Final answer:
When a government department orders equipment, it should record the transaction as a debit to the Expenditures account in the General Fund, which reflects the government spending for the purchase.
Step-by-step explanation:
When equipment is ordered by a department of the government, the proper accounting entry in the General Fund would involve a debit to the Expenditures account. Governmental accounting principles require that the cost of the equipment, which represents a spending of the governmental entity's financial resources, is recorded as an increase in expenditures when the purchase order is issued.
Government purchases are a form of government spending where money is allocated for purchasing goods and services including physical capital equipment for various governmental departments and agencies, as well as transfer payments. In practice, the statistical data that inform government purchases often come from the U.S. Department of the Treasury and payroll records collected by the state governments and the Social Security Administration, among other sources.
Understanding these transactions is key to comprehending the overall picture of government budgeting and expenditure, which includes purchases made by the federal government as well as state and local governments, as evidenced by the resources provided by the Census Bureau, the U.S. Department of the Treasury, and the Census of Governments.