Specimen of Journal

The word journal comes from the French word jour, which implies daily records. Transactions are reported in this book in the order in which they occur, i.e., in chronological order from the source text. It’s also known as the initial entry book, and every transaction is referred to as a journal entry. In layman’s terms, a journal is a record you keep of daily happenings or your ideas, or a magazine on a certain sector or field. In a chronological (day-to-day) arrangement, a journal book documents business transactions based on the source document. As a result, a journal is described as a book in which all transactions are documented as they occur. The transactions from this book are then posted to the appropriate accounts.

How to write an entry in a Journal ? 

The steps to creating an accountancy journal entry are as follows.

1. Recognize Transactions

Making a journal entry usually involves three steps. The first step is to identify the business transaction. Obviously, you can’t record a transaction if you don’t know it happened. Using the vehicle as an example, you must determine what transaction occurred. In this situation, the business bought a car. This necessitates the addition of a new asset to the financial statement.

2. Investigate Transactions

Following the identification of an event that has an economic influence on the accounting equation, the business event must be investigated to determine how the transaction altered the accounting equation. The corporation paid cash and received a vehicle when it bought the automobile. Because these are both asset accounts, the entire accounting equation remains unchanged. Although total assets rose and dropped by the same amount, there was still an economic transaction because the money was essentially moved into a vehicle.

3. Journalizing Transactions

After the business event is linked and anatomized, it can be recorded. Journal entries use disbenefits and credits to record the changes of the account equation in the general journal. Traditional journal entry format dictates that debited accounts are listed before credited accounts. Each journal entry is also accompanied by the sale date, title, and description of the event. Because there are so numerous colorful feathers of marketable deals, accountants constantly order them and record them in their own tablet to make it easier to keep track of them. Because this machine was bought with cash, it would veritably clearly be noted in the cash payments journal. Other journals include the deals journal, coping journal, and delinquent accounts journal, among others. For the first time, a journal book methodically documents business transactions in a chronological (day-to-day) order based on a source document. As a result, it’s also known as the Prime as well as Original Entry Book. A journal, in this sense, is a book whereby all transactions are documented as they occur.

Specimen Journal Entries

Journal entries are used to record all company transactions and occurrences in the accounting system and are the initial stage in the accounting cycle. Journal entries are entered in the general journal as business events occur throughout the accounting period to show how the event impacted the accounting equation. When a corporation spends cash to buy a new vehicle, for example, the cash account is reduced or credited, while the vehicle account is raised or debited.

Conclusion 

For the first time, a journal book methodically documents business transactions in a chronological (day-to-day) order based on a source document. As a result, it’s also known as the Prime or Original Entry Book. A journal, in this sense, is a book whereby all transactions are documented as they occur. The transactions from this book are then posted to the appropriate accounts. After determining the account to be debited or credited, each transaction is logged separately. The simplest record of a commercial transaction is the journal entry. It could be simple or complicated. A simple journal entry is one in which only two accounts are used to document a transaction.