Journal Entry Template

Journal Entry Template

This journal entry template will help you construct properly formatted journal entries and provide a guideline for what a general ledger should look like.

Here is a preview of CFI’s journal entry template:

Download the Free Journal Entry Template

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Entering Journal Entries

A journal is the company’s official accounting record of all transactions that are documented in chronological order. While most modern companies use accounting software to enter journal entries, journals were the primary way of recording transactions in the past. While no longer common, understanding how to do a manual journal entry is still important when learning the fundamentals of accounting.

For every single journal entry, debits and credits must be equal to maintain balance in the accounting equation (assets = liabilities + shareholders’ equity). Therefore, when conducting journal entries, you will need to keep in mind four factors:

• Which accounts are affected by the transaction
• Whether each account is increased or decreased
• How much each account is changed by
• Ensuring that the accounting equation maintains balance

The best way to remember how to do journal entries and how each account is affected is through practice. This idea can be extended to all accounting fundamentals, as there are many accounting rules that need to be upheld.

Without proper journal entries, a company’s can quickly find its financial statements in disarray, with many inaccuracies. Use CFI’s journal entry template to help you practice and maintain accuracy with your journal entries.

Example of a Journal Entry – Purchasing Inventory

Purchased inventory costing $75,000 for $5,000 in cash and the remaining $70,000 on the account.

DR Inventory              75,000

CR Cash                                     5,000

CR Accounts Payable             70,000

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More Free Templates

For more resources, check out CFI’s Business Templates Library to download numerous free Excel modeling, PowerPoint presentations, and Word document templates.

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