How do I create a manual journal entry?

Most entries are created by the system automatically alongside invoices and vouchers. A manual entry is for what no ready screen covers: an adjustment, a closing, or the correction of a mistake.

Steps

1. Open Accounting → Journal entries — Figure 1 — then press Add manual entry.
2. Set the date — Figure 2 — which is the date of the transaction, not the date you keyed it, then write a description in a sentence you will still understand a year from now.
3. On the first line choose the account and put the amount in the debit or credit column, then add the opposite line.
4. Watch the debit and credit totals under the table; the system will not save an entry that does not balance.
5. Press Save. The entry is posted to the accounts as soon as it is saved, so review it before saving, not after.
6. To print the journal voucher, open the entry and press Print: it carries your company letterhead, the entry lines with account codes, the amount in words, and signature boxes (prepared, reviewed, approved).

Common examples

• A cash expense: debit the electricity expense / credit the cash box.
• Monthly depreciation: debit depreciation expense / credit accumulated depreciation.
• A reclassification: debit the correct account / credit the account it was wrongly posted to.

Notes

• Do not use a manual entry to record a sale or a purchase; the invoice screens create the entry and tie it to the document and the stock together.
• Check that the accounting period for the entry date is still open; a closed period refuses the save.
• A manual entry can be edited, or deleted from its edit page. But if it has already gone into reports you handed over or a return you filed, a new correcting entry is safer than editing, so the trail stays visible in the books.
• Automatic entries are not edited from the journal screen; edit the document that created them and its entry follows.