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Accounting · Definition

Journal Entry

A single balanced record of debits and credits posted to the ledger.

A journal entry is the atomic unit of accounting: a date, a description, and at least one debit and one credit that sum to zero. Most are generated automatically by transactions; some are posted manually.

Manual journals deserve scrutiny. They are how genuine corrections are made and also how figures get manipulated, so they should carry a reason, supporting documents and separate approval.

Also called

  • journal
  • JE

Related terms

Double-Entry Bookkeeping

Recording every transaction as equal and opposite debits and credits.

General Ledger

GL

The master record of every financial transaction, organised by account.

Audit Trail

A tamper-evident record of who did what, when, and to which record.

Month-End Close

The process of finalising and locking a period’s financial records.

More in Accounting

Accounts Payable (AP) Accounts Receivable (AR) Accrual Accounting Accrued Expense Aging Report Bad Debt Provision Balance Sheet Bank Reconciliation

Journal Entry is not just a definition here

Accounting runs on this vocabulary every day in AWRA OpsHub — 51 of our 257 glossary terms describe things the platform actually does.

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