Final answer:
The purchase of a computer by a government department should be recorded in the General Fund as a debit to expenditures, not as equipment, appropriations, or an encumbrance.
Step-by-step explanation:
When a computer is ordered by a department of the government and the purchase order is recorded in the General Fund, the correct entry should be recorded as a debit to expenditures. In government accounting, when goods and services are ordered, an encumbrance is made to reserve funds for the anticipated expense. Once the order is fulfilled and the liability is incurred, the encumbrance is relieved and an actual expenditure is recorded. Recording the computer as an equipment asset directly would not be appropriate at the purchase order stage, because it has not yet been received and its cost has not been finalized. Appropriations, on the other hand, would not be directly debited on the purchase but represent the authorized budgetary spending level and would have already been established previously.