{"id":34486,"date":"2016-12-15T08:32:17","date_gmt":"2016-12-15T13:32:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pslohio.wpengine.com\/?page_id=34486"},"modified":"2020-11-06T14:43:39","modified_gmt":"2020-11-06T19:43:39","slug":"recording-journal-entry","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.patriotsoftware.com\/accounting\/training\/help\/recording-journal-entry\/","title":{"rendered":"Recording a Journal Entry"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2>Background<\/h2>\n<p>You may need to enter a miscellaneous transaction to be shown on your financial reports that do not involve creating an invoice, receiving a payment, or paying a bill. Examples of this miscellaneous journal entry would include recording an owner\u2019s distribution or reclassifying an expense mistakenly posted to the wrong account.<\/p>\n<p>You can also import your bank transactions to automatically create journal entries.\u00a0 See <a href=\"\/accounting\/training\/help\/connecting-bank-accounts-accounting-journal-entries\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Connecting Your Bank Accounts for Accounting Journal Entries<\/a>.<\/p>\n<h2>How to Record a Journal Entry in Patriot Software<\/h2>\n<p><strong>Accounting &gt; Financial Tasks &gt; Journal Entry<\/strong><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>The transaction date will default to today\u2019s date. Change the date, if needed.<\/li>\n<li>Include a brief description of your journal entry.<\/li>\n<li>If you have set up departments, select an optional department.\u00a0 For more details, see <a href=\"\/accounting\/training\/help\/managing-accounting-departments-patriot-software\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Managing Accounting Departments<\/a>.<\/li>\n<li>Select an account from the list.\n<ul>\n<li>You can also create a new account &#8220;on the fly&#8221; by clicking the <span style=\"color: #8430d9;\">+Add New<span style=\"color: #000000;\"> link. A modal will appear with fields for you to create your new account. For more information, please read, <a href=\"\/accounting\/training\/help\/setting-up-your-bookkeeping-accounts\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Setting Up Your Chart of Accounts.<\/a><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>You have two options for making your journal entry. The toggle at the right of the page &#8220;USE DEBITS\/CREDITS&#8221; can be used for your preferred display method.\n<ol>\n<li>Choose to either \u201cIncrease\u201d or &#8220;Decrease&#8221; the account balance.\u00a0 Depending on the account you choose, your selection will automatically show whether this will be recorded as a credit or debit.<\/li>\n<li>Enter Debits\/Credits by switching the toggle at the right side of the page.\u00a0 For further reading, see our blog article <a href=\"\/blog\/accounting\/debits-and-credits\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Understanding Debits and Credits<\/a>.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/li>\n<li>Enter the amount of the transaction for this line item.<\/li>\n<li>Enter the optional line description if desired.<\/li>\n<li>If you need to add more accounts, click &#8220;Add Row.&#8221;<\/li>\n<li>If you have Accounting Premium, you can attach electronic files and receipts to this entry by clicking \u201cAttach Files.\u201d\u00a0 See <a href=\"https:\/\/www.patriotsoftware.com\/accounting\/training\/help\/managing-your-receipts-and-documents\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Managing Your Receipts and Documents<\/a>\u00a0for details.<\/li>\n<li>Click \u201cSave Entry.\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>If your accounting journal entry does not balance, you will see a warning when you attempt to save. This is because the \u201cdebits\u201d and \u201ccredits\u201d are not equal for the types of accounts you selected. This is required to create an entry that will be properly shown on your financial reports. For more information, check out our blog post about <a href=\"\/blog\/accounting\/debits-and-credits\/\">accounting debits and credits<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>If you see the warning, review the accounts you have entered. You may have left out a line item that needs to be included in the transaction. Consider what you are trying to accomplish with the journal entry, and double-check that you have selected the correct increase or decrease action for each line item.<\/p>\n<p>If you need to void or delete a journal entry, see <a href=\"\/accounting\/training\/help\/voiding-journal-entry\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><strong>Voiding a Journal Entry.<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Background You may need to enter a miscellaneous transaction to be shown on your financial reports that do not involve creating an invoice, receiving a payment, or paying a bill. Examples of this miscellaneous journal entry would include recording an owner\u2019s distribution or reclassifying an expense mistakenly posted to the wrong account. You can also [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":314,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"page-training-help-template.php","meta":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v19.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Recording a Journal Entry in Patriot&#039;s Small Business Accounting Software<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Need help with recording a miscellaneous journal entry in Patriot&#039;s accounting software? 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