Create and reverse manual journal entries
Manual journal entries let you post accounting adjustments directly to the general ledger — for example, corrections, period-end accruals or deferrals, or entries your accountant asks you to record. This article covers viewing the Journals area, creating a manual journal, and reversing one.
Before you begin
Manual journals are only available after accrual accounting is enabled for the company. The transaction date on a manual journal must fall within an open accounting period — if the period is locked, you'll need to unlock it, post the journal, then re-lock (see Manage accounting periods).
Journals are immutable once posted. To correct a manual journal, post a reversal (covered below). To correct a system-generated journal — one created automatically from an invoice, payment, credit note, or allocation — you need to reverse the source transaction (void the invoice, reverse the payment, and so on). System-generated journals can't be reversed directly from the Journals area.
The Journals area
Go to Accounting → Journals to open the Journals area. The list shows every journal for the selected company — both system-generated (from invoices, payments, credit notes, allocations) and manual — with these filters:
Search Description — free-text search on the journal description
Source — filter by journal source (Invoice, Payment, Allocation, Manual, and so on)
Status — Posted, Reversed, or Reversal
Date From and Date To — filter by transaction date
Click any journal number to open its full detail. The header shows the transaction date, period, description, source, and who created it. The line table shows every debit and credit that makes up the journal along with any dimensions applied. For journals created from a source transaction (like an invoice or payment), the source reference is linked so you can jump straight to the original document.
Create a manual journal entry
Go to Accounting → Journals.
Click New journal at the top right.
Enter a Transaction date. This defaults to today. The date must fall within an open accounting period.
Enter a Description summarising what the journal is for. This appears on the Journals list and on reports.
For each line, fill in:
Account — the chart of account the amount posts against (required).
Debit or Credit — the amount. Enter either a debit or a credit on each line, not both.
Owner, Property, Tenancy, Ledger — optional dimensions to allocate the amount to.
Description — optional line-level detail.
Service from and Service to — optional date range for period-based revenue or expense recognition.
Add more lines with + Add Line if needed. A journal needs at least two lines.
Check the Total debits and Total credits at the bottom of the form — they must match for the journal to post.
Click Post journal.
Once posted, the journal appears in the Journals list with source Manual and status Posted. It's immutable from this point — to change it, post a reversal.
Reverse a manual journal entry
Reversing a manual journal posts a new journal that zeroes out every line of the original. The original stays on the ledger for audit and is marked as Reversed; the new journal is marked as a Reversal. This keeps a complete audit trail rather than deleting or editing history.
Only manual journals can be reversed from here. To reverse a system-generated journal, reverse the source transaction — void the invoice, reverse the payment, or undo the allocation.
Open the manual journal you want to reverse from the Journals list.
Click Reverse at the top right.
Review the confirmation:
Reversal date — the date the reversal journal will be posted. This defaults to today, but you can edit it.
Amount reversed — the total of the original journal.
Click Reverse journal.
The reversal takes effect immediately. The original journal now shows a "This journal has been reversed" notice with a link to the reversal, and its status changes to Reversed. The reversal journal shows a "Reversal entry" notice linking back to the original. Neither can be reversed again.
