Journal Entries
Journal Entries
With Autobooks, you can create and manage your journal entries directly in our Accounting feature
How to Create a Journal Entry in Autobooks
Journal entries are a way to make manual adjustments to your financial statements to move money around your books without moving any real money. They require that total Debits always equal total Credits before you can save the new entry.
Step 1: Navigate to Journal Entry
- Log into Autobooks
- From the dashboard, select Accounting
- From Accounting, select Journal Entry
Step 2: Fill Out the Journal Entry Form
Once on the Journal Entry form:
- Add a Date: enter the date the transaction should be recorded (e.g., your start date, or the last day of the period).
- Add a Description: enter a clear memo so you can identify this entry later (e.g., "Opening balances as of July 1" or "Prepaid expense adjustment").
Step 3: Add Line Items
Each line item represents one account being affected:
Select a Category: click into the Category field to choose the accounting category (account) from the dropdown for the first line.
Enter the dollar amount: enter it as either a Debit or a Credit (leave the other field as $0.00).
- Assets → Debit to increase, Credit to decrease
- Liabilities → Credit to increase, Debit to decrease
- Equity → Credit to increase, Debit to decrease
- Income → Credit to increase, Debit to decrease
- Expenses → Debit to increase, Credit to decrease
Add another line: repeat for each account affected.
Tip: You can add as many line items as needed within one journal entry form.
Step 4: Verify Debits = Credits
Before saving the journal entry form, confirm that the total Debit column equals the total Credit column. The form will not allow you to save if they are out of balance.
| Category | Debit | Credit |
|---|---|---|
| Account A | $X | — |
| Account B | — | $X |
| Total | $X | $X ✓ |
Step 5: Save the Journal Entry
Click Save. You'll see a confirmation message and then be shown a blank journal entry form — ready for your next entry if needed.
Note: There is no list page for journal entries in Autobooks. To review the results of your journal entries, check the Journal Report under Reports.
Where to See Journal Entry Results
After saving, the impact of your journal entry will appear in:
- Journal Report: shows the full debit/credit detail for every entry
- Balance Sheet: reflects changes to assets, liabilities, and equity
- Profit & Loss: reflects changes to income and expense accounts
Common Use Cases
| Scenario | What to Do |
|---|---|
| Opening balances (mid-year start) | Debit the assets, credit the liabilities and equity |
| Outstanding invoicing payments from before using Autobooks for the year | Debit Customer Balances, credit Income/Sales |
| Correcting a previous entry | Create a new entry that reverses the error — never delete the original! |
| Prepaid expense adjustment | Debit the prepaid asset, credit the expense account |
How to Read the Journal Report in Autobooks
The Journal Report (sometimes called a General Ledger) shows you the accounting impact (the debits and credits) behind all of your business transactions. It's the best place to verify that your journal entries were recorded correctly.
Step 1: Navigate to the Journal Report
- Log into Autobooks
- From the dashboard, select Reporting
- Select Journal
Step 2: Understand How the Report is Organized
The Journal Report is automatically grouped by entry, meaning all the debits and credits that make up a single transaction are grouped together so you can see the full picture of each entry at a glance.
Each entry shows:
- Date: when the transaction was recorded
- Description/Memo: the note you added when creating the entry
- Category: the account affected (e.g., Cash, Owner's Equity, Business Loan)
- Debit column: amounts increasing assets or decreasing liabilities/equity
- Credit column: amounts decreasing assets or increasing liabilities/equity
What appears in this report automatically: Invoices, payments, categorized bank transactions, matched transactions, vendor invoices, and any manual journal entries you've created.
Step 3: Filter to Find Your Opening Balance Entries
To zero in on your journal entries:
- Filter by Period: narrow the report to your start date period so you're only looking at entries from when you began using Autobooks
- Filter by Category: if you want to check a specific account (e.g., Cash or Owner's Equity), filter by that category to see only entries affecting it
Step 4: Verify Each Journal Entry
For each opening balance journal entry you created, confirm:
| What to Check | What It Should Look Like |
|---|---|
| Entry is grouped correctly | All lines from a single journal entry appear together |
| Date is correct | Should match your Autobooks start date |
| Description is present | e.g., "Opening balances as of July 1" |
| Debits = Credits within the entry | The debit and credit columns for each grouped entry must balance |
| Correct categories used | Assets show as debits, Liabilities and Equity show as credits |
| Amounts match your source records | Compare against your prior accounting software, bank statements, or accountant's trial balance |
Step 5: Cross-Reference with Other Reports
Once you've confirmed the entries look correct in the Journal Report, cross-check against:
- Balance Sheet (Accounting > Insights > Balance Sheet): confirm Assets = Liabilities + Equity and that each account shows the correct opening balance
- Bank Reconciliation (Accounting > Insights > Bank Reconciliation): confirm your Cash balance matches your actual bank statement and the variance is $0.00
Step 6: Export for Your Records
Click the Export button in the upper right corner of the Journal Report to download it to Microsoft Excel. This is useful for:
- Sharing with your accountant for review
- Keeping a record of your opening entries
- Comparing against your prior system's general ledger
What to Do If Something Looks Wrong
If you spot an error in the Journal Report:
- Do not delete the original entry: there is no list page for journal entries, and deleting can cause reconciliation issues.
- Create a correcting journal entry: go to Accounting > Journal Entry and enter a new entry that reverses or adjusts the incorrect amount.
- Date the correction to your start date and add a clear description like "Correction to opening Cash balance — July 1".
- Re-check the Journal Report after saving to confirm the correction appears and the entry now balances correctly.