The General Journal screen allows you to record general journal entries or edit transactions recorded in your accounts. These transactions affect the General Ledger. At the closing of a financial year, accountants can use the General Journal to check any discrepancy in the company accounts and make adjustment entries. You can also use it to transfer amounts between income and expense accounts. Typically, only accountants who prefer traditional methods of accounting use a general journal. You can record those transactions here which cannot be made elsewhere.
The following are descriptions of fields on the General Journal screen:
Date:
This is the date of the journal entry. You can select a date from the drop-down calendar. By default, today's date is pre-selected.
Entry No:
A number assigned to the journal entry. BillQuick Online automatically assigns an entry number to your journal; however, you can change it, if desired. BillQuick Online prompts you in case you are using duplicate numbers.
Entry Type:
BillQuick Online gives you the ability to classify a general journal entry as Cash Only, Accrual Only, or Accrual and Cash. This option displays the type of journal entry being created or viewed. Depending upon the basis of accounting followed by your company, the general journals show up on those reports.
Grid
The grid allows you to record or view debit and credit entries of the selected account.
Account:
The account which gets posted when a transaction takes place—credited or debited—depending upon the type of transaction. The drop-down list does not include non-posting accounts (transaction such as purchase orders, sales orders, or pending invoices).
Debit:
Depending upon the type of transaction and account, debit amount represents an increase to an asset or expense account, and a decrease to a liability, income and equity account. For every debit, there has to be a corresponding credit. If you debit an A/P account, it decreases the A/P amount.
Credit:
Depending upon the type of transaction and account, credit amount represents a decrease to an asset or expense account, and an increase to a liability, income and equity account. For every credit, there has to be a corresponding debit. If you credit an A/P account, it increases the A/P amount.
Memo:
You can record notes or any aspect of the transaction in a memo.
Class:
Classes are transaction entities that allow you to track items, view statements and reports for that entity. You can select a class here for a transaction or journal entry. You can assign a class created in BillQuick Online.
Name:
The person or payee involved in the transaction. It can be a client, vendor, employee, etc.
For Accounts Receivable, you have to select a client while for Accounts Payable, you have to select a vendor as a payee.
Previous Entries
You can open a panel displaying a list of previous journal entries. You can apply period and date filters to view selective journal entries in the grid. The details of the selected journal entry displays in the main grid above.
General Journal Button Panel
Help:
Opens the BillQuick Online Help in the General Journal section.
Print:
Opens the journal report, which shows the accounting behind the scenes. It also enables you to preview a full screen representation of the report.
Delete:
Displays a drop-down with options to delete a specific line item in the main journal (Delete Line) or delete the entire transaction recorded in the general journal (Delete Transaction). You can delete the entire transaction by selecting it in the Previous Entries grid.
Clone:
Allows you to create a new entry based on an existing journal entry by copying it. The Entry No. of the cloned entry displays 'C' while the Memo field displays "Clone of GJE'. After creating it, you can edit the entry as required.
Reverse:
Reverses the selected journal entry. The debited account is credited and vice versa. The Entry No of the reversed entry displays 'R' (or 'CR' for a cloned entry) while the Memo field displays "Reverse of GJE'.
Cancel:
Clears the screen and cancels any changes.
New:
Clears the screen and allows you to enter a new journal.
Save:
Saves the general journal entries.
Refresh:
Retrieves the latest data from the database and displays it on the screen.
Close:
Closes the General Journal screen.