About the GL Journal Transaction Entry Form
Use the GL Journal Transaction Entry form to enter miscellaneous and adjusting journal entries.
Most General Ledger transactions are created from other sources, such as Accounts Payable, Accounts Receivable, or Payroll, therefore, you should only need to use this program when additional entries are required to make the general ledger reflect the true business picture of the company.
If you are setting up the system during your fiscal year, post the net activity for all accounts for each month of the year prior to the month you will begin live processing in other applications. Remember to specify the correct month.
Posting may be done in any open month. The maximum number of months allowed open is specified in the GL Company Parameters form.
Transaction Numbers
A unique transaction number is assigned to each journal entry within a period. The journal is locked while you are posting to allow it to generate sequential transaction numbers within the batch.
Journals and References
Multiple journals and references may exist in a single batch. All entries within each reference must balance (unless the Allow Unbalanced Entries checkbox is marked in the GL Company Parameters form).
If you add a transaction back into a batch (using GL Add Transaction to Batch) and delete it, you will need to delete the Reference number (in GL Journal References) to remove it from the system; this is not done automatically.
Intercompany Journal Entries
If you selected the Allow Intercompany GL Journal Entries check box in GL Company Parameters, the system enables the To Co field, allowing you to specify which GL company to update with the journal entry.For non-intercompany journal entries, this company is always the posting company. However, when posting intercompany journal transactions, at least one entry must specify the posting company as the "to" company, with the offsetting entries made to another company.
The journal specified for the intercompany entries must be the same in all referenced companies. Although you can post to any journal, a suggestion would be to set up a separate intercompany journal in each company for which you will be posting intercompany journal entries. The reference code must also be the same for the intercompany journal entries.
You should not enter offsetting intercompany payables and receivables entries. The program will make these entries automatically when the batch is posted. In addition, all intercompany entries must balance to zero, regardless of how you have set the Allow Unbalanced Entries checkbox in GL Company Parameters.
In either case, once you post the entries they cannot be edited or deleted. If corrections are needed, you will need to make additional compensating entries.
Posting to Memo Accounts
You can use Memo accounts to post statistical journal entries; that is, non-financial entries. Typically, you will only use memo accounts to track units (e.g. payroll hours) for use on financial statements where you want to show both units and dollars. Amounts posted to memo accounts are excluded from journal entry balancing and are not included in any standard reports.
Balancing Entries
As you make journal entries in this program, the net totals of the batch, journal, and reference are displayed in the non-tab area of the form. Typically, these balances all need to be zero to validate and post the batch. You can, however, open and close the batch at will, regardless of the balance, until you are ready to post it.
If your balances do not net zero, you can still post the batch by first selecting the Allow Unbalanced Entries checkbox in the GL Company Parameters form. However, you should only do this to enable making one-sided entries to balance the GL. Once you make the entries and your GL is balanced, deselect the Allow Unbalanced Entries checkbox.
Reversing Entries
Although you can add existing transactions to a batch for editing/deletion, you cannot use this program to edit/delete reversing transactions (i.e. transactions posted via GL Auto Reversal Entry).The following are related topics:
