Accounting & vouchers

Chapter 5

Post a journal entry Accounting → Journal entries Maker–checker

1. New entry. Set the entry date and a memo that will still make sense in a year.
2. Add lines: an account and either a debit or a credit on each.
3. Tag a dimension (department, project, cost centre) on any line you want to report on separately.
4. Save as draft. Check the totals.
5. Post to the ledger.

Debits must equal credits — the entry will not post otherwise, and the difference is shown as you type.

Posted entries cannot be edited. Reverse creates an opposite entry; Void cancels one raised in error.

Most things do not need a journal entry. An invoice, bill, payment or payroll run writes its own. Use a manual entry for corrections, accruals, and things with no document of their own — not for routine trading.

Which screen produces which voucher

Vouchers are not typed separately — each is the printed form of a document you already entered. Enter the transaction on its own screen, then print.

Voucher	Enter it here
Receipt voucher	Sales → Payments received
Payment voucher	Purchases → Expenses, or Bill payments
Journal voucher	Accounting → Journal entries
Contra / bank deposit voucher	Banking → Transfers
Delivery challan	Sales → Invoices → Dispatch
Goods receipt note	Purchases → Bills → Receive

Add an item to the catalogue Accounting → Items

1. New item. Give it a code and a name people will recognise on an invoice.
2. Set the type, the sales price and the purchase price.
3. Choose the income account it sells to and the expense account it buys into.
4. Tick stock tracked if you hold it in a warehouse and want quantities maintained.
5. Save details.

Decide stock-tracking before you trade the item. A stock-tracked item relieves inventory and charges cost of goods sold on every sale. Changing this after there is history makes the two disagree.