[Bluetoothray]

When entering journal entries in a sim are you supposed to enter the credits in as negative? When there’s two columns the debits go in the left column and the credits in the right. The first time I took FAR I wasn’t sure if I needed to make the credits negative as well. Thoughts? I’m also still confused by the blank/no blank debate. Jeff said the AICPA says to follow the instructions. There were a couple sims where no instruction was given. It didn’t say to leave things blank or insert 0s.

[M123]

I have always suspected that the exam is intended to enter numbers as positive except as indicated.

Debits = credits, and 100 does not equal minus 100 so I think enter both as positive is correct. We need a ruling from the AICPA 🙂

[Superdude3000]

If you have a single column you'd likely enter debits/credits as negative or positive but if you have 2 columns, one for debits and one for credits, you should enter them both as positive in their respective columns

[Earla Riopel (NYCARE)]

Helpful points as to,

“When entering journal entries in a sim are you supposed to enter the credits in as negative? When there's two columns the debits go in the left column and the credits in the right. The first time I took FAR I wasn't sure if I needed to make the credits negative as well. Thoughts? I'm also still confused by the blank/no blank debate. Jeff said the AICPA says to follow the instructions. There were a couple sims where no instruction was given. It didn't say to leave things blank or insert 0s.” ~ Bluetoothray

“I have always suspected that the exam is intended to enter numbers as positive except as indicated.
Debits = credits, and 100 does not equal minus 100 so I think enter both as positive is correct. We need a ruling from the AICPA 🙂” ~ M123

“If you have a single column you'd likely enter debits/credits as negative or positive but if you have 2 columns, one for debits and one for credits, you should enter them both as positive in their respective columns” ~ Superdude3000

I will definitely keep this mind. I was too, having problems during my 2017 Q1/Q3 actual exams.
Thanks.

[Anthony]

I never heard of anyone who uses negative balances for credits on journal entries.

It's always something like this:

<Debit this>….XXXX
<Credit this>…….XXXX

Both are positive. Who really uses something like this?

<Debit this>….XXXX
<Credit this>…….(XXXX)

[Earla Riopel (NYCARE)]

In my past exams, I have seen JEs in SIMs in the following formats:
Either:
1) Two/Three/Four-columns DR/CR schedule worksheet:
Dr. Cash or AR—- $100,000
—- Cr. Professional Services Revenue—- $100,000

Dr. Cash or AR—- $100,000
Cr. Professional Services Revenue—- $100,000

Dr. Cash or AR—– $100,000 Blank
—- Cr. Professional Services Revenue—- Blank $100,000

Dr. Cash or AR—- $100,000 0
—- Cr. Professional Services Revenue—- 0 $100,000

or
2) One-column DR/CR schedule worksheet:

Cash or AR—- $100,000
Professional Services Revenue ($100,000)

or
Cash or AR—- $100,000
Professional Services Revenue -$100,000

And to avoid further confusion between SIMs JEs review vs. SIMs JEs actual exam, I going to follow Jeff's advice, based from AICPA's reply:
https://www.another71.com/cpa-exam-forum/topic/simulations-leave-blank-vs-putting-a-zero/
https://www.another71.com/cpa-exam-forum/topic/blank-or-0/

Good luck everyone.

[Author]

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