Partida doble (double-entry bookkeeping)

Partida doble is the method all real accounting is built on: every transaction is recorded twice, as a debit in one account and a credit in another, for the same total amount. That is why properly kept books cannot go out of balance: if debits and credits do not match, there is an error, not a matter of opinion.

In practice it works like this: you buy a computer for the business and pay by bank transfer. The IT equipment account goes up on the debit side and the bank account goes down on the credit side, by the same amount. Nothing appears or vanishes: value just changes place. That symmetry is what lets you check at any moment that the books are complete.

The classic mistake is confusing double-entry with a list of income and expenses in a spreadsheet. That list is fine for rough numbers, but it does not tell you what you owe, what you are owed, or how much is in the bank according to your books. An SL must keep double-entry accounts under the PGC; many autónomos are not required to and can rely on their record books (libros registro), although keeping it gives them a far truer picture of the business.

Each double-entry record is an asiento contable; entries make up the journal, which in turn feeds the balance de situación and the cuenta de pérdidas y ganancias.

It is the core of kontora: every invoice, expense, or bank movement generates its double-entry record, and the system refuses to save anything unbalanced, so your tax drafts come out of books that always balance. You (or your advisor) review the returns and file them from the app itself with your digital certificate (303, 130, 111, 115 and 123 by direct filing; 349, 347, 190, 180 and 193 through TGVI); kontora prepares the drafts and warns you about the deadlines.

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Asiento contable (journal entry)

Cuenta de pérdidas y ganancias (profit and loss account)

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