Manual
Journals
A journal posts amounts straight to accounts, without a document: salaries, depreciation, bank charges, opening balances, a transfer between bank accounts, a correction. Each line debits or credits one account; the lines of a document balance each other.
Templates and batches
Journals are grouped in templates, and each template in batches, chosen above the lines. A batch keeps its lines apart from the others’ until they are posted, so the payroll can be prepared in its own batch while the daily lines go in another.
- General Journal Templates (under Setups): Name and Description.
- General Journal Batches: the template, the batch’s Name, Description and No Series, the series new lines take their Document No from.
Passion Bakery has the templates GENERAL, SALES, PURCHASES, CASHRECEIPT, PAYMENT and ITEM, each with a batch DEFAULT, and GENERAL also has MONTHLY, for payroll and the month end. The Cash Receipt Journal uses CASHRECEIPT and the Payment Journal PAYMENT; the others are where documents and receipts post through.
A journal line
| Field | What it is for |
|---|---|
| Document Type | Payment, Invoice, Credit Memo, Refund and others; blank for an ordinary entry. |
| Posting Date | The date it is posted on. A new line takes the date of the line above. |
| Document No | Groups lines that make one transaction. A new line takes the line above’s, else the next number of the batch’s series. |
| External Document No | A reference such as a cheque number. |
| Account Type | GL, Customer, Vendor, Bank, Fixed Asset or Employee. |
| Account No | The account. A G/L account brings its posting type and posting groups, and its dimension codes. |
| Description | What it is; G/L entries keep it. |
| Currency Code | For an amount in another currency, converted at the posting date’s exchange rate. |
| Amount | Positive debits the account, negative credits it. |
| Amount UGX | The amount in local currency. |
| Bal Account Type, Bal Account No | A balancing account: the line posts the amount to it the other way round. |
| Applies-to ID | For a customer or vendor line: the entries it applies to. |
| Dimension codes | The codes the line is posted with. |
Balancing
A line can balance itself, with a Bal Account No: “Bank charges 85,000, balancing account STANBIC” is one line. Or several lines with the same Document No balance together, the debits equal to the credits. The bakery’s monthly salaries are one document of seven lines:
| Account Type | Account No | Department | Amount |
|---|---|---|---|
| GL | 230100 Production Wages | PRODUCTION | 7,200,000 |
| GL | 230110 Sales and Administration Salaries | SALES | 2,600,000 |
| GL | 230110 Sales and Administration Salaries | ADMIN | 2,200,000 |
| GL | 230110 Sales and Administration Salaries | DELIVERY | 1,200,000 |
| GL | 120400 PAYE Payable | −1,350,000 | |
| GL | 120500 NSSF Payable | −660,000 | |
| Bank | STANBIC | −11,190,000 |
VAT on a journal line
A G/L account with a General Posting Type (Sale or Purchase) and VAT posting groups gives the line its VAT: the amount includes it, and posting splits it out to the VAT account of VAT Posting Setup. An account without them posts the amount as it is. The balancing side has its own VAT, from its own account.
Rules posting checks
- The account must allow Direct Posting, and must not be blocked.
- The posting date must be within the dates you may post on.
- Dimension codes must follow the accounts’ Value Posting rules.
Posting
| Action | What it posts |
|---|---|
| Post | The lines of the chosen line’s document (its Document No). |
| Post Batch | Every line of the batch. It asks first. |
Both have a preview (Preview Post, Preview Post Batch). Posted lines leave the journal. Each document of a batch is posted as a transaction of its own. Print Voucher prints the lines as a journal voucher, for signing before they are posted.
Applying a customer or vendor line
On a line whose account is a customer or vendor, Apply Entries opens their open entries. Set Applies-to ID marks those the line pays; the line’s amount follows their total. Posting then applies the line to them, closing what it pays.
The other journals
| Journal | For |
|---|---|
| Cash Receipt Journal | Money received into a bank account, from a customer or a G/L account. A new line is a customer’s payment into the bank, unless the batch’s last line was something else. |
| Payment Journal | Money paid out of a bank account, to a vendor or another account. |
| Item Journal | Stock adjustments: see Adjusting and counting stock. |
They work as the general journal does.