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Journals

Journals and ledger accounts

Journals and ledger accounts, without a separate bookkeeping job. Every invoice, receipt, purchase and payment posts its own entry as you go, you post the ones no document covers, and any total in a report opens up to show the ledger account and document underneath.

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The Invoice Office Journal entry screen: journal and opening balance, a payment entry for cash and each bank account, and the purchase and sales entries

How the records build

The invoice writes its own journal entry

Nothing here asks you to record a transaction twice. The document you already had to create is the entry — and where no document exists, you post the entry yourself.

Posted for you
Invoice to ledgerPosted for you
When you need it
Debit & creditWhen you need it
Every figure
Back to sourceEvery figure
Your documents are the entries
An invoice sent, a credit note raised, a purchase registered, a payment matched, a bank line reconciled — each posts its own journal: sales for invoices and credit notes, purchase, payment or bank as appropriate. No second pass writing the same transaction into a ledger by hand.
Journal entry when you need one
Depreciation, an accrual, a correction — the things no document produces. Journal entry gives you a dated, numbered posting with a subject and its own debit and credit lines. Available on a Pro plan.
Opening balance to start from
Coming in partway through a year does not mean starting from zero. Enter your opening balance so the books begin where your old system left off. Available on a Pro plan.
Ledger accounts you control
Add, edit and block ledger accounts, each with its code, its type and the VAT code that applies to it. Balance-sheet accounts and profit-and-loss accounts — bank, cash, stock, cost and the rest — all have their place.
A chooser for the routine postings
A grouped chooser puts the everyday bookings one click away — a journal or opening balance, a payment through any of your bank or cash accounts, or a purchase or sales booking on its control account.
Every figure traces to a document
A number in a report is never the end of the trail. Drill from a profit and loss total to the ledger account report, into the journal entries beneath it, and on to the invoice, credit note, purchase or bank transaction behind them.

In plain terms

What this is, and what it is not

Bookkeeping is where software oversells itself most often. Here is the honest shape of it — what is included, what needs a Pro plan, and where the limits genuinely are.

The whole accounting picture How VAT codes post to these accounts

  • A real ledger, at small-business scale

    Documents post their own journals, and you can post your own when you need to. What it is not is a package built for a finance department with a consolidation group and a month-end close calendar.

  • Manual postings are a Pro feature

    Journal entry, opening balance and the grouped chooser behind them need a Pro plan. Ledger accounts, and the drill-down from your reports, are not gated that way.

  • Your accountant can look for free

    Add your accountant as a guest user: read-only access, no licence, no cost. They can open your profit and loss and balance reports, drill into the journal lines behind any total and read the documents that produced them — without being able to change a thing.

  • And take the numbers with them

    Journal data and ledger accounts export to PDF, Excel or CSV, as do the profit and loss and tax return reports, so whatever your accountant works in the figures arrive usable.

How it works

Record, match, open the report

  1. Step 1Record the work

    Send invoices, register receipts and purchases against their cost categories, and let each document carry its VAT code. Each one posts its own journal as you go.

  2. Step 2Post what no document covers

    Open Journal entry for a depreciation, an accrual or a correction, or set your opening balance when you are migrating in. Both sit on a Pro plan.

  3. Step 3Follow it back

    Run the profit and loss, drill from any total into the ledger account report and the journal entries beneath it, and export what your accountant asks for.

Journal and ledger questions, answered

What posts a journal entry automatically?
Invoices and credit notes post a sales journal, purchases post a purchase journal, and payments and matched bank lines post their own — so the ordinary run of business needs no separate entry. What documents do not cover, you post yourself with a journal entry.
Can I make a manual journal entry?
Yes, on a Pro plan. Journal entry gives you a dated, numbered posting with a subject and its own debit and credit lines — the place for a depreciation, an accrual or a correction that no invoice or receipt produces.
Can I enter an opening balance when I move over?
Yes, on a Pro plan. Opening balance lets you start the books where your previous system finished rather than from zero, which is what makes a mid-year migration workable.
Can I change the ledger accounts?
Yes, and this one is not Pro-gated. You can add, edit and block ledger accounts, each with its code, its type and the VAT code that applies to it. Existing accounts can also be imported from a file.
How do I post a journal without starting from a document?
Open Journal entry. It opens on a grouped chooser for the postings you make repeatedly: a journal or an opening balance, a payment through cash or any of your bank accounts, or a purchase or sales booking that opens on the right control account. It is on a Pro plan.
Can I trace a figure back to its source document?
Yes, and it is the point of the design. Drill from a profit and loss total to the ledger account report, into the journal entries beneath it, and on to the invoice, credit note, purchase or bank transaction that produced it.
Can my accountant get access?
Yes, free of charge. Add them as a guest user: read-only access to your reports, journal data and documents — they can look and not touch. Guest users use no licence.
Is this full double-entry accounting software?
The bookkeeping is double-entry — documents post journals, and you can post your own debit and credit lines. What it is not is a package with a consolidation group and a month-end close calendar.
Can I export the figures for my accountant?
Yes. Journal data and ledger accounts export to PDF, Excel or CSV, as do the profit and loss and tax return reports, so the numbers arrive in whatever format your accountant works in.

More answers in our FAQ and help center.

Related

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Books that keep themselves

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