Skip to main content
In this tutorial, you’ll enter, post, and reverse your first journal entry: the basic transaction record that every posting in DualEntry, from bills to depreciation, eventually reduces to. By the end, you’ll have a posted entry, a corrected one, and the two records linked to each other.

​
Prerequisites

  • A DualEntry role with permission to post journal entries. Admin, Controller, and Accountant have this permission by default.
  • At least two active accounts in your chart of accounts to enter lines against; for example, an expense account and a bank account.

​
Step 1: Open a new journal entry

  1. Navigate to Accounting → Transactions → Journal Entries and choose New journal entry.
  2. Choose the Company the entry belongs to.
Expected result: an empty entry form with the company set. Set it here rather than later: changing it after you’ve added lines clears any bank or credit card accounts that don’t belong to the new company.

​
Step 2: Date it and add a memo

  1. Set Date to today, or any date in an open accounting period.
  2. Enter a Memo describing the entry, for example “Correcting office supplies miscoding.”
Expected result: nothing posts yet, this just sets the entry’s context. If the date falls in a locked period, DualEntry blocks the save until you choose an open date.

​
Step 3: Enter balanced debit and credit lines

  1. Add a line, choose an account, and enter a Debit amount; for example, your Office Supplies expense account for $50.
  2. Add a second line, choose a different account, and enter a matching Credit amount; for example, your bank account for $50.
  3. Check the totals row at the bottom of the Lines table.
Expected result: the totals row shows debits and credits equal, with the out-of-balance difference at zero in the company’s base currency. DualEntry won’t let the entry post until that difference clears. Entering a debit on a line clears any credit already on that line, and the other way around: a line is one or the other, never both.

​
Step 4: Save and post

  1. Choose Save.
Expected result: where no approval workflow matches the entry, saving posts it to the General Ledger immediately; there’s no separate post step. The entry appears on the Posted tab of the Journal Entries list, and the balances of the accounts you touched update right away. If a workflow does match, the entry stays in Draft with no GL impact until every stage approves; check the Pending Approval tab instead.

​
Step 5: Reverse it

Say you posted the wrong amount, or the wrong account, and need to back it out.
  1. Open the entry from the Posted tab and choose Create Reverse.
  2. Confirm the reversal date. It defaults to the day after the original entry’s posting date, but any date on or after the original works.
  3. Save the reversing entry.
Expected result: a second entry posts with every debit and credit flipped. Each entry shows its counterpart on its Related Records tab, and the accounts you originally touched net back to zero for the pair. An entry that already carries a reversal can’t be reversed a second time; DualEntry warns you before it lets you continue.

​
What you built

You created a balanced journal entry, posted it to the General Ledger, and reversed it with a linked offsetting entry, the same three actions behind every manual correction you’ll make in DualEntry. Create Reverse is the general-purpose way to undo any posted entry after the fact; it’s distinct from setting a reversal date at creation, which schedules the reversal automatically for a future period.

​
What’s next

Last modified on September 16, 2026