Accounting T-Account scheme

Question

I would like to create a T-account as the ones represented in this image:

I have tried to do this using the table environment, without good results (when for example I have words/numbers only on one side of the account, say left, all the space on the other side (right) is removed).

Maybe a workable solution is to use the minipage environment with two columns inside?

Any advice appreciated!

\documentclass{article}

\begin{document}

\begin{table}[]
\centering
%\caption{My caption}
\label{my-label}
\begin{tabular}{|l|l|}
\hline
\multicolumn{2}{|c|}{Statement of Income 2015} \\ \hline
Debit                     & Credit             \\ \hline
Increase                  & Decrease           \\ \hline
Normal Balance            &                    \\ \hline
\end{tabular}
\end{table}

\end{document}

Answer 1

The definition below introduces the macro

\Taccount[column width]{headline}{table contents}

The first argument is optional and defaults to 1.5cm.

\newcommand\Taccount[3][1.5cm]%
   {{\renewcommand\arraystretch{1.3}%
    \begin{tabular}[t]{@{}p{#1}|p{#1}@{}}
    \multicolumn{2}{@{}c@{}}{#2}\\
    \hline
    #3
    \end{tabular}%
   }}

The spacing between rows is controlled by \arraystretch, which is increased here to 1.3.

\documentclass{article}
\newcommand\Taccount[3][1.5cm]%
   {{\renewcommand\arraystretch{1.3}%
    \begin{tabular}[t]{@{}p{#1}|p{#1}@{}}
    \multicolumn{2}{@{}c@{}}{#2}\\
    \hline
    #3
    \end{tabular}%
   }}
\begin{document}
\Taccount{Assets}{Debits&Credits\\Increase&Decrease\\Normal Balance}\quad
\Taccount{Expenses}{Debits&Credits\\Increase&Decrease\\Normal Balance}\quad
\Taccount{Owner's Drawing}{Debits&Credits\\Increase&Decrease\\Normal Balance}
\bigskip

\Taccount{Liabilities}{Debits&Credits\\Decrease&Increase\\&Normal Balance}\quad
\Taccount{Revenues}{Debits&Credits\\Decrease&Increase\\&Normal Balance}\quad
\Taccount{Owner's Capital}{Debits&Credits\\Decrease&Increase\\&Normal Balance}
\end{document}

Answer 2

(edited to take into account the OP's wish to be able to override the default width of a t-account)

Here's an answer that defines a macro, called \taccount, which takes four arguments, the first of which is optional:

• the width of each t-column; this argument is optional. If left unspecified it will default to \tcolumnwidth (set to 1.75cm in the code below)
• the account header (centered, automatic line-wrapping enabled)
• the material for the left-hand ("asset") column (ragged-right, line-wrapping enabled, hyphenation is allowed)
• the material for the right-hand ("liability") column (also ragged-right, line-wrapping enabled, hyphenation is allowed)

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{array,ragged2e}
\newlength\tcolumnwidth
\setlength\tcolumnwidth{1.75cm} % default width of t-column
\newlength\taccountwidth

%% The macro "\taccount" takes 4 arguments. The first
%% arg. is optional; its default value is \tcolumnwidth.
\newcommand\taccount[4][\tcolumnwidth]{% 
  \renewcommand\arraystretch{1.333} % default value: 1
  \setlength\tabcolsep{3pt}         % default value: 6pt
  \setlength\taccountwidth{\dimexpr#1+#1+2\tabcolsep+1\arrayrulewidth\relax}
  \begin{tabular}[t]{@{}l|l@{}}
  \multicolumn{2}{>{\Centering}p{\taccountwidth}}{#2}\\
  \hline
  \begin{tabular}[t]{@{}>{\RaggedRight\hspace{0pt}}p{#1}} 
  #3 \end{tabular} 
  &
  \begin{tabular}[t]{>{\RaggedRight\hspace{0pt}}p{#1}@{}} 
  #4 \end{tabular}
  \end{tabular}}

\begin{document}
% First instance of \taccount uses the default width;
% the second instance uses a non-default width.
\taccount{A basic T-account}
  {Asset 1\\Asset 2\\Asset 3\\Asset 4}
  {Liability 1\\Liability 2\\ Equity}
\qquad     
\taccount[2.75cm]{A slightly more complicated T-account}
  {Basic Asset 1\\Complicated Asset 2\\Asset 3\\Asset 4}
  {Liability 1\\Complicated Liability 2\\Preferred Stock\\Common Equity}

\end{document}