Journal Entries

Journal entries are the foundation of your books. Every financial event — a sale, expense, accrual, or adjustment — is recorded as balanced debit and credit lines. Most entries are generated automatically from invoices, bills, and bank activity. This page is where you create manual adjustments, review what posted, and attach supporting documents.

Key capabilities

• Balanced multi-line entry — debits must equal credits; all amounts are positive
• Manual or AI creation — type lines or draft from a plain-English prompt
• Edit entries by adding, changing, or removing lines while staying balanced
• File attachments (PDF, PNG, JPG) and comment threads per entry
• Creation method distinguishes manual from system-generated entries
• Source audit trail links back to invoices, bills, credit memos, and more
• Bulk CSV/Excel import with preview-and-validate
• Prefilled upload template with your chart of accounts
• Filterable list by ledger, source, creation method, date, and search
• Multi-currency with optional presentment currency

How it works

You add debit and credit lines against ledger accounts. DayZero validates that debits equal credits before saving. An unbalanced entry is rejected with the exact totals.

flowchart TD
  start["New entry"] --> mode{"Manual or AI?"}
  mode -->|"Manual"| lines["Add lines"]
  mode -->|"AI prompt"| draft["AI drafts lines"]
  draft --> lines
  lines --> check{"Balanced?"}
  check -->|"No"| lines
  check -->|"Yes"| posted["Posted to ledger"]

How to use it

1. Open Journal Entries to see date, description, source, and totals.
2. Click New Entry — pick an account, set Debit or Credit, enter amount. The entry must balance before saving.
3. Or click Create Entry with AI and describe the entry in plain English; review drafted lines before saving.
4. Attach supporting documents for the audit trail.
5. To correct an entry, edit lines while keeping debits equal to credits.
6. Filter by ledger, creation method (Manual vs AI), source, or date range.
7. For bulk loads, download the template, fill it in, preview, then post.

Pro tips

• Every line amount is positive — direction is Debit vs Credit, not sign.
• Filter by Manual to isolate hand-typed adjustments from system-generated entries.
• Use the source filter to trace automatic entries (invoices, bills, bank feeds, fixed assets, …).
• The bulk template includes a Ledgers reference sheet — match ledger name or account number.
• Always run bulk-upload preview first — it flags unbalanced entries before you commit.
• Attach source documents to adjusting entries for faster month-end review.

In-depth guide

Entry anatomy

Creation method and source

Entries in a locked accounting period cannot be modified. Bulk import groups rows by entry number or shared date + description; flexible column aliases (Date, Ledger Name, Debit, Credit, Dr, Cr) are accepted.