Q.Under the Modern Approach, an increase in an Expense account is recorded as:

This question checks the single most-tested pairing in the Modern Rules table — how Expense accounts behave on increase.

The correct option is (b) Debit.

Why (b) is correct: Under the Modern (American) Approach, the five categories of accounts each follow a fixed, consistent rule: Asset and Expense accounts are debited on increase and credited on decrease; Liability, Capital, and Revenue/Income accounts are credited on increase and debited on decrease. An Expense account therefore always follows the SAME direction as an Asset account — debited when the expense (or the asset) increases.

Why the other options are wrong:

• (a) Credit is wrong — crediting an increase in Expense would be applying the rule meant for Liability, Capital, or Revenue/Income accounts, not Expense.
• (c) Either, depending on the transaction is wrong — the Modern Rules are fixed and consistent for a given category; an Expense account is ALWAYS debited on increase, regardless of which specific transaction caused the increase. …

Students sometimes assume Expense accounts behave like Liability accounts because both are "connected to money going out eventually." The Modern Rules classify strictly by category, not by loose association — Expense accoun …