Post a manual journal entry

Record an adjustment directly in the ledger with balanced debit and credit lines, and reverse a posted entry with a mirror-image entry when it was wrong.

In the sidebar, open Bookkeeping, then Accounting, then Journal Entries. The page address is /bookkeeping/journal-entries. A new entry opens at /bookkeeping/journal-entries/new.

Before you start

• Most of your books post on their own from invoices, payments, expenses and categorized bank lines. Use a journal entry only for something those do not cover, such as depreciation or an adjustment your accountant asked for.
• Debits and credits must be equal before Nova will post the entry.
• Your role needs permission to post journal entries. Reversing needs its own permission.

Steps

1. Press New journal entry. The New journal entry window opens with two empty lines.
2. Journal entry number fills in with your next number. Keep it, or type your own.
3. Set the Date (it starts at today) and type a Memo that says what the entry is for.
4. On the first line, pick the Account and type either a Debit or a Credit amount. Typing in one clears the other. Add a Description if the line needs one.
5. Fill in the second line the same way, with the opposite side.
6. Press + line for more lines, and Remove on a line you do not need. Two lines are always kept.
7. Watch the Totals row. It reads Balanced when debits equal credits, or Out of balance by the difference.
8. Press Post journal entry. Nova shows Journal entry posted., closes the window and the entry appears in the list with the status posted.

What you see

• The list shows each entry's Journal number, Date, Memo and Status, newest first. Click a row or choose View to see its lines with each Account, Debit, Credit and Description.
• Only entries made on this page appear here. Postings that came from invoices, expenses and bank lines show in each account's register instead; see Add an account to your chart of accounts.
• The search box matches the memo or the number.

If something looks different

• New journal entry is missing: your role cannot post journal entries.
• Post journal entry stays greyed out: the entry is out of balance, has fewer than two lines with an account and an amount, or the organization's currency settings are incomplete.
• Posting fails with a message that the accounting period is closed: that date is inside a closed period. See Close the books for a period.
• The window you open from the list is titled Unnamed journal entry: that is how Nova titles every entry; the number is under Journal entry number.
• A posted entry was wrong: open it and press Reverse entry, or choose Reverse from its row. In Reverse journal entry, pick a Reason category, add a Business explanation if asked, and press Post reversal. Nova shows Journal entry reversed with a new balancing entry. It posts a mirror-image entry dated today, so the two net to zero. The reversal is not listed on this page (it shows in each account's register), and the original stays in the list as posted without the Reverse option. Then post the correct entry fresh.
• Reverse is missing on an entry: your role cannot reverse entries, or the entry was already reversed.

New journal entry