General Journals are used to post information into the general ledger and other accounts. The General Journal is also used to post cost allocations and other adjustments to the accounts.
General Journals have three layers: templates, batches, and lines. These layers help you in the process of creating and posting journal entries. It also helps you track all postings.
The General Journal is also used to entering information into recurring journals, which is used when a company needs to allocate recurring entry lines.
In addition, General Journals enable you to reverse and correct incorrect entries, when necessary.
Journal Overview
General journals are used to enter data into general ledger accounts and other accounts, such as customers, vendors, and banks.
The journal entry system has three layers:
- Journal templates
- Journal batches
- Journal lines
Journal Templates
Journals are used for different types or groups of entries and can be applied to other application areas, such as:
- Sales
- Purchase
- Cash Receipts
- Payment
- Fixed Asset
Each journal type is set up with its own journal template. Use the journal template to provide the basic journal structure and to specify default information for all batches.
There are several standard general journal templates set up in the application areas and cover the most common routines that are used in the program, and in all these journal templates, entries can be posted to general ledger, customer, vendor, and fixed asset accounts. Some standard templates are also automatically setup with a default batch.
To access the General Journal Templates page:
- In the Search field, type General Journal Templates and select the page from the drop-down list.
The General Journal Templates page displays:
Journal Batches
Journal Batches are created based on the journal templates. Batches that are created from a specific template have identical:
- Structure
- Default settings
- Information
These similarities are defaults that can be changed for each journal batch.
To access the General Journal Batches page:
- From the General Journal Templates page, click the Navigate tab and then click Batches.
The General Journal Batches page displays.
Journal Batches are frequently used to separate one person's entries from another, for example, your accounting manager and your bookkeeper.
The accountant makes entries and posts them later upon approval. To keep accountants entries from becoming mixed with bookkeepers entries, separate batches are assigned to the two users.