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 (you can search by its name or code) and put the amount in the debit or credit column — not both — then add the opposite line. If cost centers are switched on, choose the center of a revenue or expense line in the Cost center column.
4. If a line uses the tax account, choose its VAT type under it: purchase VAT, sales VAT, or a payment to the tax authority. The amount before tax is filled in from the tax rate in the settings; check it (if the rate is zero, type it). Purchase and sales VAT go into the VAT return; a payment to the authority does not.
5. Attach the entry's document (bank statement, contract, receipt) under Supporting documents: PDF files or images, up to 5 files.
6. Watch the debit and credit totals in the bar at the bottom of the page, next to Save; the system will not save an entry that does not balance.
7. Press Save. The entry is posted to the accounts as soon as it is saved, so review it before saving, not after.
8. 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.
• A cash purchase with 15% VAT: debit the expense 1,000 + debit the tax 150 (type: purchase VAT, amount before tax 1,000) / credit the cash box 1,150.
• Monthly depreciation: debit depreciation expense / credit accumulated depreciation.
• A reclassification: debit the correct account / credit the account it was wrongly posted to.

Notes

• Sales and purchases are best recorded from the invoice screens, which create the entry and tie it to the document, the stock and the customer's or supplier's statement together. If you record one with a manual entry, choose the VAT type of its tax line so it reaches the return.
• Check that the accounting period for the entry date is still open; a closed period refuses the save.
• A manual entry can be edited from the edit icon under its number in the list or the Edit button on its page, and deleted from the Delete button at the bottom of the edit page; every edit is recorded in the Edit history on the entry 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.
• For entries that repeat every month (depreciation, accrued rent): open last month's entry and click Copy Entry (or the copy icon under its number in the list). The add page opens with the same lines, dated today. Check the date and amounts, then save; attachments are not copied.
• Automatic entries are not edited from the journal screen; edit the document that created them and its entry follows.