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The journal entry is a type of accounting transaction that you enter or post straight to the general ledger. For the company, the general ledger acts as the main group of accounts that are used to record income statement transactions and balance sheets. Experts also advise QuickBooks users to create journal entries in their accounts. If you are looking forward to the same, learn with us how to enter a journal entry in QuickBooks Online and QuickBooks Desktop. Along with this, we will show you how to enter adjusting journal entries in QuickBooks Online.
Why Do You Need to Enter Journal Entry in QuickBooks Online/Desktop?
Users can enter the journal entry in QuickBooks Desktop to correct or adjust the transactions. You can also record the journal entry to post those entries that will be unable to perform in other ways, for example, profit or loss adjustments. The process of the journal entry is quite straightforward. However, you can only create the journal entry for one vendor or customer at a time. In case you wish to correct several vendors’ or customers’ balances then you will need to post separate entries for them.
If you are wondering what all transactions QuickBooks records as General, look at the following details to know:
- Credits and Debits of the company.
- Money transfer between expense and income account.
- Money transaction between expense or income account from asset, liability, or equity account.
Now that you are aware of the journal entry, continue to learn how to enter general journal entries in QuickBooks Online or QuickBooks Online.
How to Enter a Journal Entry in QuickBooks Desktop?
The general journal entry offers a number of benefits for your business. If you are willing to record the sales and transactions, learn with us how to enter payroll journal entries in QuickBooks. The following details are for both QuickBooks for Windows and Mac.
Enter Journal Entries in QuickBooks on Windows
To enter the journal entries in QuickBooks, you will have to navigate through a number of menus and enter the relevant details to save your journal entry. If you are using QuickBooks Desktop on a Windows computer, the following steps are for you:
- Click on the “Company” menu.
- Then, select the “Make General Journal Entries” option from the top menu.
- If required, you can modify the “Date” field in the “Make General Entries” screen. This will let you record the entry in a financial time period.
- Once done, switch to the “Entry No.” field and add the number for the journal entry. Later, QuickBooks will start numbering the subsequent journal entries automatically in a proper sequence.
- Now, go to the “Account” section and add the account number for the general ledger.
- In the “Debit or Credit” section, add the credit or debit amount for an account you selected earlier. Make sure that the credit and debit amounts are equal. Thereafter, you can allow QuickBooks to post this entry.
- Move to the “Memo” section and add the descriptive memo related to the journal entry. Although this is optional.
- Now, you can continue repeating these steps until you see the entries offset each other completely. This should also be taken care of that the amount in the Debit column is equal to the Credit column amount. This will allow the transaction to zero balance and your journal entry gets balanced.
- Click on the “Save and Close” button to save the journal entry. If you are willing to save more journal entries then click on the “Save and New” button.
By following these steps, you can easily record the journal entry in QuickBooks Desktop. In case you wish to create the journal entries that can affect a specific vendor’s account payable or customer’s account receivable then you will need to add the vendor or customer on the very first line of the journal entry.
Enter a Journal Entry in QuickBooks on Mac
If you are using QuickBooks for Mac, the process will be quite similar. All you have to do is prepare the General Journal Entry from the Company menu, enter the required details, and save changes.
- Click on the “Company” menu.
- Then, choose the “Make General Journal Entries” option.
- At this point, you are required to fill in the necessary details for the journal entry. Though you have to ensure the debits and credits are equal.
- Once done, click on the “Save and Close” button.
When creating the journal entry, you have to make sure that the total amount of the debit column should be matched with the amount of the credit column. If it is required to make changes to the journal entry, you can easily edit the journal entry. All you have to do is go to the Company menu, make the necessary changes, and save the changes.
How Do I Enter a Journal Entry in QuickBooks Online?
Journal Entry in QuickBooks is the last resort to enter the transactions. By entering the journal entry, you can move money between the accounts so you can force the books to balance in certain ways. If you are willing to set up the journal entry but stuck by this question “how do I enter journal entries in QuickBooks Online” then we will answer you through the following steps:
- Click on the “+New” menu.
- Then, select the “Journal Entry” option.
- Go to the first line and choose the account in the “Accounts” field. If you want to credit or debit the account, you can add the amount in the dedicated columns.
- Switch to the next line, choose another account from or to which you are moving money. Then, add the amount in the opposite column. Make sure you add the same amount you added for the credit or debit on the first line.
- After this, review the amounts so that you can check if the “Credit” and “Debit” column has the same balance.
- Once done, start entering the details in the “Memo” field so that you can remember why you prepared this journal entry.
- Then, click on the “Save and New” button. You can also press the “Save and Close” button.
Once you perform the aforementioned steps, the journal entry will be created in QuickBooks Online. If required, you can make changes to the journal entry. If you are having any kind of difficulties, you can take help from your accountant.
How to Enter Adjusting Journal Entries in QuickBooks Desktop?
An adjusting journal entry helps you to adjust the total balance of your account. Usually, accountants use this type of journal entry either to record the uncategorized transactions or to repair minor errors. If you want to create the adjusting journal entries in QuickBooks, we will provide relevant steps. Besides that, we will show how you can review the adjusted journal entry on the Adjusted Trial Balance report.
Enter the Adjusting Journal Entry
Adjusting journal entries can be prepared from the company file of a client. Here are the steps for creating adjusting journal entries in QuickBooks:
- Log in to the “QuickBooks” account.
- Then, click on the “Go to QuickBooks” dropdown menu.
- Choose the company of the client from the drop-down.
- Click on the “+New” button.
- Now, select the “Journal Entry” option.
- When you see the checkbox stating the “Is Adjusting Journal Entry?” option, click on it.
- After that, you can follow the steps displayed on the screen.
- Click on the “Save and Close” button.
Review the Adjusting Journal Entry
If you want to review the adjusted journal entry that you added recently then you need to run the Adjusted Trial Balance Report. This report will show you all the account balances in your general ledger after and before you create the adjusting journal entries. You will also find the total adjusting entries:
- In “QuickBooks”, click on the “Reports” menu.
- Then, choose the “Adjusted Trial Balance” report.
Tip: You can also find the Adjusted Trial Balance using the search bar.
- Click on the “Customize” button so you can adjust the report as per the need.
Though you have to ensure that the total balance of the debit is equal to the total balance of credit.
To Sum Up
Journal Entry is basically a transaction record in which the total amount of the debit column should be matched with the amount of the credit column. Each amount of debit or credit column is allotted to the account in the QuickBooks Chart of Accounts. Here, we have shown you how to enter a journal entry in QuickBooks Online and QuickBooks Desktop.
If you ever need to print or delete your journal entries, you can take help from the following guides:
- How to Delete Journal Entry in QuickBooks?
- How to Print Journal Entries in QuickBooks Desktop?