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I've studied accounting at school and I've always hated it since then. To me, accounting is a data model gone wrong. Redundancy, race conditions, unclear seman

I've studied accounting at school and I've always hated it since then. To me, accounting is a data model gone wrong. Redundancy, race conditions, unclear semantics, too generic... I've tried countless times to make sense of it (the latest being today when I read the post with great hope), but I always came to the same conclusion: there must be a better way. Yet I know the value of the model as a log to record transactions. We're all confronted to accounting (when we read our bank ledger)... Ask the public, and they'll tell you it's good if there's more money in the credit column than the debit column. This "common wisdom" is false in accounting. What's a debit card? a credit card? What's an account? Isn't it a container for money? not for accountants. Accounting turns many concepts upside down... and I always fail to bend my mind enough to grasp it. I admire accountants for succeeding where I fail so miserably, but they're also responsible for the problem. There must be a better way... I was so bad in accounting at school...

UK-AL 11y ago
It the other way around. Accounting didn't turn the terms upside down. Accounting invented these terms, but the public has one sided view of it.
- weddpros 11y ago
  You're right... thanks
dragonwriter 11y ago
> Ask the public, and they'll tell you it's good if there's more money in the credit column than the debit column. That's because the public is used to hearing the terms used by entities who are using them in the accounting sense, but where the member of the public in question is external to the entity whose accounting the term refers to. So credit -- and outward flow of value -- sounds good, because when the public hears it from another company, its usually because they are the sink to which value is flowing (and debit -- an inward flow -- sounds bad, because the member of the public hearing an external entity use the term is usually the source from whom the value is flowing.) Of course, neither is intrinsically good or bad, they are good or bad relative to a particular actor based on whether the account they refer to is internal or external to the actor. Debit is just inward flow of value to an account, credit is outward flow of value from an account. > What's an account? Isn't it a container for money? That's not a bad approximation; a better approximation would be "a named accumulation of flows of value". > Accounting turns many concepts upside down... and I always fail to bend my mind enough to grasp it. Interestingly, all the concepts you list that the public perceives in a way which you seem to think conflict with the accounting view actually reflect limited subsets of the accounting view from a narrow perspective, which are subsumed within the more general view of accounting. Accounting doesn't turn them upside down, it just broadens them.
- weddpros 11y ago
  Thanks for your comment :) It still puzzles me a great deal!
- tmornini_ey 11y ago
  Exactly correct, very nicely said!
tmornini_ey 11y ago
So sorry we couldn't get you across the finish line -- you seem to be right in our target audience. :-( > To me, accounting is a data model gone wrong. Redundancy, race conditions, unclear semantics, too generic... I felt this once (though don't see the race conditions) but I now know there is no redundancy, the semantics are very good, and the genericity is a gigantic benefit.

UK-AL 11y ago

It the other way around. Accounting didn't turn the terms upside down. Accounting invented these terms, but the public has one sided view of it.

weddpros 11y ago
You're right... thanks

dragonwriter 11y ago

> Ask the public, and they'll tell you it's good if there's more money in the credit column than the debit column. That's because the public is used to hearing the terms used by entities who are using them in the accounting sense, but where the member of the public in question is external to the entity whose accounting the term refers to. So credit -- and outward flow of value -- sounds good, because when the public hears it from another company, its usually because they are the sink to which value is flowing (and debit -- an inward flow -- sounds bad, because the member of the public hearing an external entity use the term is usually the source from whom the value is flowing.) Of course, neither is intrinsically good or bad, they are good or bad relative to a particular actor based on whether the account they refer to is internal or external to the actor. Debit is just inward flow of value to an account, credit is outward flow of value from an account. > What's an account? Isn't it a container for money? That's not a bad approximation; a better approximation would be "a named accumulation of flows of value". > Accounting turns many concepts upside down... and I always fail to bend my mind enough to grasp it. Interestingly, all the concepts you list that the public perceives in a way which you seem to think conflict with the accounting view actually reflect limited subsets of the accounting view from a narrow perspective, which are subsumed within the more general view of accounting. Accounting doesn't turn them upside down, it just broadens them.

weddpros 11y ago
Thanks for your comment :) It still puzzles me a great deal!
tmornini_ey 11y ago
Exactly correct, very nicely said!

tmornini_ey 11y ago

So sorry we couldn't get you across the finish line -- you seem to be right in our target audience. :-( > To me, accounting is a data model gone wrong. Redundancy, race conditions, unclear semantics, too generic... I felt this once (though don't see the race conditions) but I now know there is no redundancy, the semantics are very good, and the genericity is a gigantic benefit.