Overview
The Journal entry function is used to enter opening balances (as provided from Accountant) into the Beacon General Ledger system.
Journal Entry is also used to correct any incorrect entries that have been entered into the General Ledger, Customers and Suppliers. Each journal will debit an account or accounts and credit an account or accounts. The balance of every journal must be zero ($0.00) as the debits and credits for every journal must be equal.
These entries are usually done after consultation with your Accountant or Beacon Support personnel.
Journal Entries can be performed manually as individual entries or Journals can be imported from an Excel spreadsheet into Beacon. The import process is usually used after consultation with your Accountant or Beacon Support personnel. For further details on importing a journal from Excel into Beacon, please contact Beacon Support.
Page 66 of 111 Journal Entry Procedure
Selecting Journal Entry will open the Beacon Journal Entry screen as shown below.
To process a Journal entry the following information is required to be completed.
Select the date of the Journal Entry
Select the GL Period that the Journal is to be posted to.
Enter a description for the Journal.
Enter the GL Account code and the value – select either Debit or Credit as required, followed by the Accept button to record the first line of the Journal. This process is then repeated as
required selecting either Debit or Credit for each GL account and amount.
A journal entry can involve multiple accounts and amounts can be either Debit or Credit, however the result must always equal $0.00
Selecting Journal Entry will open a blank Journal Entry screen
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Beacon will not allow you to save an Unbalanced Journal Entry as shown in the example below.
This record cannot be saved as the Debit & Credit amounts do not equal $0.00 this needs to be corrected before the record can be saved.
To correct the above example Click the OK button and then key in the correct amounts. In this example the Cash at Bank entry should be $100.00
After the mistake has been corrected Beacon will allow the Journal to be saved.
An incorrect amount has been keyed and Debit &
Credit amounts do not equal 0.00
The Journal does not balance.
The Journal must balance before Beacon will allow the record to
be saved
Page 68 of 111 Example Journal Entry
The following example of a Journal Entry will show how to correct a mistake made in Beacon using the Journal Entry. The example below shows a receipt from an account customer that has been entered twice. The balance owing on the account was $809.30 and because the receipt has been entered twice the current balance is in credit (-$809.30).
Both the Customer account balance and the GL Bank account are incorrect.
A journal entry can be used to correct the Customer account and return the balance to $0.00
And the double keying of the transaction can clearly be seen in the transaction listing of the Customer account.
An overview of this situation is:
The account customer balance has been decreased twice by the amount of the payment
$809.30
And the Bank Account has been increased twice by the amount of the payment.
To correct this, the customer account needs to be increased by the amount of the payment to take the account balance back to $0.00.
The bank account also needs to be decreased by the same amount to correct the balance of the Bank account.
The double entry of the payment has resulted in a balance
of -$809.30
The second payment entry is incorrect
Page 69 of 111 Record the Journal Entry
Select Journal Entry to open the Journal Entry screen and set the dates and also the GL period.
These will default to the current date and GL period and only need to be changed if a different date or period is required.
Provide a description for the Journal – Correct Balance -Account 215
Account 215 is the Customer account code and the Journal entry screen requires a General Ledger code. At enter a Journal to any Customer account the GL account for Trade Debtors has to be selected. Either enter the GL Account for Trade Debtors or – Click on the magnifying glass to search for the account.
Select Trade Debtors. The Debtor Details screen will be displayed. Enter the customer code 215 as shown in the example below.
Key in the amount in the appropriate field or fields. In this case the amount needs to be entered into the Current balance field.
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Click on the OK button to close the Debtor Details screen and return to the Journal Entry screen. The system will automatically select to Debit or Credit the GL Trade Debtors Account from the details entered in the Debtor details screen. If a negative amount was entered in the Debtor details screen, then the amount displayed for the first line of the Journal would be Credit not Debit.
The Journal now requires the other side of the transaction to be entered. In this example the Bank Account needs to be credited by the same amount to balance the journal.
Select the GL Bank Account and the Banking Details window will open as shown below.
The amount of $809.30 has to be removed from the bank account, select Payment radio button and then enter in the amount of the payment as shown below.
Page 71 of 111 Click the OK button to return to the Journal Entry screen.
The Journal Entry has been completed and balance of the journal is $0.00.
The Journal can be saved.
The result of this journal entry is shown below in the Enquiry screen for customer account 215.
The balance of the Customer account is now correct.
Debit & Credit amounts have been entered and the Journal balances.
The journal can now be saved
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Account balance is now reduced to $0.00
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