Accounting: How to add a manual journal Entry See how simple it is to add a manual journal entry
What is a manual Journal Entry?
A manual journal entry is a direct posting to your Finances, it is the movement of money from one GL account to another. A journal entry can be added for a GL account or to a Customer/Supplier account. Once a journal entry is added it cannot be removed. However, the journal can be Cancelled after adding it which automatically creates a reversing journal entry (details in step 4 below)
Why would I need to add a manual Journal Entry?
Manual Journal entries can be added for lots of reasons, to record opening balances for your Trial balance from your Accountant/Auditors, to record Accruals where you have not yet been invoiced for something but you want to account for it at month end, year end adjustments from your Accountant/Auditors, for recording of depreciation on your Fixed Assets such as property, equipment etc.
To add a journal entry click on Finances – GL Journal – New Journal Entry
1. The first screen is the header details for the journal, you can change dates, enter the references/remarks and select the Project if required. When you proceed to Add a Line to the journal these details will automatically show, you can also add them at this stage or change them.
The journal defaults to your local currency. However, there is also a tick box option to indicate if this is a Foreign Currency Journal, the Journal Posting Summary box will change to reflect the foreign currency amounts.
2. Now click on +Add line to enter in the GL accounts or Customer/Suppliers to be affected by the journal entry.
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It defaults to GL account at top, if you are posting to a Customer/Supplier you need to select Company (ensure you get your Accountants advice)
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Choose the GL account from drop down list, you can enter the code or description to search for it
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Add in the amount to either the Debit or Credit column as required (your accountant can advise)
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The dates and references entered on the header will automatically appear here but can be changed
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The Expand option allows you to select further details such as remainder of references, Cost Centres/Dimensions and Project Code. You can select to ‘Keep this view’ if you require these options to be filled for the next journal line.
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Now click on +Add Additional Line to add further lines to the journal
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When all lines are added click on OK
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Check that your Debit and Credit amounts match in the Journal Posting Summary window
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If you need to change or remove a line you can click on Edit or Delete at the end of each line
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There is also an Actions button where you can select different columns to see on this screen
3. Once you are happy with the journal details you have added you can click on Save then choose OK to confirm.
4. After the journal is added you can perform further Actions on it as per below.
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To Cancel/reverse the journal click on Cancel – this creates a reverse journal entry automatically for you and will appear in your list of journals with minus amounts. A cancelled journal will have the below icon on it when you drill into it so is easily identified on your list of journals.
The GL Journal screen will show you a list of all journals posted from Sales & Purchase transactions, Incoming & Outgoing Payments and any manual Journal entries. You can use this screen to filter your list of journals entries, export to Excel or use Actions button to make changes to the display on screen.
You can view the details in Summary or Detail format which will have more columns.
The Actions button will allow you to use the Column Chooser to add or remove columns, Export your data to Excel. You can also use the Reset Filters to clear any filters you have set or Reset Grid to restore the screen to its original setup before you made changes to the columns on display.
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