# 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

1. Log into Autobooks  
2. From the dashboard, select **Accounting**  
3. From Accounting, select **Journal Entry**

#### Step 2: Fill Out the Journal Entry Form

Once on the Journal Entry form:

1. **Add a Date:** enter the date the transaction should be recorded (e.g., your start date, or the last day of the period).
2. **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:

1. **Select a Category:** click into the **Category** field to choose the accounting category (account) from the dropdown for the first line.
2. **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
3. **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

1. Log into Autobooks  
2. From the dashboard, select **Reporting**  
3. 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:

1. **Do not delete the original entry:** there is no list page for journal entries, and deleting can cause reconciliation issues.
2. **Create a correcting journal entry:** go to Accounting > Journal Entry and enter a new entry that reverses or adjusts the incorrect amount.
3. **Date the correction to your start date** and add a clear description like "Correction to opening Cash balance — July 1".
4. **Re-check the Journal Report** after saving to confirm the correction appears and the entry now balances correctly.