Create an outline in which you list your thesis, or the main purpose of your paper. For example, make your thesis the fact that analyzing transactions involves multiple scenarios and is important. List two to three points you want to make about analyzing transactions under your thesis in your outline.
Write the introductory paragraph to your essay on analyzing transactions. Explain your thesis and why your paper is significant to your reader. Emphasize that the basic accounting equation is that assets are equal to a company's liabilities added to stockholders' equity. Also, mention that analyzing transactions is necessary when economic events occur at a company to keep the business' financial statements accurate. Describe the points on which you plan to expand in your essay.
Draft the first paragraph of the body of your essay on analyzing transactions, explaining your first point in this paragraph. For example, explain that assets are the first part of the basic accounting equation. Give examples of business assets and provide an example of how an equal increase and decrease in a company's assets occurs when the company purchases office equipment for cash, for example. Explain how this transaction keeps the basic accounting equation in balance.
Make your essay body's second paragraph about your second point on analyzing transactions. For instance, give examples of liabilities. Then, describe a situation in which a company receives cash in advance from a customer, but also must increase its liability account by the same amount until it has performed the work. Explain how this transaction keeps both sides of the accounting equation equal.
Describe what stockholders' equity is in the third paragraph of your essay's body. Give an example of how stockholder's equity can be affected, such as when a company pays dividends to stockholders. Explain that the payment results in a decrease in the company's cash as well as a decrease in retained earnings, which is part of stockholder's equity. Emphasize that this accounting transaction keeps both sides of the basic accounting equation even as well.
Write a conclusion to your essay on analyzing transactions. Reiterate your thesis and briefly review your essay's points. Emphasize again why your essay is important and what the reader can take from it.