What is journal entry? Meaning and explanation

The general journal (memoriaal) is the journal for everything that does not belong in the purchase, sales, bank or cash journal. A journal entry consists of at least one debit and one credit line that balance, with a description of why the entry was made. Typical journal entries are monthly depreciation, recording or releasing accruals and deferrals, correcting a wrongly booked invoice, payroll entries and clearing a suspense account.

For a firm, journal entries are indispensable at the month-end and year-end close, but they are also sensitive. Because there is no external document behind them, a clear description and supporting evidence in the file are important for later review. Many journal corrections for the same kind of error suggest that ongoing processing should be adjusted, for example with a fixed rule for a supplier.

Autoboeker focuses on processing invoices, receipts and bank transactions, not on making journal entries. It does support accruals and deferrals as part of processing, processed entries can be edited again, and corrections are stored in the feedback history so the same error does not recur in similar entries.