AC114 · Unit 3

AC114 Unit 3 journal entry set example

Accounting I Purdue University Global Free custom sample in 24 to 48h

Unit 3 is typically where AC114 starts recording, and the journal entry set it commonly assigns is graded line by line. A month of transactions goes into a general journal in date order, each entry balanced and each followed by a short explanation. Because the next unit posts directly from this page, the finished set is built to be read by whoever has to post it.

What this page holds

In AC114 the Unit 3 journal entry set becomes a dated general journal of about fifteen balanced entries, each explained, with the posting reference column left open for Unit 4. Searches like "ac 114 unit 3 assignment example", "ac114 unit 3 sample" and "ac114 unit 3 example" land here.

What a finished AC114 Unit 3 journal entry set looks like

A general journal page, headed with a page number, in the standard layout of date, account titles, reference, debit and credit. The year and month appear on the first line only; each later entry shows just the day. Debited account titles sit flush with the left margin and credited titles are indented beneath them, amounts falling into the matching columns. A single-line explanation follows every entry, so the source event is never a guess. The set covers a full month for a service business: the owner's opening investment, equipment bought partly for cash and partly on a note, a year of insurance paid up front, services billed and later collected, wages, utilities, a withdrawal. Two or three compound entries appear, each with more than one debit or credit. The reference column stays blank, waiting for posting.

How a AC114 Unit 3 example is structured

Entries run in strict date order, because the ledger balances built from them in the next unit are dated too, and an entry out of sequence produces a running balance that could never have existed. Within each entry, debits come before credits regardless of which account the event seems to be about, a convention graders enforce. Compound entries list every debit first and every credit after, and each sums to equal totals before the explanation line. Titles are copied exactly from the chart of accounts, since a posting clerk working from this page would look for an account by its title. The explanation is phrased as the event, not as the accounting: billed a client for design work on account, not debited receivables. Column totals are omitted in many sections, though some prompts request them.

Page, date and reference columns

A numbered journal page with the year and month written once, days thereafter, and a reference column left empty until posting.

Debits flush, credits indented

The layout itself signals direction. A grader can scan the left margin for debits without reading a single amount.

Compound entries

Equipment bought partly with cash and partly with a note, recorded as one debit and two credits that together equal the cost.

An explanation under each

One line describing the event in ordinary words, which ties each entry back to its source and settles most grading disputes about intent.

Titles from the chart

Account names exactly as the chart lists them, so the posting step that follows finds every account without interpretation.

Where marks go in AC114 Unit 3

Reversed entries cost the most: a collection from a customer recorded as a debit to revenue, or a payment debited to cash. Each one carries into the ledger, the trial balance and eventually the statements, so graders in AC114 treat it as an error with consequences rather than a slip. Missing explanations lose points in most sections because the rubric often lists them as a requirement rather than a courtesy. Account titles improvised instead of taken from the chart are marked down, and a compound entry split into two simple ones sometimes loses points for failing to show a single event. Amounts recorded net, such as a purchase shown after a trade-in the problem listed separately, draw deductions. Entries out of date order, and dates omitted after the first line, cost smaller amounts.

Get a AC114 Unit 3 example written to your instructions

Upload the Unit 3 transaction list your AC114 section assigned, plus the instructions and rubric that came with it, and the journal records those events using your chart's titles. The set returns in 24-48h. As the first custom sample it is free, and the explanations are written so each entry can be posted in Unit 4 without guessing.

AC114 Unit 3 questions, answered

Do I have to write an explanation under every entry?

In most AC114 sections, yes, and the rubric often names it. The explanation costs a line and does two jobs: it tells the grader which transaction the entry records, and it gives the person posting the entry a way to check intent. A missing explanation can turn a debatable entry into a wrong one simply because the reasoning is invisible.

When should a transaction become a compound entry?

Whenever a single event affects more than two accounts. Buying equipment with part cash and part note payable is one event with three accounts, so it is one entry with a debit and two credits. Breaking it into two entries implies two separate events, which misrepresents what happened and can mislead anyone tracing the purchase later.

Why is the reference column left empty?

Because it records posting, which has not happened yet. When a line is posted in the next unit, the ledger account number is written in that column, confirming the transfer. A filled column on a journal that was never posted would claim work not done. Some sections combine the two units, and then the column is filled in.