Create a journal entry
Journal entries can be posted right away, submitted for approval if Approvals are enabled, or saved as a draft. Entries that are saved as a draft do not have to be complete. You or another user can review them later, make changes, and then post them.
When you post a journal entry, the entire transaction must be balanced and all required information must be entered.
You can substantiate an entry by associating it with a supporting attachment. You can also use transaction allocations to distribute amounts across departments and locations.
| Subscription |
General Ledger Projects (for revenue recognition of projects) |
|---|---|
| Regional availability |
All regions |
| User type | Business user with admin privileges |
| Permissions |
Journal entries, Business user: List, View, Edit, Add, Delete, Reverse, Reclassify Journal entries, Employee: List Journal entries, Approval: List, View |
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Go to General Ledger > All > Journal entries.
- Find the journal and select Transactions.
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Select Create.
You can also add a journal entry by going to General Ledger > All, and selecting Add (circle) next to Journal Entries. You’ll be taken directly to the Journal Entries page, where you select the journal.
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Go to General Ledger > All > Journal entries.
- Find the journal and select View transactions.
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Select Add.
You can also add a journal entry by going to General Ledger > All , and selecting Add (circle) to the left of Journal Entries. You’ll be taken directly to the Journal Entries page, where you select the journal.
The top portion of the Transaction tab is where you enter the transaction date, description, and other basic information. The transaction number and Accounting sequence number are shown for your information.
- Select the Journal for the entry.
- In the Posting date field, accept the current date or enter a different one.
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Enter an Automatic reversal date only if you want to reverse this transaction on a certain date.
More about reversal dates-
The reverse transaction is identical, except it's the inverse and therefore zeroes out the transaction. You can enter today's date or a later one.
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The option to enter a reversal date does not apply to draft journal entries. But you can enter a reversal date when you post the entry.
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Enter a Description of the transaction.
The text that you include in the description is automatically added to the line-item Memo fields, but you can overwrite it.
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Optionally, enter a Comment to record in the transaction history.
Comments appear on the History tab only.
About the history tab- A History tab is added to the transaction after it's saved.
- Each time that you edit the transaction, you can add another comment. The original comment will no longer appear in the Comment field, but it appears on the History tab with the date that it was entered.
- If a transaction that requires approvals has been submitted, you can see who it's submitted to on the History tab.
- Optionally, enter a Reference number by which you can reference this transaction.
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If this is an inter-entity transactions, enter the Source entity (the paying entity).
You can select the target entity (the receiving entity) in the Journal entries section, in the Location field.
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Use the Attachment field to store a digital version of a supporting document as an attachment.
To add an attachment-
Select Add in the dropdown list.
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You can then upload a scanned image, spreadsheet, or word processor document as an attachment. Learn more about who can add attachments.
You can drag and drop your files to add an attachment. To attach a document to multiple journal entries, see Bulk processing.
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- Include the information for any custom fields that were created for journal entries.
Optional. Select default values to autofill each line item. The system displays these default values for every existing and new line item. You can manually override default values on line items, as needed.
For the transaction to be posted, you must specify at least the account and a debit or credit value for each line item. Depending on your company, you can also be required to enter other information, such as the department or location.
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Select the account to which the entry will apply.
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Enter the amount to debit or credit.
- In either Debit or Credit, enter the amount of the transaction. A single line can have a value in only 1 of these fields.
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As you enter debits and credits, the journal entry automatically enters net debit or credit amounts and keeps a running total in the Total boxes. The running total helps you enter large numbers of journal entry lines efficiently and helps ensure a balanced entry.
Sage Intacct uses a 2-character level of precision in transaction amounts. A maximum of 2 decimal characters is supported for line item amounts.
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Optionally, select how to allocate the line item.
- If you previously selected a transaction allocation in Show defaults, the name of that allocation displays in the Allocation field.
- You can override the transaction allocation for this line item by selecting a different one in the Allocation field.
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To assign the item to a department or location, select the Department or Location down arrow, and then select the appropriate department or location.
Possible constraints-
If Validate journal entry balancing is selected for the Department or Location dimension in Configure General Ledger, you must do one of the following for both the debit and credit rows.
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Enter the same location and department.
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Enter no location or department.
For more information, see Configure General Ledger.
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If this is an inter-entity transactions, and you've selected a source (paying entity), also select the target (receiving entity).
Use Location to select the target entity for the line item. The target can be the entity that you specify directly or the parent entity of the location. Sage Intacct automatically credits the journal of the target entity, and also automatically creates balancing entries in the respective journals of both the source and target entities.
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Select other dimensions as needed, such as a customer, employee, or item.
To save space, some dimensions might not appear as fields on the main page. Select a row and then select Show Details to see additional fields.
You can edit the layout of transaction pages to suit the needs of your company. This allows you to customize which fields appear on the page, and their order. -
Use the Memo field to add a note regarding the purpose of the entry.
Intacct automatically adds the Description field text in the Memo field, but you can overwrite it.
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You can enter up to 1,000 characters in a memo.
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When you add a new journal entry line, the entry copies the memo description from the earlier line. You can overwrite this memo description.
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If this line item is billable to a project:
- Select the project and select the Billable checkbox.
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Select an Item and a Customer.
This option only appears if you've enabled the billable option for GL transactions when you configure Projects and if you've enabled Project billable flag for the journal.
- To add another line item, select Add (circle) to the right of the line item.
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When you finish entering or editing the transaction information, save the transaction as a draft or post it.
- Select Draft or Draft & new to save your progress on the entry, without posting it. Later, you or another user can review the entry and post it. Journals that contain draft entries cannot be made inactive.
- Select Post or Post & new to post the journal entry.
To find and view items in the draft and posted state- Filter for draft or posted transactions on the fly: In the appropriate transaction list view, select either Draft or Posted in the State column.
- Create a permanent custom view that filters for draft or posted transactions: Create a view, and set the filter to State = Draft or State = Posted. The custom view is available for use whenever you go to the list.
To make changes to a journal entry, see Edit a journal entry.
After a journal entry transaction has been approved and posted, you cannot edit the entry. To make any changes, reverse the transaction or delete it and resubmit it. After the period is closed, you cannot reverse or delete the entry.
To find granular items such as what entries are made to an account or account group for a specific reporting period, create financial or custom reports.