Journal Entries: Key and Create the Accrual

Key a manual journal and put it in the ledger

Steps 2 to 5 of the journal entries guide: key March’s rent accrual, a balanced journal with a branch on every line, and create it. It follows Step 1, where you opened a new entry on the journal list. The running example is GadgetSphere’s accrual for March rent the landlords of its 22 branches have not yet invoiced (Meet GadgetSphere). Check Before you start first: the period must be open to journals.

Step 2: fill in the journal header for the rent accrual.
Step 3: add the debit and credit lines and watch the running totals.
Step 4: set the branch on every line and tag any analytical dimensions.
Step 5: create the journal and confirm it is in the ledger.

Step 2: Fill in the journal header for the rent accrual

Finance > Ledger and Journal Applet > Journal Transaction > New > Main tab

On the Main tab, set Date to 31 March 2026 - this is the accounting date the entry will appear under on every report, regardless of when you actually type it in. The posting date (when you click Save) is captured separately for the audit trail.

In Reference Number, type something you and the auditor can recognise later: a pattern like JV-2026-03-RENT works well. You will reuse the same pattern (JV-2026-03-DEPN, JV-2026-03-CORR) for the other two journals tonight, so future you can find all three of March’s manual entries with one filter.

In Description, write a sentence in plain English: “March 2026 rent accrual - 22 branches, landlord invoices pending”. Anyone opening the journal next year should understand why it exists without phoning you. Leave Branch on the header blank for now - this journal touches 22 branches and you will tag the branch on each line instead.

Watch out for: if Save later fails with a message about the fiscal period being locked, the date you chose falls in a month that has already been closed; change Date to one still open or ask your finance manager to reopen the period.

Step 3: Add the debit and credit lines and watch the running totals

Finance > Ledger and Journal Applet > Journal Transaction > New > Lines tab

Switch to the Lines tab and click Add Line. For a simple group-wide rent accrual, two lines are enough: debit Rental Expense for RM 38,500, credit Accrued Liabilities for RM 38,500.

Pick the General Ledger account from the GL Code search - it only offers codes that exist in your chart, so you cannot mistype one into existence, but you can pick a neighbour (Rental Expense - Equipment instead of Rental Expense). Look at the code as well as the name before you move on: the first journal that touches an account quietly creates its sub-ledger, so a wrong pick leaves a stray balance under an account nobody meant to use. For the debit line, choose Rental Expense, enter 38500 in the Debit column, leave Credit blank, and write “March 2026 rent - all branches” in the line description. Click Add Line again. For the credit line, choose Accrued Liabilities, enter 38500 in the Credit column, leave Debit blank.

As you add lines, watch the running totals at the bottom of the table: Total Debit and Total Credit must match before you save. If you want a per-branch breakdown instead of a single lumped accrual, add 22 debit lines (one per branch code, GS-KV-01 to GS-KUC-01) at RM 1,750 each and one credit line for RM 38,500 - the totals will still match and reports filtered by branch will pick up each branch’s share. The clean per-branch number is on purpose: if the rent allocation does not divide evenly, pick a total that does, or absorb the rounding deliberately on one line so Total Debit equals Total Credit to the cent.

Watch out for: if you forget to enter the credit amount on the second line, the Create button stays greyed out - hover over it and the tooltip tells you which condition is unmet (totals differ, total is zero, a line has no GL code, or a header field is empty). The server checks the same thing again on save, so an unbalanced manual journal cannot get into the ledger.

Step 4: Set the branch on every line and tag any analytical dimensions

Finance > Ledger and Journal Applet > Journal Transaction > New > Lines tab, and its Categories sub-tab

Set Branch on every journal line. The form does not force you to - a line with no branch saves without complaint - but a branchless line is invisible to every per-branch report, so treat it as required even though the screen does not. For the rent accrual posted at branch level, set Branch on each debit line to the matching branch code - GS-KV-01 on the first debit line, GS-KV-02 on the second, and so on - so the per-branch Profit Loss Report includes each branch’s share of rent. The credit line to Accrued Liabilities needs a branch too; put it on your head-office branch, where the liability is managed.

Then open the Categories sub-tab on each line for the analytical dimensions GadgetSphere reports on: Segment, Dimension, Project and Profit Center. If your finance manager has set up a Segment for Retail versus Online versus Distribution, tag it: all 22 branches here are Retail, so set Segment to Retail on every debit line. Skip Project and Profit Center on this one.

These tags do not change the accounting at all; they only drive how the numbers are sliced when your finance manager opens the Profit Loss Report later (Group By Branch, Segment, Profit Center, Project or GL Dimension). Tag only what you actually report on - extra tags become noise.

Watch out for: if your finance manager later asks why a branch’s profit and loss is missing its rent share, the debit line is sitting on the wrong branch or on no branch at all; open the journal, fix the line, click UPDATE.

Step 5: Create the journal and confirm it is in the ledger

Finance > Ledger and Journal Applet > Journal Transaction > New > Create

Click Create. There is no draft and no separate Post step - the moment Create succeeds, the journal is in the ledger. The system gives it two running numbers: a tenant-wide Journal No and a Journal No By Company (so GadgetSphere Sdn Bhd, the online sales entity and the distribution entity each keep their own sequence; both numbers are always columns on the listing). The listing also has a Running No. column, built from the company code, the year and month, and the Journal No (for example GS-2603-104512). The Display Running Number setting works backwards on that column: switched on, it hides it; left off, it shows. If you want to see Running No., leave the setting off.

The entry hits the sub-ledger balances instantly, and you are back on the View page for the journal you just created. Note the Journal No somewhere - you will reference it when the auditor asks next year.

If Create fails, the cause is usually one of: the primary ledger is not set up for GS, The selected date falls within a locked fiscal period (March is at LOCK_GL or LOCK_ALL), or Journal not balanced: debit X != credit Y (a rounding slip the button check let through). Fix the underlying issue and click Create again - the form still has all your data.

Watch out for: the journal is live the moment Create succeeds. If you spot a mistake straight away, open it and fix it with UPDATE, or tick it on the listing and press VOID to remove it; once anyone has run a report on it, correct it with a new journal instead (Steps 7 and 8).

What success looks like for this part

On the Journal Transaction listing, filtered to March 2026, JV-2026-03-RENT (RM 38,500) is a row with a blank Document Type. The whole night’s success check adds the other two journals and Error Checking.

Common mistakes in this part

Symptom	Cause	Fix
The Create button stays greyed out although every field looks filled in.	Total Debit and Total Credit differ (often by a rounding cent), the total is zero, a line has no GL code, or Company, Ledger, Currency or Transaction Date is empty.	Hover over the Create button - the tooltip names the unmet condition. Fix that line and the button lights up.

The rest of the night’s mistakes are on the front page.

Next: Steps 6 to 9, clone, correct and check.