Understanding Debit and Credit
You can run a restaurant on MahirRMS forever without reading this page — the system writes the debits and credits for you. But the day you read a ledger drill-down and want to understand it, ten minutes here pays off.
Forget "plus" and "minus"
Debit and credit are not good and bad, nor plus and minus. They are the two sides every transaction must have — because every transaction is a movement between places, and both places record it.
The one rule
Every account has a natural side:
| Account type | Increases on | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Assets (cash, bank, inventory, receivables) | Debit | Cash in the drawer grows → debit |
| Expenses (food cost, rent, salaries) | Debit | Food cost for the day → debit |
| Liabilities (payables, tax collected) | Credit | You owe the supplier more → credit |
| Income (sales revenue) | Credit | You sold something → credit |
| Equity (owner's stake) | Credit | Owner invests → credit |
Every entry debits one or more accounts and credits others, and the two totals are always equal. That equality is the whole trick — it's why a trial balance "balances" and why errors surface as imbalances instead of hiding.
Reading a real entry
A cash sale of 1,000 with 150 tax:
| Account | Debit | Credit |
|---|---|---|
| Register cash (asset up) | 1,150 | |
| Sales revenue (income up) | 1,000 | |
| Tax collected (liability up) | 150 |
The drawer physically holds 1,150; you earned 1,000; you're holding 150 for the tax authority. Three truths, one balanced entry — and this exact shape is what you'll see in the ledger for every sale the POS posts.
The habit that makes drill-downs readable: when you see a debit, ask "what grew — an asset or an expense?" When you see a credit, ask "what grew — a liability, income, or equity?" Ninety percent of entries answer immediately.