Reading a journal entry

What this does

Every number in the ledger is a line on a journal entry, and every entry has a page. You reach it from the General Ledger report (click the entry number), from the account registers (click a row without a document of its own), or from Ledger → Journal Entries. The page shows the entry's Date, Post date, Source, Reference, Memo, and its lines (Account, Debit, Credit), with Posted or Unposted status.

Reading it

Source is the screen or process that created the entry (invoice, payment, check, cc_transaction, inbox_approve, bill, deposit, transfer, and so on). Reference is the document behind it: the invoice number, the deposit number, or the id of the check or card transaction. Together they tell you where to go to fix something: an invoice entry is corrected on the invoice, a check entry from the register, a Manual entry with a reversing entry.

A void reversal has its own source (invoice_void, check_void, cc_void, payment_reversal) and references the original, so the pair is always findable together.

Corrections from this page

For an entry that came from a check or card transaction, the page offers Edit (the same dialog as the account register: amount, payee, category lines, memo, reference, date, with a required reason) and Correct date for a date-only fix that moves the entry and the transaction together without touching amounts. Both refuse a reconciled line or a locked period, and both are logged. Voiding is done from the account register or the entry screen. See Editing and voiding posted transactions. The page also lists the source documents (scans, receipts) attached to the transaction.

For an entry from an invoice or a customer payment, the page is read-only; those documents are re-dated or corrected from their own screens. For a manual entry, post a reversing entry and a corrected one; posted manual entries are never edited.

Common problems

Unposted. The entry was created but never posted: a manual entry saved as a draft, or a posting that failed part way. A draft you meant to post: post it from the Journal Entries list. An automatic entry stuck unposted is what the nightly checks report; fix the cause (usually a lock date or a missing account) and re-run the action.

The lines don't balance. They can't be posted that way; the entry is a draft with an error. Fix the lines.

I can't find the document it references. The reference is an internal id for checks and card transactions. Open the account register for the bank or card account and search by the date and amount.