Most businesses use one of two main accounting methods to keep their books in order: accrual accounting and cash accounting. If you use the accrual method, you record financial transactions when they occur, not when money actually leaves or enters your account. With cash accounting, the opposite is true: you won't create a journal entry for your financial transactions until the cash has actually been deposited in or removed from a bank account.
For most businesses, accrual-based accounting is more accurate. Want to know how and why? Keep reading—we have the answers.