Accounting Vocabulary Worksheet

Press Print worksheet to match twelve accounting terms, from ledger and debit to balance sheet, to their meanings.

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All 36 terms

The books 12

asset A resource a company holds that is worth money. "The delivery van is an asset of the bakery."
balance sheet A report listing property and debts as of one day. "The balance sheet is dated December 31."
credit An amount written in the right column of an account. "A credit of 40 dollars to Cash matches the debit."
debit An amount written in the left column of an account. "The bookkeeper recorded a debit of 40 dollars to Supplies."
double-entry bookkeeping A system that records every amount in two accounts. "In double-entry bookkeeping, a 40 dollar sale is written down twice."
equity What the owners would keep if every debt were paid. "The shop owns 900 dollars of goods and owes 400, so its equity is 500."
expense A cost a company pays to keep itself running. "Rent is the shop's largest expense."
income statement A report of earnings and costs for a stretch of time. "The income statement for March shows a small profit."
invoice A request for payment that itemizes what was supplied. "The invoice asks for 120 dollars within 30 days."
ledger The main record where a firm's accounts are kept. "Every sale is copied into the ledger."
liability Any debt or duty to pay that a business carries. "The unpaid loan is a liability."
revenue The full amount customers pay a business in a period. "Revenue rose when the shop opened on Sundays."

Show all 36 terms (24 more)

Records and reports 12

accounts payable Unpaid bills from suppliers, as a line in the books. "The unpaid flour bill sits in accounts payable."
accounts receivable Money that customers owe to a business. "Three unpaid orders make up accounts receivable."
annual report A yearly document telling owners how the company did. "The annual report was mailed to every shareholder."
audit An independent inspection of a company's books. "The audit found that every receipt was in order."
chart of accounts The master list of headings used in a firm's books. "Cash is the first line in the chart of accounts."
fiscal year A year of accounts that need not match the calendar. "The club's fiscal year starts on July 1."
gross profit Sales less what it cost to make or buy the goods. "Sales of 500 dollars and goods that cost 300 leave a gross profit of 200."
net income Profit left after every cost and tax is taken out. "Net income for the year was 2,000 dollars."
purchase order A buyer's written request for goods at a set price. "The school sent a purchase order for 30 desks."
retained earnings Profit a company keeps instead of paying it out. "The firm used retained earnings to buy a second oven."
T-account A T-shaped table for the two sides of one account. "She drew a T-account for Cash on the board."
trial balance A totaled list that tests if the books' two sides agree. "The trial balance was off by 9 dollars, so she looked for the error."

Costs and value 12

appreciation A gain in value as the years pass. "The land showed appreciation: it is worth more than it cost."
book value What an asset is worth according to the accounts. "The oven's book value is 800 dollars after two years."
break-even point The level of sales at which costs are exactly covered. "The stand reaches its break-even point at 50 cups."
cost of goods sold What a business paid for the products it sold. "The cost of goods sold for 10 shirts at 6 dollars each is 60 dollars."
depreciation The gradual fall in an asset's worth with age and use. "Depreciation cut the van's value by 2,000 dollars this year."
fixed cost Spending that stays the same however much is sold. "Rent is a fixed cost for the shop."
markup What a seller puts on top of cost to reach the price. "A 4 dollar markup turns a 6 dollar cost into a 10 dollar price."
net loss The shortfall when costs for a period top income. "Costs of 900 dollars and income of 700 make a net loss of 200."
profit margin The part of each sales dollar left after costs. "A profit of 20 dollars on sales of 100 is a profit margin of 20 percent."
salvage value The sum an asset should fetch after its working years. "The old van has a salvage value of 500 dollars."
variable cost Spending that rises and falls with how much is made. "Flour is a variable cost for the bakery."
working capital Money on hand for running the business day to day. "With little working capital, the shop could not restock."

How this list was compiled: Term list chosen for this site on 2026-10-12. Each meaning is written in our own words and was checked that day in two references: the entry for the term in Wiktionary, the free dictionary (https://en.wiktionary.org/), whose text is under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike license, and the entry in the Cambridge Dictionary (https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/). Where a dictionary has no entry, the reference is an article of English Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/), whose text is under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike license: Double-entry bookkeeping (no entry in Wiktionary), Chart of accounts (no entry in the Cambridge Dictionary) and Residual value for salvage value (no entry in Wiktionary). Net loss rests on the Cambridge entry, since Wiktionary gives it only as another name for net operating loss. Details of a meaning rest on the articles Debits and credits (the left and right columns), Equity (finance), Asset, Trial balance and Annual report. The answers under the list rest on the articles Fiscal year, Financial statement, Ledger and Bookkeeping. The sentence in quotation marks after each meaning is our own. Licence: own work

How it works

This accounting vocabulary worksheet suits the first week of a high school accounting or business class. It pairs twelve terms on the left with their meanings, scrambled, on the right. Three sets: the books, records and reports, costs and value.

Read the full guide

Ledger, debit, credit and the books

Set opens on The books: ledger, debit, credit, asset, liability, invoice, equity, revenue, expense, balance sheet, income statement and double-entry bookkeeping. Records and reports prints trial balance, fiscal year, accounts payable, accounts receivable, T-account, chart of accounts, purchase order, net income, gross profit, audit, annual report and retained earnings.

Cost and value terms

The third set has depreciation, appreciation, fixed cost, variable cost, cost of goods sold, working capital, book value, markup, profit margin, break-even point, net loss and salvage value. Under the tool each term has an example in small sums, such as "A 4 dollar markup turns a 6 dollar cost into a 10 dollar price."

Gross pay, net pay and withholding are on the paycheck vocabulary worksheet.

Questions and answers

Does a fiscal year have to start in January?

No. It is any twelve-month accounting period. The federal government of the United States, for one, begins its fiscal year on October 1 and ends it on September 30 of the next year.

What are the four basic financial statements?

The balance sheet, the income statement, the cash flow statement and the statement of changes in equity. The balance sheet shows one moment; the other three cover what happened over an accounting period.

What is the difference between a journal and a ledger?

A journal, also called a day book, records each transaction in date order. The ledger sums those entries up and is the permanent record; an entry, or a total of several, usually passes from a journal into one or more ledgers.

All 36 terms

The books 12

Records and reports 12

Costs and value 12

How it works

Ledger, debit, credit and the books

Cost and value terms

Questions and answers

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