> [!tldr] Every transaction is recorded in 2 ledgers & sums to zero. Double-entry accounting is an accounting technique that keeps everything balanced. Each transaction is represented with equal-but-opposite numbers. ```ledger 2016/1/5 farmer's market expenses:groceries $50.00 Assets:checking ``` That's a [[Plaintext Accounting]] representation of a single transaction. $500 comes OUT of checking, and IN to the `expenses>groceries` bucket. $\$500+-\$500=$0$ Makes a ton of sense. It's really just a zero-sum flow. **** # More ## Source - Claude - https://plaintextaccounting.org/quickref/ledger