Journal
In accounting, journal means the chronological record of entries, before they are summarized by account.
- Layer
- Lexicon
- Defined in
- Lexicon
- Components
- 3
Not a rule
Bookkeeping convention — not codified. US GAAP governs recognition, measurement and presentation — not the mechanics a bookkeeper uses to get there. Anyone citing a standard for this word is citing the wrong thing.
Every citation in this system, with the text we read and the date we checked it, is in US GAAP and where these rules come from.
The lesson that teaches this
Accounting, 0 to 1 — a free course taught end to end on one month of one company, with the spreadsheet exercises to work it yourself.
Journal, in use
Quoted from the 6 documents that use the word — what it does to an interface, in the spec's own sentence.
The ledger core (family 9) comes before the statements, because a statement is a view over journal entries and building it the other way round produces a statement that can't drill down.
The source order of a journal is itself information; a table you can sort but never un-sort has taken it away.
Each has a distinct shape, and AdjustingEntryForm offers them as templates rather than a blank journal entry.
For founders
The same idea written for a founder: what it costs a startup that ignores it, and what to do in a real month.
- General ledger and double-entry bookkeeping, explainedHow double entry works: journal entries, debits and credits, normal balances, running balances, the trial balance, and why posted entries are reversed.
- Chart of accounts for startups: a starting templateA starting chart of accounts for a US startup: number ranges, the expense accounts you need, and when to add an account versus a class or tracking tag.
- Payroll journal entries, from gross to netGross wages, employer taxes, withholding and net pay as journal entries: what each payroll run books, how to accrue it at month end, and where benefits go.
What it is not called
Each of these is a real word for a different thing. Using it here is what makes a product read as though it was built by someone who has not done the work.
- log
- history
Components that render this
The concept is not documentation-only. These are the components that name it in their specification, grouped and stated exactly as the catalog states them.
Components that render the terms it depends on
Little in the catalog names this concept outright, but its definition is built out of others that are named. These render account.
2Cards
Family spec3Payments
Family spec6Statements
Family spec- AccountPickerShows the normal balance. Blocks non-postable accounts.
- AccountTieOutEvery BS account, proven against its evidence.
- ChartOfAccountsHierarchy, statement mapping, unsupported-account flags.
- AccountRegisterGL detail with a running balance.
- DimensionPickerEntity always required; renders what the account demands.
Terms this one depends on
Also in Foundations
Work with this concept
The calculators that compute it and the ledger payloads that carry it. A definition is where a reader starts; these are where they go next.
Defined in Lexicon. This page is generated from that document, so the two cannot disagree.