Fillable Form General Journal

What is a General Journal?

A General Journal is an initial record of all the company’s transactions that are not entered in special journals like sales journals, cash receipts journals, purchase journals, and cash disbursements journals.

A General Journal may include the following type of transactions:

• Accounts receivables
• Accounts payable
• Equipment
• Accumulated depreciation
• Bad debts
• Interest Income
• Interest expense
• Asset sales
• Sale of bonds

A general journal is a part of the accounting record-keeping system of the company. It is also sometimes called the book of original entries because before going into other books, this book documents all of the business's financial transactions.

A bookkeeper or an accountant of a company is usually the one who fills out and maintains a general journal.

How to fill out a General Journal Template?

For your convenience, PDFRun has a General Journal template that you can use. It should be filled out with the following information:

Reference Number

Enter the journal’s reference number.

Source:

Enter the journal’s source.

Note:

There is a table provided in this template which consists of eight columns. You can enter your debit transactions and credit transactions separately using this table.

For Debit Transactions

Account No.

Enter the account number of each transaction.

Debit Amount

Enter the debit amount of each transaction.

Control No.

Enter the control number of each transaction.

Account Name or Explanation

Enter the name of each account involved and a short description about the transaction.

Total Debits

Add the debit amounts of all transactions.

Enter the total debit amount.

For Credit Transactions

Account Name or Explanation

Enter the name of each account involved and a short description about the transaction.

Account No.

Enter the account number of each transaction.

Credit Amount

Enter the credit amount of each transaction.

Control No.

Enter the control number of each transaction.

Total Credits

Add the credit amounts of all transactions.

Enter the total credit amount.

Note & Comments

Enter your notes and comments about the journal entry.

Prepared by & Date

Enter the full legal name of the person who prepared the journal and the date when it was prepared.

Reviewed by & Date

Enter the full legal name of the person who reviewed the journal and the date when it was reviewed.

Approved by & Date

Enter the full legal name of the person who approved the journal and the date when it was approved.

Tips:

• Before writing a General Journal, you must familiarize yourself with the Accounting Cycle. The accounting cycle is a set of procedures used to classify, record, and summarize data for an enterprise and to generate essential financial information.

The accounting cycle is composed of nine steps:

Step 1: Analyze transactions

Step 2: Journalize the data about the transactions

Step 3: Post the data about transactions

Step 4: Prepare a worksheet

Step 5: Prepare financial statements

Step 6: Record adjusting entries

Step 7: Record closing entries

Step 8: Prepare a post-closing trial balance

Step 9: Interpret the financial information

• You should enter the transactions in your general journal in chronological order.
• Try to record each transaction as soon as it takes place to make sure that all the information you entered is accurate.
• In every transaction that you will record, do not forget to include the following: Date, Account Title and Description, Posting Reference, Debit, and Credit.
• Do not be confused with the terms ‘credit’ and ‘debit. When cash is received in a transaction, put the cash account under debit. When cash is paid out in a transaction, put the cash account under credit.

Why should I write a General Journal?

Writing a General Journal has its benefits, some of these are:

• You can keep track of all the transactions made in the company.
• It is used to make your business transactions more organized as it is stored in one place.
• The records in a general journal can be used for taxation and audit purposes.
• It can help in assessing or evaluating the company’s performance in trading and investing.
• It can serve as a basis for the company’s successful and failed transactions; thus, it helps create strategies for better trades and other transactions in the future.
• The information encoded in a general journal will be used to create a general ledger. The ledgers can then be used to make a trial balance and eventually a set of financial statements.

What is the difference between a General Journal and a General Ledger?

A general journal is known as the “book of original entry,” while a general ledger is called the “book of second entry.”

A general journal is the initial record of all the company’s transactions. It is the first place where raw and original data is recorded. The information from the general journal will be transferred into the respective accounts of the general ledger.

A general ledger accounts contain a summary of every recorded transaction data required to create the income statement, balance sheet, and other financial reports of a company. The general ledger accounts' balances and activities are used to compile a company's financial statements. A general ledger monitors five prominent accounting items:

• Assets
• Liabilities
• Owner’s capital
• Revenues
• Expenses

A general journal only requires a simple format while a general ledger is a more formal and structured document. A general ledger uses the “T” format where it requires a date, particulars, and amount on each side.

While the transactions recorded in a general journal are in chronological order, the entries entered on a general ledger are sorted based on affected account types.

The act of recording in a general journal is called “journalizing” while in a general ledger, it is called “posting.”

The narration is required in a general journal because the entry might lose its value if there’s no description. On the other hand, the description field in the general ledger is optional.

Both a general journal and a general ledger are components of a company’s double-entry accounting system. The double-entry accounting system is when every business transaction affects at least two accounts. The transactions are recorded as debits and credits.