Set up a recurring journal entry

Schedule a balanced journal entry, such as monthly rent or depreciation, to post itself on a cadence, then pause, resume or run it early.

In the sidebar, open Bookkeeping, then Accounting, then Recurring Entries. The page address is /bookkeeping/recurring-entries. A new one opens at /bookkeeping/recurring-entries/new.

Before you start

• Work out the entry once as a normal journal entry first, so you know the accounts and amounts; see Post a manual journal entry.
• Your role needs permission to create recurring entries. Editing, pausing, resuming and running each need their own permission.

Steps

1. Press New recurring entry. The New recurring entry window opens.
2. Type a Name, for example Monthly rent, and a Memo for the entries it will create. Without a memo, each entry is labelled Recurring: and the name.
3. Set Next run to the first date it should post. It starts at today.
4. Set how often: a number under Every and a Unit of day, week, month or year. It starts at 1 month.
5. To make it stop on its own, set End date (opt) or a number under Max runs (opt). Leave both blank to run until you pause it.
6. Fill in the lines: pick the Account and type a Debit or a Credit on each. Press + line for more; Remove takes one away.
7. Check the Totals row reads Balanced rather than Must balance.
8. Press Create recurring entry. Nova shows Recurring entry created. and it appears in the list with the status active.

What you see

• The list shows each entry's Name, Cadence (for example every 1 month), Next run, Remaining runs (∞ when there is no limit) and Status. Click a row or choose View to see its lines, End date and Last run.
• Nova checks once a day and posts every entry whose next run date has arrived, catching up any dates it missed, then moves Next run forward. The posted entries show in each account's register (see Add an account to your chart of accounts), not on the Journal Entries page.
• Run due now at the top posts every entry whose next run date is today or earlier, without waiting. Nova tells you how many entries it posted.

If something looks different

• Create recurring entry stays greyed out: the name is blank, the lines are out of balance, or fewer than two lines have an account and an amount.
• You need to change the amounts: choose Edit from the row's actions menu, change the lines and press Save changes. Nova shows Recurring entry updated. Edits only affect future runs. A paused or completed entry has no Edit.
• You cleared End date (opt) or Max runs (opt) while editing, but the old value is still there: an edit can change these but not remove them. Pause the entry instead when it should stop.
• You want it to stop for a while: choose Pause from the actions menu or the entry's window. You can add a reason, then press Pause entry. Entries already posted stay as they are. Choose Resume when it should carry on; it takes effect straight away.
• Run due now posted fewer entries than you expected: a run date falls in a closed period. Nova holds that entry until the period is reopened (see Close the books for a period).
• The Status reads completed: it reached its end date or its maximum runs.
• Filters narrows the list by Status to Active or Paused.

New recurring entry