System > Finance > Journals
In your daily business operations, it is important to have journals as a medium to record the various types of business transactions systematically. Journals are used to record all the original entries before they are transferred to the ledger as part of the bookkeeping process.
The information in this document is applicable to product update 404 and higher. If you have versions lower than this, certain features explained here will not be applicable.
Type a unique journal number for the new journal. You can type up to three digits for the journal number. This is mandatory. Once you have clicked Save to save the journal, you cannot edit the journal number. However, you can recode the journal number by going to System > Finance > Journals, select the journal that you want to recode, and then click Recode.
Type a description for the new journal or edit the description for the existing selected journal. This is mandatory.
Type a unique abbreviation for the new journal or edit the abbreviation for the existing selected journal. You can type up to four alphanumeric characters for this abbreviation. If you do not define the abbreviation, the system will automatically define an abbreviation for the journal once you have clicked Save to save the journal. The system-defined abbreviation will take the journal number followed by the alphabet “J”. For example, if the journal number is 20, the abbreviation of this journal will be “20J”.
Select the type of journal. There are six available types which are Cash, Bank, Giro, General journal, Purchase, and Sales. Depending on the types of business transactions, you use different types of journals to record the entries. Once you have clicked Save to save the new journal, you cannot edit the journal type.
Type or select the general ledger account which you want to use to record the journal entries. This is mandatory. It is advisable to link to a different general ledger account for every journal. For instance, if you have more than one bank journal, it is advisable to use a different general ledger account for each of these bank journals. To use a unique general ledger account for every bank/cash journal, go to System > General > Settings > General ledger settings and select the Unique GL per bank/cash journal check box.
See the following table on the general ledger account to be used for the respective types of journals:
Note: You cannot use the suspense general ledger account which is linked to the general journal in the opening balance.
Type or select the general ledger account which is to be used to record unallocated amounts in journal entries. For example, in payment or receipt entries that you have not allocate to any debtor or creditor, a specific general ledger account will be used to record these entries. For instance, you may want to use the “To be allocated” general ledger account. This account must be a neutral account. This is mandatory information for a Cash, Bank, or Giro type journal.
Note: This is disabled for a General journal, Purchase, or Sales type of journal.
Type or select the currency code which you want to use in the journal entries.
Select this check box to allow multiple currencies to be used in journal entries.
Select this check box to use variable exchange rates if you are using multiple currencies in the journal entries. For more information on creating and maintaining exchange rates, see Creating and maintaining exchange rates. In addition to selecting this check box here to allow variable exchange rates in journal entries, you must also select the Variable exchange rate check box in the currency maintenance screen of the currency used in the journal entry (go to System > General > Countries > Currencies, select the relevant currency and click Open). Only then, you can modify the exchange rate when making a journal entry for the currency.
Different check boxes will be displayed depending on the journal type you are creating or editing.
Select this check box to exit automatically from the journal entry when the difference is zero (the amount in the sub line is the same with the difference between the opening and closing balance). This check box is disabled for a cash journal.
Select this check box for the system to block the payment terms you have defined when you record a purchase or sales entry in the purchase, sales, or general journals. This check box is only available for a General journal, Purchase, and Sales type of journal.
Select this check box to allow intercompany transactions to be recorded in the general journal. An example of an intercompany transaction is a parent company buying flight tickets on behalf of a subsidiary and the expense is transferred to the subsidiary.
Note: This check box is available only if you create a new general journal. A general journal with existing transactions is not allowed to book intercompany transactions, hence the check box is disabled. This function is not available for the other types of journal.
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By default, the journal entry numbers are maintained according to the financial year. The entry number is important as it forms a set of running numbers which you can use to track the journal entries you have created.
Click this to change the journal entry number for the selected financial year. After you have selected a financial year and then clicked Change, type the new entry number under the Entry number column. The entry number will become the entry number used for the next transaction to be recorded in the journal during the financial year. Every time when a journal entry is recorded and saved during a particular financial year, the next entry number for the journal will automatically increase by one.
Select this check box to disallow changes to the entry number when making a journal entry. By selecting the check box, you can ensure consistency of the journal entry numbers as the entry numbers will always be automatically generated by the system.
Type or select the bank number.
Note: The foreign language description fields will be available only if you have defined the foreign languages in System > General > Settings > General settings in the Descriptions in list boxes section.
Type the extra information about the journal in the free fields. You can define the subjects of the free fields in System > General > Free fields under the Journals table. For more information on customizing the free fields, see Creating and changing free fields description.
In this tab, you can add or remove the right to maintain the corresponding journal and information linked to the journal, to or from the selected people. You can create or maintain the following financial entries and perform the following activities only when you have the Edit/ Maintain right to the journals linked to the entries:
You can create or maintain the following cash flow entries and perform the following activities only when you have the Edit/ Maintain right to the journals linked to the entries:
You can create or maintain other entries when you have the Edit/ Maintain right to the journals linked to the entries:
Select Active, Hired, Inactive, or Future to search for people with the corresponding status. Select All to search for people with any status.
Type or select a cost center to search for people from this cost center.
Type or select the specific person that you are looking for.
Type a full or partial name to search for people with names that contain the characters.
This section will display everyone except people who are listed in the Edit/ Maintain section. The people listed in this section have the right to view the respective journal and the financial entries and cash instruments linked to the journal only. Even though the people have been granted with the function right to delete financial entries, they will not be able to delete the information if they do not have the Edit/ Maintain right.
This section will display the following people:
People in this section will obtain the right to edit and maintain the journal and the financial entries and cash instruments linked to the journal. A person who has been assigned the editing and maintaining right will not automatically be granted with the right to access the menu path of the relevant process. As such, a person with the editing and maintaining right to a journal can maintain the respective journal only if the person has the menu right to access the respective menu path. Administrators and people with the editing and maintaining right to the respective journals can transfer people from one section to another. However, using the SDK license, even though the creators of journals will be automatically assigned with the editing and maintaining right, they will not be able to assign or retract the right to or from a person.
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Click or to transfer a person or everyone from the View only section to the Edit/ Maintain section. Transferring people from the View only section to the Edit/ Maintain section will assign the Edit/ Maintain right to the respective journal to the selected people.
Click or to transfer a person or everyone from the Edit/ Maintain section to the View only section. Transferring people from the Edit/ Maintain section to the View only section will remove the Edit/ Maintain right to the respective journal from the selected people.
Click this to to save the journal or save the changes made to an existing journal.
Click this to create another journal.
Click this to exit.