Questions: Journal entry worksheet Record the declaration of a cash dividend of 4 per share. Note: Enter debits before credits. Date General Journal Debit Credit January 05

To record the declaration of a cash dividend, you need to make a journal entry that reflects the company's obligation to pay the dividend. This involves debiting the Retained Earnings account and crediting the Dividends Payable account. Here's how you can record the entry:

Date: January 05

| Date | General Journal | Debit | Credit | |------------|--------------------------|------------|------------| | January 05 | Retained Earnings | \$X | | | | Dividends Payable | | \$X |

1. Retained Earnings (Debit): This account is debited because declaring a dividend reduces the company's retained earnings. The amount debited is the total dividend declared, which is calculated by multiplying the dividend per share by the number of shares outstanding.

2. Dividends Payable (Credit): This account is credited because the company now has a liability to pay the declared dividend to shareholders. The amount credited is the same as the amount debited to Retained Earnings.

To complete the entry, you need to determine the total amount of the dividend by multiplying the \$4 per share by the total number of shares outstanding. Once you have that amount, replace \$X with the calculated total in both the Debit and Credit columns.