Making Journal Entries

For some transactions, no QuickBooks standard form is available. For these transactions, you use the General Journal. The General Journal is the place where you adjust the balances in your accounts without the use of forms such as invoices, bills, and checks. In this journal, you can reclassify balance sheet information, void a prior period check (as in Chapter 5), record depreciation and amortization expenses, and reclassify amounts charged to the wrong account. General Journal entries are made to accommodate these changes. For this example, we will create a General Journal entry to record depreciation expense.

Make a Journal Entry

Select Make General Journal Entries from the Company menu.

Verify the date for this journal entry.

Enter the first account name.

Enter the amount.

Enter a description.

Enter the next account name.

Verify the amount.

Repeat steps 6 and 7 if you have more accounts to enter.

Click a save option.

Did You Know?

Journal entries aren't just for depreciation. Use a journal entry whenever you need to enter or change information in your accounting records and no obvious form is available for the job.

Did You Know?

It's easy to reverse a journal entry. Some journal entries get reversed at the end of each month, quarter, or year. Open an existing journal entry and click the Reverse button located at the top of the General Journal Entry window. A new entry appears, dated for the first day of the following month, with the prior entry's amounts reversed.