Table Of Contents
1. The Meaning Of Journal
2. Types Of Journals
The Meaning Of Journal
The word journal is derived from the french word “jour” which means day. So journal means daily. It is a book of orignal entry which is used to record the following:
a. The credit purchase or credit sales of business property.
b. The correction of errors made in the books of account.
c. The opening of new books of account.
A journal has the following columns:
Date Column
Particulars Column
Folio Column
Debit Column
Credit Column
The date column shows the date on which the transaction is recorded. The particulars column shows the name of the account(s) to be credited, the name(s) of the account to be credited and explains the nature of the transaction which results in these entries. This explanation is called “Narration” or the “Narrative”. The debit column shows the amount to be debited to the account(s) named in the particulars column.
Types Of Journals
a. General Journal:
A general journal is were double entry book-keeping entries are recorded by debiting one or more account and crediting another one or more accounts with the same total amount. The total amount debited and the total amount credited should always be equal, thereby ensure that the accunting equation is maintained.
A general Journal entry include:
– The date of the transaction
– Title of the acounts debited and credited.
– The amount of cash debit and credit.
– Explanation of the transaction also known as narration.
b. Special Journal:
The special journal is another book of original entry wher the details of transaction are first recorded. It helpto transfer items between accounts and it facilitates the correction of errors that may occur during the process of book-keeping. Sales and purchases are the most sales and purchase are the most common transactions for the business firm.
Types Of Special Journals:
The types of special journal that a business uses are determined by the nature of the business. Journal that are frequently used by business organizations. They are;
Sales Journal:
This is used to record all sales of the bbuusiness account from the copy of sales invoice, showing the date, the name of the firm to whom the goods have been sold, the number of the invoice for reference purpose and the net amount of the invoice.
Purchase journal:
This is used to record only purchases of a business account. It is also called purchase day book. The entire of crtedit purchase in the book follow a similar pattern to that of credit sales. The amount an the invoice is listed on the purchase day book and the item are then posted to the credit of a personal account in the purchase ledger. At the end of the period, the total purchase day book will be transferred to purchase day book will be transferred to the debit account in the general ledger.
Return Outwards Journal:
When good are returned to a supplier, a document called debit note is sent to him, stating the amount of allowance to which the firm is entitled. This note also cover any allowance due before the good bought became deficient in some ways.
They closing balance on return outward journal is credited to the purchase journal and the transfer en tries will be effected by debiting individual supplier’s account.
Return Inwards Journal:
This is a book of original entry for recording sales returns. The source document used is the copy of credit note sent to the customers. In transit, poor finishing or difference in size or colour from customer’s order. The format of the return inward books is the same as the sales day book except that, instead of an invoice number column, we have a redit number column.