Question

What do you post in a general journal and how

Answer 1

The general journal is part of the accounting record keeping system. When an event occurs that must be recorded, it is called a transaction, and may be recorded in a specialty journal or in the general journal. There are four specialty journals, which are so named because specific types of routine transactions are recorded in them. These journals are:

Sales journal

Cash receipts journal

Purchases journal

Cash disbursements journal

There could be more specialty journals, but the four accounting areas represented by these journals contain the bulk of all accounting transactions, so there is usually no need for additional journals. Instead, by default, all remaining transactions are recorded in the general journal.

General Journal Entries

Examples of transactions recorded in the general journal are:

Asset sales

Depreciation

Interest income and expense

Stock sales

Once entered, the general journal provides a chronological record of all non-specialized entries that would otherwise have been recorded in one of the specialty journals.

Journal Entry Format

Transactions are recorded in all of the various journals in a debit and credit format, and are recorded in order by date, with the earliest entries being recorded first. These entries are called journal entries (since they are entries into journals). Each journal entry includes the date, the amount of the debit and credit, the titles of the accounts being debited and credited (with the title of the credited account being indented), and also a short narration of why the journal entry is being recorded.

General Journal Accounting Example

An example of a journal entry that would be recorded in the general journal is:

Date Account Debit Credit

June 30 Depreciation expense 10,000  

Accumulated depreciation 10,000

(To record depreciation for the month of June)

In summary, an accounting transaction is recorded into a journal, and then the information in the journal is posted into the accounts which are stored in the general ledger. The general journal is the repository for transactions that are not recorded in a specialty journal. Thus, the general journal can be considered an intermediate repository of information for some types of information, on the way to its final recordation in the general ledger.