Manual Journals

Manual Journals

In reality, accountants use journals to record debit and credit entries for transactions in the general ledger, in a chronological order. The main types of journals are the Sales Journal, Purchase Journal, Cash Disbursement Journal, and Cash Receipt Journal.

In Zoho Books, manual journals allow you to record unique financial transactions that can’t be recorded normally. For example, if you need to record a monthly depreciation rate, you can use a manual journal for that specific entry.

Approval Statuses of a Manual Journal

Depending on whether you’ve enabled approvals for manual journals or not, it goes through the following statuses:

Journal Status	Description	Applicable When
Draft	The manual journal is created and saved as a draft.	Approvals is enabled or disabled
Pending Approval	The manual journal is waiting for approval.	Approvals is enabled
Approved	The manual journal is approved and ready to be published.	Approvals is enabled
Rejected	The manual journal is rejected.	Approvals is enabled
Published	The manual journal is finalized and recorded in the accounts.	Approvals is enabled or disabled

Record Manual Journals

You can record manual journals in Zoho Books either by creating new journals or importing them.

Create Manual Journals

To create a manual journal:

• Go to Accountant on the left sidebar and select Manual Journals.
• Click + New Journal in the top right corner.
• In the New Journal page, enter the required details:

• Click Save as Draft or Save and Publish.

The journal will be created.

Import Manual Journals

To import manual journals into Zoho Books:

• Go to Accountant in the left sidebar and select Manual Journals.
• Click the More icon in the top right corner of the page and select Import Journals.
• Click Choose File to select and import the required file. You can also download a sample file for reference.
• Check the option Auto-generate Journal Numbers to automatically generate journal numbers. The journal numbers in your import file will be ignored.
• Click Next.
• In the Map Fields page, check if the fields are correctly mapped with the headers of the import file.
• Click Next.
• In the Preview page, click Import.

Reports

Generally, the Balance Sheet and Profit and Loss reports are affected when manual journals are recorded. For additional reports, go to Reports in the left sidebar, where you can view the General Ledger, Trial Balance, and Journal Report.

Manual Journals for Bank Accounts

You can also create manual journals using the bank accounts you’ve added in Zoho Books. After creating a manual journal, the recorded transaction will appear as a Manually Added transaction under the respective bank account, listed as either a withdrawal or a deposit.

You can match a manually added transaction with an uncategorised transaction. Here’s how:

• Go to Banking on the left sidebar.
• Select the bank account where you want to match the transactions.
• Select an uncategorised transaction to match.
• The best possible matches will be displayed in the right pane, including the manually added transaction if the date and amount are the same.
• Click Match next to the required transaction.

Export Manual Journals

You can export your manual journals from Zoho Books that can be password-protected. Learn more about exporting data in Zoho Books.

Other Actions

There is a list of actions you can perform on the Manual Journals module of Zoho Books:

• Edit Manual Journals
• Download as PDF
• Print Manual Journals
• Attach Files
• Clone Manual Journals
• Delete Manual Journals
• Bulk Print Manual Journals
• Manual Journals Custom Fields

Edit Manual Journals

To edit a manual journal in Zoho Books:

• Go to Accountant on the left sidebar and select Manual Journals.
• Select the manual journal to be edited.
• Click Edit at the top of the journal’s Details page.
• Make the necessary changes and click Save.

The respective manual journal will be updated.

Download as PDF

To download a manual journal in Zoho Books:

• Go to Accountant on the left sidebar and select Manual Journals.
• Select the manual journal to be downloaded as PDF.
• Click PDF/Print at the top of the journal’s Details page and select PDF from the dropdown.

Print Manual Journals

To print a manual journal in Zoho Books:

• Go to Accountant on the left sidebar and select Manual Journals.
• Select the manual journal to be printed.
• Click PDF/Print at the top of the journal’s Details page and select Print from the dropdown.
• In the pop-up that appears, check for the preview and click Print.

Attach Files

You can attach necessary files to a manual journal. Here’s how:

• Go to Accountant on the left sidebar and select Manual Journals.
• Select the manual journal for which you want to attach files.
• Click Attach Files in the top right corner of the journal’s Details page.
• Click Upload your Files and select the required files to be attached.

The respective file will be attached with the manual journal.

Clone Manual Journals

If you want to create a journal with details similar to an existing one, you can clone it. Here’s how:

• Go to Accountant on the left sidebar and select Manual Journals.
• Select the journal you want to clone.
• Click the More icon at the top of the journal’s Details page and select Clone from the dropdown.
• Make the necessary changes and click Save as Draft or Save and Publish.

The respective journal will be cloned.

Delete Manual Journals

To delete a manual journal in Zoho Books:

• Go to Accountant on the left sidebar and select Manual Journals.
• Select the journal to be deleted.
• Click the More icon at the top of the journal’s Details page and click Delete from the dropdown.
• In the pop-up that appears, click Yes, Delete to confirm.

Bulk Print Manual Journals

Once you customize the journal PDF template, you can print journals in bulk in Zoho Books.

To print journals in bulk:

• Go to Accountant on the left sidebar and select Manual Journals.
• Select the journals you want to print in bulk.
• Click the Print icon at the top of the page.
• In the Preview pop-up, click Print in the top right corner.

The selected journals will be printed in bulk.

Custom Fields for Journals

To create custom fields for manual journals:

• Go to Settings.
• Select Accountant under Preferences.
• Navigate to the Journal Custom Fields tab.
• Click + New Custom Field in the top right corner.
• In the New Custom Field page, enter the required details and click Save.

Multiple Choice Question

Summary Table: Manual Journal Best Practices

Best Practice	Description
Use Sparingly	Limit manual journal entries to non-routine transactions.
Provide Clear Descriptions	Clearly explain the purpose of each entry.
Attach Supporting Documents	Attach invoices, receipts, or other relevant documents.
Get Approval	Implement an approval process for manual journals.
Review Regularly	Periodically review your manual journals for accuracy.