What is the Transaction Reference?

The transaction reference identifies the accounting or business transaction, normally from the originating document. For example, it might be the invoice number, credit note number, receipt number, folio number and so on. This reference must be entered on every transaction.

The same transaction reference often applies to one or more lines of the journal. It must be entered on the first line of a journal. On subsequent lines, the cursor normally skips this field to allow you to enter several journal lines with the same reference.

A journal can contain journal lines with different references. If you want to enter a new reference within the current journal, you should click New Reference to begin adding a new line with a new reference.

If the Unique References field in Journal Types (JNT) is selected, the system checks that the reference has not previously been used for the account to which you are posting. This check is carried out on debtor/receivables, creditor/payables and client accounts.

You can force a journal to balance for each transaction reference by selecting the Transaction Reference as the Balance By option in Ledger Setup (LES). This ensures that all of the journal lines with the same transaction reference balance before you can post the journal.