Chapter 16. Making Journal Entries
Intuit claims that you donât need to know double-entry accounting (Accounting BasicsâThe Important Stuff) to use QuickBooks. Most of the time, thatâs true. When you write checks, receive payments, and perform many other tasks in QuickBooks, the program unobtrusively handles the double-entry accounting for you. But every once in a while, QuickBooks transactions canât help, and your only choice is moving money around directly between accounts.
In the accounting world, these direct manipulations are known as journal entries. For example, if you posted income to your only income account but have since decided that you need several income accounts to track the money you make, journal entries are the mechanism for transporting money from that original income account to the new ones.
The steps for creating a journal entry are deceptively easy; itâs assigning money to accounts in the correct way thatâs maddeningly difficult for weekend accountants. And unfortunately, QuickBooks doesnât have any magic looking glass that makes those assignments crystal clear. This chapter gets you started by showing you how to create journal entries and providing examples of journal entries youâre likely to need.
Note
In the accounting world, youâll hear the term âjournal entry,â and see it abbreviated JE. Although QuickBooks uses the term âgeneral journal entryâ and the corresponding abbreviation GJE, both terms and abbreviations refer to the same ...
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