Within the General Ledger module you may set up as many journals as you desire to collect accounting information from other applications.

You could simply set up one journal, call it GL for General Ledger and post everything to that. Or, you could set up one or more journals for each application on your system. Each application that interfaces with the General Ledger allows you to specify the journal that collects the entries. If you are using reversing entries, you can either set up a separate journal to record reversing entries, or use one journal for both original and reversing entries to make reconciliation easier.

There are advantages to using multiple journals. The most obvious reason is that it allows you to collect the data from each application separately so that you can easily track entries. You do not have to sift through hundreds of lines in just one journal to find all the entries from a certain application; they will all be grouped together in one place. You may also specify the amount of detail interfaced to the general ledger journals from each module, so some journals may contain lines and lines of detail posting, while others may have just a few summarized entries.

Use the GL Journal program to set up journals. Throughout the accounting system you will be required to indicate which journal will receive the GL entries. Your entry will be validated by searching the journals set up in GL Journals. The following list displays the maintenance programs where the journals are specified and the name of the journal(s) requested.

You may also wish to set up a GJ (General Journal) to collect the entries posted manually in the General Ledger module, as well as any special journals that you may desire (such as reversal journals).