Purchase Transaction Journal Entries

The purchase transaction journal entries below act as a quick reference, and set out the most commonly encountered situations when dealing with the double entry posting of purchase transactions.

In each case the purchase transaction entries show the debit and credit account together with a brief narrative. For a fuller explanation of journal entries, view our examples section.

Typical Purchase Transaction Journal Entries


Cash purchase of inventory
AccountDebitCredit
InventoryXXX
CashXXX

Cash payment of freight in and shipping costs
AccountDebitCredit
InventoryXXX
CashXXX

 

 


Inventory is purchased on account
AccountDebitCredit
InventoryXXX
Accounts payableXXX

Inventory is returned prior to payment
AccountDebitCredit
Accounts payableXXX
InventoryXXX

Payment is made and cash discount is taken
AccountDebitCredit
Accounts payableXXX
CashXXX
Inventory (Discount)XXX

Last modified November 12th, 2019 by Michael Brown

About the Author

Chartered accountant Michael Brown is the founder and CEO of Double Entry Bookkeeping. He has worked as an accountant and consultant for more than 25 years and has built financial models for all types of industries. He has been the CFO or controller of both small and medium sized companies and has run small businesses of his own. He has been a manager and an auditor with Deloitte, a big 4 accountancy firm, and holds a degree from Loughborough University.

You May Also Like