QuickBooks 2005: The Missing Manual

Filling in General Journal Entry Fields

Each line of a general journal entry includes a number of fields, although for most general journal entries, the key fields are the Account, either the Debit or Credit field, and the Memo field. But every field comes in handy at some point, so they're all worth knowing about. Here's what each field does and when you might fill them in:

• Account. Choose the account that you want to debit or credit. Every line of every general journal entry must have an assigned account.

• Debit. If you want to debit the account on the line, type the amount of the debit in this field.

• Credit. If you want to credit the account on the line, type the amount of the credit in this field.

• Memo. Entering a memo is a huge help when you go back to review your journal entries. For example, if you're reclassifying an uncategorized expense, type something like "Reclassify expense to correct account."

• Name. If you're debiting or crediting an Accounts Receivable or Accounts Payable account, you must choose a name, as explained in the "Creating Opening Balances with Journal Entries" box on page 365. However, you might also fill in the Name field if you're creating a journal entry for billable expenses and want to assign the expenses to a customer.

• Billable. The column to the right of the Name column doesn't have a text heading, but the icon is meant to represent a flag for billable expenses. When you choose a name in the Name field, QuickBooks automatically adds the billable ...