Accounting had FIVE primary Account Types: Asset, Liability, Equity, Income and Expense

Understanding how "suspended expense accounts" worked and/or how ZAP Special Accounts work and understanding where to find them in accounting systems is important for discerning valid books from those that are cooked.

We have identified FOUR universal bookkeeping scenarios in which ZAP Special, as a substitute for suspended expense accounts, are applicable or useful.

1. Opening Balance - Opening Balance Journal Entries (fabricating money from thin air when non-zero)

2. Transfers - Transfers between accounts where both accounts are tracked and relevant, but the tracking start date for one account precedes another (only happens during a new file start where tracking is not going back to t=0 for all accounts AND the user decided to start tracking accounts by statement start date vs an arbitrary singular date. (vaporizing money when needed)

3. Adjustments - Adjustments that need to be made on traditional Balance Sheet reporting dates (Month End, Year End etc) where the Balance Sheet is out of Balance for a Legitimate reason like the void time between money leaving your checking account for a credit card payment and the time when it registers as a payment with your credit card company. (a legitimate use for short term needs only)

4. Exclusions - Exclusions that need to be made if/when you are using a personal checking account for business activities and you want the ability to use the statement crosschecking and Balance Sheet Crosschecking features, but only a portion of the expenditures are relevant to your Income Statement. (a use for those who are using this system as a simpler categorization system because that's all they need)

There were/are numerous problems with using Suspended Expense Accounts for both legitimate and illegitimate reasons:

1. Expense accounts that are fully suspended from view prevent the business owner or individual from seeing the role they play behind the scenes in a reconciled system.

2. For those that know how to use them for careless and lazy reasons, they provide a way to make hidden adjustments for bookkeeping errors that should have been found and properly corrected.

3. For those with other intentions, they could be just a tool for cheaters to cheat. With them you can fully fabricate digital reports from a "legitimate accounting system". Obviously Reports done in a spreadsheet or word-processing document can always be fabricated, but most probably assumed those coming from an expensive accounting system have credibility, when in fact there is no reason to assume that ever.

Accounts with the ZAP Special Account type are treated similar to Expense Accounts, so in that sense we've done nothing new.

1. BUT because the are not an expense account, they are naturally excluded from the Income Statement without the need for users to suppress them. That happens automatically now.

2. AND Because they are used for legitimate double entry accounting purposes, it is logical to show them on the Balance Sheet.

When summaries of these important transactions are shown on the Balance Sheet, as is the case with the ZAP Accounting Software Bookkeeping Template, the Balance Sheet then becomes a more accurate representation of the General Ledger. Furthermore, the importance or relevance of all debits needing to equal all credits as a key indicators is less relevant, as now, that is in fact what the Balance Sheet also guarantees with greater transparency while diminishing the debit and credit dogma relevancy.