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Open Accounting → Journal. The Journal Control Ledger lists posted entries newest first, with the account, debit or credit, amount, reference and the running balance of the account, plus totals of debits and credits for what you filtered. Filter by debit or credit, by a date range, or to large entries only (well above your average entry).

Where Entries Come From

Almost every entry is made by a business document, as the document happens: POS sales and returns, customer invoices and their payments, credit notes, approved stock receipts, supplier bills, supplier payments, debit notes and refunds, payroll, expenses, petty cash, staff advances, withholding tax, depreciation, and lines posted from bank reconciliation. Each carries a reference that points back to its source, so you can trace a figure to the document that made it. Manual journals are for everything else.

Posting A Manual Journal

1. On the journal, press New journal.
2. Enter the Journal date — the period the entry belongs to — and a Memo. The memo is used as the description on any line you leave blank.
3. Add the lines: for each, an account and either a debit or a credit, never both. Optionally tag a line with a Department, Branch or Project so it reaches the right column of a split income statement. Spare blank rows are ignored; Add line adds more, up to 50.
4. Press Post Journal. It is numbered MJ-… and recorded in the audit log.

A journal is refused unless it has at least two lines, every line is on one of your accounts, and debits equal credits to the cent — the message shows both totals and the difference. The owner’s equity, opening balance equity and retained earnings accounts are always offered, so opening balances can be posted on day one.

Closing A Month

1. In the accounting sidebar, open Accounting Periods (or press Periods on the manual journal form).
2. Choose the Month to close, add notes if you like, and press Close period.
3. To change something later, press Reopen on that month. A reason is required, and both the close and the reopen are recorded with who did them.

While a month is closed, an entry dated in it cannot be posted, changed or removed — by a manual journal or by any module. An automatic posting made while the current month is closed (a till sale after an early close, for example) is moved to the first open day rather than refused, so operations never stop because finance closed the books.

Permissions

• Create journal entries — post manual journals.
• View accounting — see the Accounting Periods screen.
• Manage accounts — close and reopen a month.

Common Mistakes

• Correcting a document with a journal. If a sale, bill or payment is wrong, fix or reverse the document; a journal on top leaves the document and the books disagreeing.
• Dating a journal in a closed month. It is refused. Reopen the month with a reason, or date the journal in an open month.
• Filtering by date and missing an entry. The journal’s date filter uses when the entry was recorded. For a period view by accounting date, use the income statement or balance sheet.

Related

• General Ledger — the same entries, account by account.
• Financial Reports — statements built from these entries.
• Chart of Accounts — the accounts a journal posts to.
• Bank Reconciliation — posting bank charges straight from a statement line.