Journal and periods

An approved accounting document is the source for a journal entry. The journal records a posting date, period, status, entry number and operation key. Its lines carry debit or credit amounts and point to ledger accounts. A balanced entry gives the Accounting Reviewer a way to compare posted effects with the approved source document. The accounting period holds its start, end and status, so the team can identify the calendar boundary used for the posting.

Start from a real approved expense. Select an Open accounting period and build debit and credit lines under the journal entry. Check their totals before treating the journal and document as Posted. The document’s posting date and posted time then help the Auditor follow the expense into the ledger. If the period is in Review or Closed, the team should resolve the period choice before posting that expense.

• Maintain the account list. Ledger accounts carry code, name, type, active state and organization.
• Choose the period. A journal points to the accounting period used for the posting date.
• Match the effects. Journal lines show the debits and credits; the source document remains linked to the entry.

The operation key helps tie a posting attempt to its operation receipt. This matters if an action is retried after an interruption. Inspect the recorded effect before another attempt creates confusion around the same source document. Reversal is a separate journal outcome and should preserve the connection to the earlier entry.

Set the organization account codes and names before the first live posting. Agree which active accounts represent the petty cash balance and each expense category. Decide who maintains the period calendar, when a period moves from Open to Review and what evidence supports closing it. The team also needs a way to handle a posting date that falls outside the intended period.

Choose how reviewers check balance. A zero difference between total debits and credits is necessary, but the account choice must also match the expense. When a journal is reversed, keep the original entry and the correcting entry available for audit rather than changing the source after posting.

Use a small approved expense whose voucher and receipt have already been checked. Assign the journal to an Open period. Enter the debit to the relevant expense account and the credit to the petty cash account, then compare the totals with the source gross amount. Ask the Accounting Reviewer to trace the document number, journal entry and period. Repeat with unequal debit and credit totals, then with a period in Review, so the team knows what must be corrected before posting.

After a successful posting, open the posted document and compare its date and amount with the journal. Check the operation receipt for the same action before any retry. This closes the handoff from approved source to recorded effect.

• Open Accounting Periods — Periods available for the posting plan, with start and end dates.
• Journal Posting Schedule — Open and Review periods laid out by their dates and organization.
• Posted Documents — Source documents that can be traced to the journal outcome.

Continue with journal posting and reconciliation.