Phuthu Stay Phut, Don't go!

Every week when I think that I’ve run dry of creative juices, then up pops yet another reason why I love this country so much.

This is so not a “look-at-me-I’m-into-charity” kinda post. The focus here is South African people in general. To be more specific, South Africans and their big hearts.

I got involved in a project at a crèche down in the valley at Inanda Dam (Hillcrest, KZN), a crèche that is seriously lacking the basic things in life like food, decent leak-proof buildings and funds to pay the teachers’ salaries.

My first aim is to try and get their roof fixed as September – the rain season – is fluttering its long grey eyelashes in a manner that is quite unnerving.

What amazes me about this country, though is its down to earth people that will do whatever they need to do, because of The Big Need. There are so many good people out there that are doing this kind of work for mahala. Behind-the-scene people that are always willing to put aside a bit of their grocery money to make someone else’s life more bearable. This is not a question of conquering, losing interest and moving on, but a journey of perseverance. Even when it seems like nothing much is happening on the fundraising side, there are always people who stay phut until something happens.

These people aren’t looking for greener pastures, they mix some good ol’ cow dung with foliage, make compost and green the area they’re in. I like.

More on this project next time! Watch this space.

Last week we discussed the first golden rule of accounting which was about the double entry system which involves recording the effects of each transaction as debits and credits.

This week we’re going to discuss the second golden rule of accounting which is: The left-hand side of an account is the debit side and the right-hand side is the credit side.

An account is often called a T account because of the way it is structured, the debit on the left, credit on the right and the title of the account on the top.

If this seems unfamiliar to you, then just think of your current account which has the same set of rules with debits on the left and credits on the right.

One of the difficult and confusing parts of accounting is remembering how different types of transactions are recorded in different T accounts. There are clear rules however so this part is about remembering the following rules:

Asset Accounts: Increased with debits and decreased with credits

Liabilities & Capital Accounts: Decreased with debits and increased with credits.

So how do you remember which side is which?

Well, think of the rock and roll band AC/DC and think for every account (AC) there is a debit (D) and a credit (C). Think debits come before credits and therefore debits are on the left and credits are on the right.

Ref: The 80 Minute MBA by Richard Reeves & John Knell

Part 1: The First Golden Rule of Accounting