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Standard Journal overview

An overview of the standard journal feature in AccountsPrep.

AutoEntry Support Team avatar
Written by AutoEntry Support Team
Updated over a week ago

You can use the Add Journal feature to post any kind of journal entry on a specific date within the current period.

📌TIP: If you need to enter several journals for different dates all at once, you can use the Double Journal feature.


Access

You can create a Standard Journal from Accounting > Journals > Add Journal or Import Journal

The journal requires a Description, Date, Type, Details, Account category and the Debit or Credit amount.


Add Journal

When you click Add Journal, the Standard Journal (New) page opens with 5 empty lines by default:

Description

You'll need to enter a Description to be able to post the journal.

Date

Select a date within the current period. The date is by default the end of the current period.

📎NOTE: When you select a date from a previous or future period, the date will show in red. In that case, you need to change the period before you create a new journal.


Type

You can select the type from the drop-down list, by default Adjusting Journal Entry (AJE):

  • Adjusting Journal Entry (AJE)

  • Reclassification Journal Entry (RJE)

  • Accrual (Accrual)

  • Prepayment (Prepay)

Details / Reference

The Details field is necessary to be able to post the journal.

The Reference is optional.

Account

Select the ledger account for each line entry to be able to post the journal.

📌TIP: If you can't find an account, you can add it to your Chart of Accounts.

📎NOTE: Account ledgers created as Bank accounts are inactive as you can’t create manual journal entries for bank accounts in AccountsPrep. If you need to adjust a bank account balance, use a statement batch entry instead.

Debit / Credit

Enter the amount in the Debit or Credit column.

As with any standard double-entry journal, the total of the Debit and Credit line entries must be the same.

📌TIP: You can use the fast-code feature to enter the same Details or Accounts categories for multiple lines all at once.

Add lines

If necessary, you can add more lines. You can ignore empty lines.

Post

If you haven't followed the instructions above, an error message will appear when posting:

  • "Debit and Credit columns must balance"

  • "Some lines are incomplete. You must complete them or delete them before you can save"

Save as draft

If you aren’t ready to post, you can save it as a draft and edit later.

📌TIP: After you draft or post a journal, you can find it as a batch in the Accounting > Journal homepage, or the Accounting > All batches page.


Import Standard Journal

You can also import a journal which can be useful if there are lots of lines.

From the Journals homepage, you can also click the Import Journal button. The next screen will guide you through some steps on importing - there are two .csv file templates to choose from.


Edit, Delete or Restore

After you draft, post or delete a journal, you can find it as a batch in the Journal or All batches homepages. You can then click the batch description to view it, edit it, and even delete it.

📌TIPS: You can edit a posted batch and save it as a draft again. You can also edit a deleted batch to save it as a draft or post it.


Journal Activity

After you post a journal, you can view the audit trail in the Journal Summary or the nominal activity in the Accounts Details report.

📎NOTE: Draft or deleted journals won't show in the Journal Summary and Account Details reports.


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