The type of account that normally has a credit balance and represents the owner’s claim is equity.
In accounting, equity is the residual interest in a business after liabilities are subtracted from assets. The basic accounting equation expresses this relationship as assets = liabilities + equity. For a sole proprietorship, equity may appear in an owner’s capital account; for a corporation, it can include share capital, additional paid-in capital, retained earnings, and other reserves.
Equity normally carries a credit balance because owner contributions and profits increase the owners’ residual claim. Drawings, dividends, losses, and treasury-stock purchases reduce equity and are recorded with debit effects or contra-equity balances. That is why “normally” matters: equity can become negative when liabilities exceed assets.
Equity is not the same as revenue. Revenue increases equity through profit, but it is recorded in a temporary revenue account during the reporting period. Nor is equity a liability: creditors have claims that must be settled, while owners hold the residual claim after creditors. In liquidation, owners generally receive value only after obligations to creditors are addressed.