Q.State whether the balance of the following accounts should be placed in the Debit or the Credit column of the Trial Balance.

Carriage outwards and Bad Debts are expenses/losses (Debit); Interest received is an income and Purchase Returns reduces purchases (both Credit).

The column depends on the nature of each account:

• (i) Carriage outwards — an indirect expense (carriage on sales) → Debit column.
• (ii) Interest received — an income/gain → Credit column.
• (iii) Bad Debts — a loss on irrecoverable debtors → Debit column. …