Entering Journals

In Enter Journals, an account is considered valid if it satisfies all of the following rules:

  1. The account itself is enabled.

  2. All of the individual segment values used in the account are enabled.

  3. The effective date of the journal line (or the journal if this is a manual journal) is within the start and end date range specified for the account, if any.

  4. The effective date of the journal line (or the journal if this is a manual journal) is within the start and end date range specified for each of the individual segment values used in the account.

  5. The account itself is not a summary account.

  6. None of the individual segment values used in the account are parent values

  7. The account exists OR if the account does not exist, it satisfies all of the following:

  8. For actual or encumbrance journals, detailed posting is on for the account.

  9. For budget journals, detailed budgeting is on for the account.

  10. For actual or encumbrance journals, detailed posting is on for all of the individual segments used in the account

  11. For budget journals, detailed budgeting is on for all of the individual segments used in the account.

  12. Security rules don't deny the current user access to any of the individual segments used in the account.

For Journal Import, if the account being processed is a NEW account (in other words, hasn't ever been used before), then the rules followed are exactly the same as for the Enter Journals form.

If the account being processed is an existing account, then only rules 1, 3, 5, 8, and 9 are enforced for performance reasons. Specifically only the account rules are enforced. All of the rules that deal with individual segment values are not enforced.

To enter a journal:

  1. Navigate to the Enter Journals window.

    The Find Journals window appears.

  2. Enter or query the batch for which you are entering journals. To enter a journal without entering batch information, choose New Journal from the Find Journals window and proceed to Step 4.

  3. Choose Journals.

    The Journals window appears.

  4. In the Journals window, enter a unique Journal name for the entry. If you do not enter a journal name, General Ledger automatically assigns a name using the following format: Source Journal ID Date.

  5. (Optional) Enter a Description for the journal entry. General Ledger uses this as the default description for each journal entry line. You can change the journal entry description as necessary.

  6. Select a ledger for your journal. Your data access set must provide read and write access to the ledger, or read and write access to one or more of the balancing segment values or management segment values to select the ledger from the list of values.

    If you use reporting currencies (journal or subledger level), you can select a reporting currency for your journal.

  7. Enter a Category to describe the purpose of your journal entry, such as accrual, payments, or receipts. All lines in a journal entry share the same journal category.

    General Ledger defaults the journal category if you defined the profile option Journals: Default Category.

  8. Enter the Period for the journal entry. If you entered a period at the batch level, you must use the same period for each journal entry in the batch. If you did not enter a period at the batch level, choose any Open or Future Enterable period for your journal entry. Note that you can only post journals in Open periods.

    Note: If you enter a period prior to the current accounting period and the user profile option Journals: Enable Prior Period Notification is set to Yes, General Ledger displays a message indicating that you are entering a prior period journal. You must confirm that this is what you want to do.

  9. Accept or change the default Effective Date for the journal entry.

  10. Balance Type is a display - only field. It displays Actual when you are entering actual journals and Budget when you are entering budget journals.

  11. If you use document sequences with manual numbering, enter a unique Document number. This field is only available if the Sequential Numbering profile option is set to Always Used or Partially Used.

    If you set your profile options to always use or partially use sequential numbering and use a defined Automatic document numbering sequence, General Ledger enters a document number automatically when you save your work.

    Note: If sequential numbering is always or partially used, you cannot change the journal category or document number after you save your journal entry.

  12. If you are entering a intracompany journal that includes multiple balancing segment values where the total debits and credits for each balancing segment value do not net to zero, you can specify the clearing company to balance the journal.

    Note: You can also define balancing rules and a clearing company in the Intercompany Accounting Module, which General Ledger then uses to automatically balance the journal. The clearing company you manually enter in the More Details window may not override the rules defined in the Intercompany Accounts window.

  13. If you use automatic tax on journal entries, enter Required in the Tax field to indicate that you want to enter additional tax information. Otherwise, enter Not Required. This field only appears if you have automatic tax enabled for your ledger.

    See: Entering Taxable Journal Entries

  14. (Optional) If you have average balance processing enabled and your ledger is a consolidation ledger, select Standard or Average as the Journal Type.

    In a consolidation ledger, you can create journal entries that affect either standard or average balances. The balances are not linked. In a non - consolidation ledger, you can only create journal entries that directly affect standard balances. Average balances are calculated automatically from your standard balances.

  15. (Optional) Enter a Control Total if you want to verify the total debits for the journal lines against the journal control total.

  16. Accept the default Currency or change the journal currency to an entered currency or statistical journal.

  17. Enter a reversal Period and Method. You can then generate a reversing journal entry for that period. You can also reverse a journal entry without assigning a reversal period. Reversal Method can be either:

    If you have average balances enabled, enter a reversal Date, Period, and Method. You can then generate a reversing journal entry for that effective date and period.

  18. (Optional) Select the Other Information tab to enter optional reference information about the journal entry.

    1. Enter a Reference description to further identify the journal entry on general ledger and journal entry reports.

    2. Enter a Journal Reference Date. The primary function of this field is to satisfy Libro Giornale Requirements in Italy, but it can be used for any other date information that you want to store at the journal header level.

      If you are using Reporting Currencies (Journal or Subledger Level) and you enter the Reference Date in the journal in your source ledger, it is also transferred to the journals of the reporting currencies.

      If the profile option Enter Journals: Validate Reference Date is set to Yes, the date you enter is validated to ensure the date falls into an open or future enterable period.

      If the profile option GL Consolidation: Preserve Journal Batching is set to Yes for the parent ledger, the consolidation process transfers the reference date information from the subsidiary ledger to the parent ledger.

  19. Select the Lines tab and enter the journal lines.

  20. Save your work.

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