Journal entries

The Journal Entries Screen

Open Journal Entries from the company workspace. The Entries view lists every manual and generated journal entry with an inline stats row — Total Posted, Posted, Drafts, and Void — and status filter tabs for All, Posted, Draft, and Void, each with a count.

Search, a From / To date range, and a sort control narrow the list. Rows imported from QuickBooks carry an Imported badge, and a note may report how many non-journal entries are hidden from this view. A second tab, Scheduled JEs, holds recurring templates and is covered in its own article.

Create A Manual Journal Entry

Select New Entry to open the journal-entry drawer, titled New Journal Entry. Fill in:

• a Date;
• a Description, such as Office rent payment;
• an optional Reference, such as an invoice or document number;
• two or more Journal Lines.

Each line takes an Account, an optional line memo, and either a Debit or a Credit amount. Use Add line for a third or fourth line, and the trash icon to remove one (an entry always keeps at least two lines).

Each line can also name a customer or vendor in the Name column. The name shows on the entry and in Transaction Detail. Journal entries never count toward 1099 totals, which include vendor payments and bank-feed transactions coded to the vendor.

The drawer totals debits and credits as you type. The entry is only accepted once it balances — total debits equal total credits and the total is greater than zero. Until then, Create Entry stays disabled and a message reads that debits must equal credits. When you save, LedgerHQ creates the entry as a draft and opens its detail page.

Read And Act On An Entry

The entry detail page opens on Entry #N with a status badge — Draft, Posted, or Void. Below it, a document card shows the entry number, date, reference, source, and timestamps, followed by the journal lines with their Debit and Credit columns and a totals footer. The Difference line reads $0.00 in green when the entry balances.

What you can do depends on the status:

• A draft entry shows Post and Delete. Post commits the entry to the general ledger, at which point it starts affecting reports, registers, and reconciliation. Delete removes the draft.
• A posted manual entry shows Edit and Void. Edit corrects the entry in place. Void reverses the entry in the general ledger and requires a reason, which is recorded on the entry. A posted entry cannot be deleted — voiding is how you undo it while preserving the audit trail.

Every entry, whatever its status, also shows Duplicate. It opens the entry form filled with the original lines and dated today. Adjust anything you need, then save; the copy is saved as a new draft and the original entry is unchanged. Post the draft when it is ready.

Edit A Posted Entry

Select Edit on a posted manual entry to open it in the entry form. Change the date, description, reference, or any line — accounts, memos, and debit or credit amounts — and select Save changes. The entry must still balance. It keeps its entry number, and the previous values are recorded in the audit history.

If the entry moves money in a bank or card account, that account's register updates with it. A bank line that is already in a reconciliation must keep its account, amount, and date; you can still change the entry's other lines. Entries in a closed fiscal year cannot be edited until the year is reopened.

Ask Tally To Undo An Imported Entry

Give Tally the company, entry number, date, and reason for the correction. Tally can inspect imported entries as well as manual entries.

When the entry is linked to a bank row, a research-only request returns an undo preview naming the affected entry and rows. Your direct instruction or approval to remove identified postings authorizes the whole supported correction; it does not require another special confirmation phrase. Fiscal-year and reconciliation protections still apply. A formal reconciliation must be reopened before undoing its linked activity.

The completed bank-row undo voids the original entry and returns its linked row to bank-feed review. Inspect the entry status and bank row afterward. Voiding removes the original balance effect; reversing keeps the original posted and adds an offsetting entry. Use one correction method for an entry, since applying both would over-correct it.

Deleting A Draft Is Permanent

Deleting a draft journal entry from the Journal Entries screen removes it immediately, and the in-app confirmation warns that the removal cannot be undone. There is no separate recovery step for a deleted journal entry, so delete a draft only when you are sure it is not needed.