
The basic sequence of closing entries is as follows:
- Debit all revenue accounts and credit the income summary account, thereby clearing out the balances in the revenue accounts.
- Credit all expense accounts and debit the income summary account, thereby clearing out the balances in all expense accounts.
How do you close an income summary account?
After the expense and revenue accounts are closed, the company must make an entry in the general journal to close the income summary account. The balance in a company’s income summary account must be transferred to retained earnings to take the amount off the company’s books. Write the date when the company closes the revenue account.
How do you close a company’s revenue account?
This entry takes the amount contained in the company’s revenue account off the books. Credit the income summary account for the amount contained in the company’s revenue account. A company with $10,000 in the revenue account must credit income summary for $10,000 to close the revenue account.
How do you credit revenue on Income Summary?
Credit the income summary account for the amount contained in the company’s revenue account. A company with $10,000 in the revenue account must credit income summary for $10,000 to close the revenue account. This entry transfers the revenue balance to the company’s income summary account.
How do you write an Income Summary for net profits?
From this information, you make your income summary entries: You debit revenue for $300,000 and credit that money to the income summary account. You credit expenses for $225,000 and debit the income summary account for an equal quantity. This leaves you with $75,000 net profits in the income summary account.

How do you close a revenue?
When closing the revenue account, you will take the revenue listed in the trial balance and debit it, to reduce it to zero. As a corresponding entry, you will credit the income summary account, which we mentioned earlier. Revenue is one of the four accounts that needs to be closed to the income summary account.
How do you close an income summary example?
3:216:32We will debit service revenue to make the balance zero income summary will then be credited. AfterMoreWe will debit service revenue to make the balance zero income summary will then be credited. After posting this entry the balance. And service revenue account is zero.
What is the entry to close out revenues?
The journal entries to close revenue accounts are to debit the revenue account and credit income summary, which is also a temporary account used for the closing process. The journal entries to close expense accounts are to credit the expense account and debit income summary.
What are the 4 closing entries?
The four closing entries are, generally speaking, revenue accounts to income summary, expense accounts to income summary, income summary to retained earnings, and dividend accounts to retained earnings.
Which of the following should be closed to income Summary account?
Answer and Explanation: The correct answer is A. Depreciation Expense-Machinery. In effect of this closing entry, Depreciation Expense-Machinery will have a zero balance at the end of the period and at the beginning of the next period.
What happens when revenue is closed?
Once the revenues and expenses accounts have been closed, the overall result of operations for the period is now contained in the income summary account. If the company was profitable for the period, the income summary will show a credit balance.
What is a closing entry example?
For example, a closing entry is to transfer all revenue and expense account totals at the end of an accounting period to an income summary account, which effectively results in the net income or loss for the period being the account balance in the income summary account; then, you shift the balance in the income ...
What are the 4 steps in the closing process?
What are the 4 steps in the closing process?Close revenue accounts to Income Summary. Income Summary is a temporary account used during the closing process. ... Close expense accounts to Income Summary. ... Close Income Summary to Retained Earnings. ... Close dividends to Retained Earnings.
What is at the end of an income statement?
Net income or net loss The last line of the income statement tells you how much of a profit or loss your business has during the time period. If the number is positive, the last line should read net income or net profit. If the number is negative, it should read net loss.
What is a closing entry example?
For example, a closing entry is to transfer all revenue and expense account totals at the end of an accounting period to an income summary account, which effectively results in the net income or loss for the period being the account balance in the income summary account; then, you shift the balance in the income ...
What is income summary?
Income Summary allows us to ensure that all revenue and expense accounts have been closed.
What is closing entry?
Closing entries serve two objectives. The first is to close all of the temporary accounts in order to start with zero balances for the next year. The second is to update the balance in Retained Earnings to agree to the Statement of Retained Earnings.
What is net income?
Net income includes revenue and expenses. Therefore, we need to transfer the balances in revenue, expenses and dividends (the temporary accounts) into Retained Earnings to update the balance.
What are the first accounts to close?
The first accounts to close are the revenue accounts. The trial balance above only has one revenue account, Landscaping Revenue. If the account has a $90,000 credit balance and we wanted to bring the balance to zero, what do we need to do to that account? In order to cancel out the credit balance, we would need to debit the account. Sometimes it helps to visualize this with a T-account.
How to update retained earnings?
To update the balance in Retained Earnings, we must transfer net income and dividends/distributions to the account. Net income is simply revenue and expenses. By closing revenue, expense and dividend/distribution accounts, we get the desired balance in Retained Earnings.
What is the last step in the accounting cycle?
I imagine some of you are starting to wonder if there is an end to the types of journal entries in the accounting cycle! So far we have reviewed day-to-day journal entries and adjusting journal entries. Closing entries are the last step in the accounting cycle.
When are closing entries dated?
Note: Closing entries are always dated the first day of the next year . If the year end for the company is September 30, 2013, the closing entries would be dated October 1, 2013. If we closed the accounts as of September 30, we would lose the information we need to do the income statement and statement of retained earnings.

Permanent Versus Temporary Accounts
Updating The Balance in Retained Earnings
- Think back to all the journal entries you’ve completed so far. Have you ever done an entry that included Retained Earnings? If you have only done journal entries and adjusting journal entries, the answer is no. Let’s look at the trial balance we used in the Creating Financial Statementspost. The balance in Retained Earnings was $8,200 before completing the Statement of Retained Earnings…
Using Income Summary in Closing Entries
- Rather than closing the revenue and expense accounts directly to Retained Earnings and possibly missing something by accident, we use an account called Income Summary to close these accounts. Income Summary allows us to ensure that all revenue and expense accounts have been closed. The first accounts to close are the revenue accounts. The trial bal...