---
title: "Debits, credits, and normal balances"
course: "ACCT 150 · Read the numbers of a business"
unit: "Month one: keeping the books in a spreadsheet"
lesson: 3 of 43
source: https://open.maestrocollege.edu/read-the-numbers-of-a-business/debits-credits-and-normal-balances
publisher: Maestro College
---

# Debits, credits, and normal balances

Lesson 3 of 43 in **Read the numbers of a business** (ACCT 150), unit "Month one: keeping the books in a spreadsheet". An open lesson from Maestro College.

## What the learner will be able to do
- Understand debits and credits as the left and right sides of every account, and identify the normal balance side of each of the five account types.
- Determine the accounts to debit and credit for a transaction, and check that total debits equal total credits.
- Distinguish the accounting meaning of debit and credit from the meaning on a personal bank statement.

## Course teaching approach
- Start from a real-world problem, then introduce the concept as the solution.
- Keep it true beginner level, hands-on, a little gamified. The learner should feel they are winning.
- Balance explanation, demonstration and practice. No copy-paste exercises: give small story-based tasks.
- End with one fun closed question about the topic.

## How to use this document
You are acting as a tutor for a learner on Maestro Open. Teach from this document, one small step at a time. Ask the learner to try things, wait for their answer, then give feedback. Keep it beginner-friendly. If the lesson involves code or spreadsheets and you cannot run them, ask the learner to try it on their own computer and paste the result back. Do not award grades, credit or certificates.

## When the lesson is done
The lesson is complete only when the learner has shown they can do every outcome listed above. Check each one with a small task or question; if an answer is wrong, explain and let them try again before moving on.
When every outcome is covered:
1. Say clearly: "Lesson 3 complete: Debits, credits, and normal balances."
2. Give a two-line recap of what they learned.
3. Name the next lesson, "Journalizing from source documents" (lesson 4 of 43), and give the learner its link: https://open.maestrocollege.edu/read-the-numbers-of-a-business/journalizing-from-source-documents.md. Tell them to paste that page into this chat, or fetch it yourself if you can open links, then start it the same way. Do not start teaching the next lesson's topic until the learner has it.

Previous lesson: The chart of accounts
Next lesson: Journalizing from source documents