Creating Journal Entries

To create journal entries only for the General Journal and for user-defined journals, use the Journal Entries form. You cannot use this form to create journal entries for the distribution journals. Entries for the distribution journals originate in the corresponding module (such as A/R for the A/R Dist journal, A/P for the A/P Dist journal, and so on).

  1. Open the Journal Entries form.
  2. In the Journal field, select General Journal or the user-defined journal you want to add an entry to.
  3. Click the filter-in-place button.
  4. Select Actions > New.
  5. Specify information in these fields:
    • Sequence: The system automatically assigns a sequential number to uniquely identify each transaction, but you can change it.
    • Date: This field displays today's date, but you can change it to the date that this transaction is to be posted to the ledger. When you post journal entries, you do so for a range of dates.
    • Account: Select the number of the account that the transaction amount will be posted to. The account description automatically displays as reference.
    • Control Number: You can update the control number prefix or the control number sequence.
    • Ref Control Number: If you need to reference a control number or a transaction posted to the ledger, enter the information in these fields.
    • (Unit Code 1-4): For each segment that is available, you can select the unit code that the transaction applies to.
    • Currency: This field displays the domestic currency, but you can select a different currency for the transaction. The currency must be the same as the currency of the bank that this transaction affects. If a non-domestic currency is specified, you can enter debit or credit amounts in either the Domestic or Foreign Debit/Credit fields. Note that if a bank code is specified, that bank's currency is displayed in this field, and you cannot change it.
    • Bank Code: Select the bank code of the bank account to which this transaction will be posted. If you are posting to a cash account that is tied to a bank code, that bank code is specified by default. The system automatically updates the Currency and Exchange Rate fields to reflect the values associated with the selected bank code.
    • Domestic Debit/Credit: Enter the debit or credit amount of the transaction in the domestic currency. The Exchange Rate field is set to one by default and the Foreign Debit/Credit fields cannot be used.
    • Foreign Debit/Credit: These fields are enabled if a non-domestic currency is specified in the Currency field, so you can enter the debit or credit amount of the transaction in the foreign currency, if you prefer. The system automatically calculates the corresponding domestic debit/credit amount based on the default exchange rate.

      If the domestic currency amount is specified, and the corresponding foreign debit/credit is 0.00, then the system automatically calculates the foreign debit/credit amount based on the default exchange rate between the two currencies. If the domestic currency amount is specified, and the corresponding foreign debit/credit is not 0.00, then the system automatically recalculates the exchange rate based on the domestic debit/credit amount and the corresponding foreign debit/credit amount.

    • Exchange Rate: This field displays today's exchange rate between the domestic and foreign currencies. You can change it only if you selected a value in the Bank Code field.
    • Reference: Enter a brief description of the transaction. The reference can be used to group transactions. This field is part of the selection criteria for the Journal Transaction Report. You can list all transactions with a particular reference. Note that all the debits and credits for the same reference should equal 0 (zero).
    • Cust/Vendor: The number of the customer or vendor associated with the transaction is displayed.
    • Name: The name associated with the customer or vendor number is displayed.
    • Reversing: Select this check box if you are entering a reversing transaction.
  6. Select Actions > Save.
  7. To continue entering transactions until the debit balance equals the credit balance, repeat steps 2 - 6.

The Actions menu includes these options:

  • Sequence Reset: Changes the sequence numbers for the transactions. You must perform this function when adding a new transaction between two consecutive transactions.
  • Journal Compress: Compresses journal transactions for each account by date. Compressing a journal reduces the number of transactions in the journal, making a journal more manageable and easier to view on the form.
    Note: If you compress the journal, control numbers will be deleted.
  • Post Journal: Posts journal transactions.