep in mind that in math, subtracting is the same thing as adding a negative number.

RJ

You may want to look at this question: Why is debit a positive?