In this article we’ll look at the process of how to enter journal entries in Dynamics 365 Business Central. The purpose of entering journal entries is to post transactions directly to the general ledger.

Setup

To access general journals, navigate to the General Journals window from the drop-down Finance menu. Alternatively, you can enter “general journals” into the search bar.

General Journals

In this example, we will be working in the the Default Batch. Once you have selected the batch you wish to work in, you will be taken to the general journal screen:

The posting date is defined by the working date in the system. You can easily amend this date if it is different from the working date. You can do so by selecting the date picker and picking a date prior or later.

Next, enter the general ledger account number. If you know what the account number starts with, you can begin typing that. Alternatively, you can enter the description in the same field:

The account name and the description will auto-populate once you enter the account number. You can amend the description to adjust as needed. In the “Amount” column, the debits and credits are based on positive and negative values. You can enter a positive or a negative amount and it will auto-populate as a defined amount in one of the two columns.

Single Entry

If you are entering a simple one-sided entry, it can be balanced in one line by using the balance account type and the balance account number. Start by entering an income account:

One you have selected your income account; the line is balanced. You can check this by previewing the posting to see how the entry has affected your general ledger:

Alternatively, you don’t have to use the balance account type, you can leave that section blank, and start a new entry.

Note that the document numbers must remain the same.

If you choose to start a new entry, enter your income account and a negative amount value:

Once done, you can preview the posting and check the general ledger entry. Both methods have the same effects.

Balancing to multiple G/L accounts

If you need to balance against multiple G/L accounts, you can do so by adding another line and balance to another income account:

You can then preview the posting, and post the entry:

Once the entry is posted, we can move into our general ledger entries. Navigate to the General Ledger Entries screen from the search bar:

Here you will be able to see all posted transactions that affect the general ledger. This will include invoices, payments, credit, memos, as well as journal entries.

To see all the lines that you entered, use the document number that was just posted in the search bar.

For further review, click Entry and select Find Entries to review the G/L entry.

For more information, watch this complete walkthrough:

If you have any questions about your Business Central environment, please contact us.