Posting a Journal

The posting process commits your transactions to the ledger. The ledger is not impacted by changes that affect General Ledger (G/L) accounts until the transactions are posted.

Note: 
  • If you use a second, separate Analytical Ledger (as is traditional in some European countries), the journal posting process is significantly different.

    For more information, see About Analytical Accounting.

  • You must define a fiscal year for each transaction that is posted to the journal.
  1. Open the Journal Entries form.
  2. Select the journal having transactions you want to post,
  3. Select Actions > Filter > Execute in Place.
  4. Select Actions > Post Journal.

    The system displays the Ledger Posting for Journal form.

  5. To compress the journal before posting it, select the Compress Journal Before Post check box, and then select the Compression Level (Reporting Unit or Account).
    Caution: 
    If you select this check box, the journal entries will be combined by account and then totaled. The detail will be deleted prior to posting. You will also lose any journal control number information.
  6. To have the system delete the transactions from the journal after they have been posted, select the Delete Transactions After Post check box.
    Note:  If you are posting a distribution journal, you must select this check box.
  7. In the Reversing Transaction Date field, select the date to assign to reversing transactions, or accept the default value, which is the current date.
  8. To assign the same date to all the posted transactions, select the Single Date To All Entries check box. Then, in the Date For All Transactions field, enter the date to assign to them.
  9. In the Post Through field, enter the date through which to post transactions.
  10. To print the report, click Process.

    The Print option is automatically selected. You must first print the posting report for auditing purposes before you can actually post the transactions. This report provides a listing of the transactions associated with the journal you are going to post.

  11. You are prompted to print the report; click OK.

    The system goes through every journal transaction and validates it. For each transaction, it verifies that the transaction's account number exists in the Chart of Accounts. If the account number does not exist, a message displays.

    If this message occurs, go to the General Journal, and either delete the transaction or add the missing account number. Then, try again to post the journal. Note that you cannot delete or update transactions in the AP Dist, AR Dist, BNK Dist, CO Dist, FA Dist, FS Dist, IC Dist, Multi-Site, PC Dist, PO Dist, PR Dist, SF Dist, and WC Dist journals.

    After all the transactions are checked, warning messages may display about transaction balances or missing accounts. If the only error received is a warning that the date was out of the current period, you may proceed.

  12. After you view and verify the report, select Commit and click Process to post the journal.
  13. You are prompted to perform the ledger posting; click OK. These processing steps occur:
    • Each transaction is copied to the ledger, along with its descriptive text. For a reversing journal transaction, the reversing ledger transaction is posted.
    • Journal control numbers are converted to ledger control numbers.
      Caution: 
      If you compress the journal, journal control numbers will be deleted.
    • If you elected to delete journal transactions after posting them, the transactions are deleted at this time.
    • After posting is complete, a message displays if the system experienced problems finding every journal transaction or creating the new ledger transactions.
    • If you use the External Financial Interface, additional processing occurs during journal posting.

      For more information, see Setting Up an External Financial Interface.

Related topics