Create journal templates
Find this screen
Open: Nominal > Enter Transactions > Journal Templates
How to
Create a template with no values
Open: Nominal > Enter Transactions > Journal Templates
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Click Add to create a new template.
Then on the Journal Template Entry screen:
- Enter a Name for the journal. You must enter a unique name for each journal template.
- Select Accounts Only from the Template type drop-down list.
- Choose how often the template should be used:
- Unlimited uses: Select this to allow the journal to be used any number of times.
- Max no. of uses: Select this to limit the number of times it can be used. Enter a value up to 99.
- Enter a date range if you want to restrict when the template can be used.
- If the template has no date range, clear the Start Date and leave the End Date blank.
- Start date: Enter the earliest date the template can be used. To use it straight way leave this as today's date.
- End date: Enter the latest date the template can be used. Leave this date blank if the template has no date range.
- Click in the Template contents to add a line. For each nominal account enter the following:
- Code - the nominal account code.
- Narrative - a description of the transaction. This defaults to the template name but you can add a different description for each nominal account if you want to.
- Transaction Analysis - Use this column to choose a transaction analysis code from the drop-down list . The column shows the heading you've entered in the System Settings. The list contains the transaction analysis codes you've set up.
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Leave the Debit and Credit columns blank.
- Click OK to save template.
Create a template with fixed values
This creates a template which also has the debit and credit amounts. Use this to create journals that you post regularly to the same nominal accounts and for the same amounts.
Before you can save a template with values, the total of the debits must equal the total credits and the Balance must be 0.00.
Open: Nominal > Enter Transactions > Journal Templates
-
Click Add to create a new template.
Then on the Journal Template Entry screen:
- Enter a Name for the journal. You must enter a unique name for each journal template.
- Select Value from the Template type list.
- Choose how often the template should be used.
-
Enter a date range if you want to restrict when the template can be used.
- If the template has no date range, clear the Start Date and leave the End Date blank.
- Start date: Enter the earliest date the template can be used. To use it straight way leave this as today's date.
- End date: Enter the latest date the template can be used. Leave this date blank if the template has no date range.
- Click in the Template contents to add a line and enter the nominal account details.
- Enter a Debit or Credit amount for each line.
- Click OK to save the template.
Create a template with percentage values
This creates a template which also has the debit and credit amounts. Use this to create journals that you post regularly to the same nominal accounts and for the same amounts.
Before you can save a template with values, the total of the debits must equal the total credits and the Balance must be 0.00.
Open: Nominal > Enter Transactions > Journal Templates
-
Click Add to create a new template.
Then on the Journal Template Entry screen:
- Enter a Name for the journal. You must enter a unique name for each journal template.
- Select Percentage from the Template type list.
- Choose how often the template should be used.
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Enter a date range for the template.
If the template has no date range, leave the End Date blank.
- Click in the Template contents to add a line and enter the nominal account details.
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Enter a Debit or Credit percentage for each line. The totals of the debit and credit values must both equal 100. For example, you might enter two debit lines of 75 and 25, and a single credit line of 100.
- Click OK to save the template.
Amend an existing template
Open: Nominal > Enter Transactions > Journal Templates
- Select the template from the list in the Current Templates panel.
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Click Edit.
The template details are displayed on the Journal Template Entry screen.
- Make your amendments.
- Click OK.
Find an existing template
If you have a long list of templates, you can use the Find option to filter the list by column.
Open: Nominal > Enter Transactions > Journal Templates
- Right-click in the list section.
- Choose Find.
- Enter the text to search for in the Find field.
- Choose the column to search in from the In column list.
- Choose whether to match the Start, Any or Whole text.
- To filter the list, click Find First and Find Next.
- To change the filter or see the whole list, click Clear Filters.
Useful info
About journal templates
Journal templates enable you to create a library of reusable journals.
For example, you transfer set amounts between nominal accounts on a regular basis so you create and use a template to hold the details of the nominal accounts posted to and the amounts involved.
Each journal template can be amended or deleted when required. Once you have created the template, you can select it and use its details as the base for a new journal.
The three template types
There are three types of journal template. You can create a journal template with or without values in the debit and credit boxes. You can also specify percentages instead of values, which is useful should you need to create journals that automatically apportion an amount across several transaction lines, such as distributing an expense across cost centres or departments.
In these templates you indicate the nominal accounts into which transactions are to be posted but do not specify the transactions amounts.
When you set up these templates you:
- Give the template a name.
- Indicate the number of times it can be used (or set to unlimited uses).
- Select the nominal accounts to which journal transactions will be posted.
When you use a template of this type you need to specify the amounts that are to be posted to the nominal accounts. You can change the nominal accounts if you need to before you post the journal transactions.
In these templates you indicate the nominal accounts and the value of the transactions that are to be posted to them.
When you set up these templates you:
- Give the template a name.
- Indicate the number of times it can be used (or set to unlimited uses).
- Select the nominal account to which journal transactions will be posted.
- Specify the amount to be posted to each nominal account.
Although these templates are designed so that you can post from them immediately, you can update the nominal accounts or the values to be posted if you need to.
If you create a journal template that uses percentage terms, you need only enter one figure when processing the journal and the remaining values are calculated automatically.
For example, the following journal template has been set up to distribute heating costs across cost centres:
Account | Cost Centre / Department | Dr / Cr | Value |
---|---|---|---|
Heating costs - general | Cr | 100% | |
Heating costs | DP1 | Dr | 30% |
Heating costs | DP2 | Dr | 40% |
Heating costs | DP3 | Dr | 30% |
This journal template is used to distribute costs of a heating bill for the general heating account. If the bill amount is 400, the posting values would be automatically calculated as follows when the amount is entered.
Account | Cost Centre / Department | Debit | Credit |
---|---|---|---|
Heating costs - general | 400.00 | ||
Heating costs | DP1 | 120.00 | |
Heating costs | DP2 | 160.00 | |
Heating costs | DP3 | 120.00 |
Where the percentage for the first account is less than 100%, any rounding errors encountered are added to, or subtracted from, the last account in the list.
What happens when
What happens when I save a template?
It is added to the list of templates that displays on the Nominal Journal Entry screen. The template can be selected for use as the base for new journal entries.
Other useful information