3100 — Owner's Contribution

Owner's Contribution and Owner's Draw are a matched pair, opposite directions of the same relationship — the owner's own money moving into the business, and the business's money moving out to the owner. This account is the "in" side: cash, equipment, or any other value the owner personally puts into the business.

As an equity account, it carries a normal credit balance — money coming in from the owner is a credit, growing the account, exactly the way you would expect equity to build. Depositing personal cash into the business checking account, covering a business bill directly from a personal card when the business account is short, contributing a piece of equipment the owner already owned personally — all of it is a contribution, recorded as a credit here with the corresponding debit landing wherever the value actually went.

One case worth pausing on: a loan the owner makes to the business, expecting to be paid back, is arguably not a contribution at all — it is debt, and probably belongs in Loans Payable (2700) instead. Whether a specific transfer from the owner is a contribution or a loan often comes down to how it was actually documented and intended, which is worth confirming with an accountant if the amount is meaningful.

Where it shows up

Appears in the equity section of the balance sheet with a credit-normal balance — it grows every time the owner puts money in, and sits right alongside Owner's Draw, which moves in the opposite direction.