Journal entries

A journal entry moves amounts between accounts on one date, its debits always equal to its credits. Most entries come from the other modules as their documents post. You write one yourself for anything no document records: an accrual, a depreciation charge, a correction, or a transfer between two of your own accounts.

Create a journal entry

1. Go to Finance ‣ General ledger ‣ Journal entries and click New journal.
2. Under Details, set the Date the entry books on, and pick the Journal type.
3. Enter a Description, and a Reference such as the voucher number on paper.
4. Under Financial, pick the Subsidiary whose books it posts to, and the Currency.
5. On the Lines tab, pick the Account for the first line, then enter its Debit or its Credit.
6. Add a line for every other account with Add line, until Difference shows Balanced.
7. Click Save draft.

The entry is saved as Draft, with a number. A draft moves nothing in the ledger yet: you can still edit it, and it waits under Needs attention on the workspace.

When an account asks for a dimension, a picker for it appears under that line. Pick a value for each one marked as required.

Example

A consultancy pays a year’s office rent of 120,000 in January. In January it posts the payment to Prepaid rent. At the end of each month it records a journal entry that debits Rent expense 10,000 and credits Prepaid rent 10,000, so each month carries its share of the cost.

Record an entry in a foreign currency

When the Currency is not the subsidiary’s own, an Exchange rate field appears, with the subsidiary’s currency shown under it.

1. Pick the foreign Currency.
2. Enter the Exchange rate: how many units of the subsidiary’s currency one unit of the foreign currency is worth on the entry’s date.
3. Enter the lines in the foreign currency.

When the entry posts, each line is converted at that rate. The posted entry shows both the amounts you entered and their value in the subsidiary’s currency.

Danger

The Exchange rate field starts at 1, and the entry posts at whatever rate it holds. Always type the day’s rate, or a USD 1,000 entry in SAR books posts as SAR 1,000.

Post a journal entry

1. Open the draft from Finance ‣ General ledger ‣ Journal entries.
2. Click Post, then confirm in the dialog.

The entry shows Posted, with the time and the person who posted it. Its lines are now in the ledger: they show on each account’s Ledger tab and in the reports.

Posting needs the Approve access level on journal entries, so one person can prepare entries and another can post them. An entry posts only when its date falls in an Open period.

Void a posted entry

A posted entry is never edited or deleted. To undo it, void it: Axon Suite posts a second entry with every debit and credit swapped, which brings the accounts back to where they were.

1. Open the posted entry.
2. Click Void.
3. Pick the Date the reversing entry books on, in an open period, and confirm.

The entry shows Void, and Reversed by links to the reversing entry. The reversing entry’s Reversal of links back.

Caution

Void is also offered on entries raised by another module’s document. Void the document itself instead, such as the invoice or the stock adjustment, so the document and the ledger stay in step.

Delete a draft

Open the draft and click Delete, then confirm. The draft and its number are gone. Only a draft can be deleted.

Import journal entries from a file

To load many entries at once, such as opening balances or a payroll summary, import them.

1. On Finance ‣ General ledger ‣ Journal entries, click Import.
2. Under Download template, click Template and fill it in: one row per line, with its Date, Memo, Account, Description, Debit and Credit columns.
3. Drop the file on the panel, match its columns under Map columns, and check the Preview.
4. Click the import button under the preview.

Rows that share a Date become one journal entry, saved as a draft for you to check and post. If any row is wrong, nothing is imported and every row to fix is listed.

Read an entry raised by another module

Open any entry from the list. Source names the document that raised it, such as Customer invoice or Inventory receipt, and links to it. These entries have the journal type System and are posted the moment their document posts. Three cash hand-overs arrive as drafts instead, so Finance checks them first: POS shift opening float, POS shift closing count and Field cash end of day. Each links to its shift or end of day; post them as in Post a journal entry.

Messages you may meet

Message	What to do
The journal does not balance — total debits must equal total credits.	Correct the lines until Difference shows Balanced.
A journal line uses an account that is missing, archived, inactive or a summary account. Choose a posting account.	Pick an active Posting account on every line. Check Native currency only on the account, too.
A control account moves only through its subledger, so a manual journal cannot post to it.	Use the document that owns that account instead, such as a customer invoice for receivables.
This line’s account requires a dimension the line does not have.	Pick a value for the line’s mandatory dimension.
The accounting period is closed.	Change the Date, or reopen the period.
The journal is not in a state that allows this; a posted journal is reversed, not edited.	Void the posted entry and record a new one.