Journal entries

A journal entry is a manual record that moves an amount between accounts. Each entry has at least two lines: amounts on the left side (debits) and amounts on the right side (credits), and the two sides must add up to the same total. That is what “balanced” means.

Most of your books fill in on their own from bank statements, invoices and bills. Use journal entries for everything else: month-end adjustments, moving an amount that landed in the wrong account, recording a non-cash item, or correcting a mistake.

You find them under Accounting → Journal Entries.

Before you start

• You need a role with access to Journal Entries. See Team and roles.
• The accounts you post to must exist in your Chart of Accounts.

Create a journal entry

1. On Journal Entries, click New entry. Bokapsys suggests the next entry number and fills in Created by for you.
2. Set Date recorded. This is the date the entry belongs to in your books.
3. Add a Description, for example Accrue December audit fee.
4. On each line, choose an account. You can pick it by account number or by sub-category name; choosing one fills in the other.
5. Enter an amount in either Debit or Credit on each line. Typing in one clears the other on the same line, because a line can only be one or the other.
6. Use Add row for more lines, and the bin icon to remove one. You need at least two lines.
7. Check the totals at the bottom. When total debits equal total credits, the difference shows $0.00 in green. If they differ, it shows the amount and Out of balance.
8. Click Save. You return to the list, and the entry is saved as a draft.

Tip

Not sure which side an amount goes on? Increases to assets and expenses are debits. Increases to liabilities, equity and income are credits.

Post an entry to the general ledger

A saved entry is a draft until it is posted. Only posted entries appear in your reports. How drafts get posted depends on your posting settings:

• If journal entries are set to Auto-post, Bokapsys posts saved entries for you, usually within a few minutes.
• If they are set to Manual, they wait for you.

Either way, when there are unposted entries a banner at the top of the list shows how many. Click View pending to see them, or Post Now to choose which ones to post. Tick the entries you want and confirm. Posting journal entries never posts anything else.

An entry is not posted if it is out of balance, or if its date falls in a closed accounting period. Fix the entry, or reopen the period, and post again.

Edit a posted entry

You can open a posted entry from the list and change it. When you click Save, Bokapsys asks you to confirm, then replaces the entry’s lines in the general ledger so every report reflects the change. A posted entry must stay balanced, so you cannot save it while it is out of balance.

Delete or void an entry

• Delete removes a draft entry permanently.
• Void is used for a posted entry. Bokapsys keeps the original and posts a reversing entry, an equal and opposite entry that cancels it out, so your history is preserved.

A voided entry is read-only.

You can also reverse a posted journal entry from the General Ledger, which posts the same kind of reversing entry.

How it works

• Every posted line is written to your general ledger with the entry’s date, so it lands in the right month and fiscal year in your reports.
• A journal entry against a bank account’s own account counts toward that bank account’s balance in reconciliation.
• Nothing in the ledger is ever silently deleted. Voids and reversals add new entries that cancel the old ones.

Related

General LedgerSee every posted entry from every source.

Posting settingsChoose automatic or manual posting.

AccrualsA guided way to record month-end accruals.

Financial reportsSee the effect of your entries.