Make adjustments with a journal voucher

Q: I booked an expense by journal and want to pay it later against this entry.

Tick Applicable for payment reference? when you save the journal. The payment voucher then offers it as a bill to pay Against voucher ( Pay a supplier and what clears what ).

Q: A bill with VAT was booked by journal and is missing from the VAT purchase report.

Open the line and tick Show on VAT register , with the Taxable amount , PAN and Party invoice no . Check the proposed taxable amount: it assumes 13% VAT ( The VAT purchase reports ).

A journal voucher moves value between ledgers when no cash or bank moves: corrections, accruals, write-offs and expenses with TDS. Every debit needs an equal credit. It can also be offered as a bill to pay and can feed the VAT register.

Accounting Journals and notes
6 min read
Updated October 20, 2026

For Accountant

On this page

What it does
Make a journal voucher
What the screen checks
After saving
Common questions

What it does

A journal voucher records a change between ledgers with no money moving through cash or bank. Typical uses: correcting a wrongly booked amount, booking an expense you have not paid yet, writing off a small balance, recording depreciation, or booking an expense with TDS held back. If money moved, use a receipt, payment or contra voucher instead (Which voucher do I use?).

Open Journal voucher (menu Journal Voucher). The list shows the Voucher no, Date, Reference Voucher and Amount, and an Approved or Pending status when your company uses approval for journals. It can be filtered by Approved, Project/Business Unit, Payroll voucher, Ledger, Reference Voucher and more.

Make a journal voucher

Choose Add
Who
Accountant
Where
Journal voucher > Add. With more than one journal series, choose the series first.
What changes
Add journal voucher opens.
Fill the header
What changes
Date, Currency, Project/Business Unit, Reference Voucher (up to 20 characters), and Applicable for payment reference? if this entry should be offered later as a bill to pay (Pay a supplier and what clears what).
Add the lines
What changes
Add a line for each ledger: the General ledger, an optional Sub ledger and Agent, Debit/Credit, the Amount and a Narration. A bank ledger also asks for a Cheque no and Cheque date. The screen shows the ledger's balance and the Total of debits and credits as you go.
Needs
An amount above 0 on every line, and the debits equal to the credits.
Record a VAT bill or TDS, if the line needs one
What changes
A line can carry Show on VAT register (with Taxable amount, Non taxable amount, Party name, PAN, Party invoice no and Party invoice date), so a bill with VAT you booked by journal appears on the VAT purchase reports (The VAT purchase reports). The switch Show vat on sales vat register sends it to the sales register instead. An expense ledger that is set up for TDS adds the Service Supplier, TDS payable ledger, TDS amount and Net pay after TDS (Deduct TDS when you book or pay an expense).
Save
What changes
"Journal voucher (number) saved successfully."

Worked example: a supplier's bill with VAT, booked by journal

XYZ Suppliers sends a repair bill of 10,000 plus VAT of 1,300 (VAT at 13% on this bill). There are no goods to bring into stock, so the accountant books it on one journal voucher:

Line	General ledger	Debit/Credit	Amount	Also on the line
1	Repairs and maintenance	Debit	10,000
2	Your company's purchase VAT ledger	Debit	1,300	Taxable amount 10,000. Show on VAT register on, with the Party name, PAN, Party invoice no and Party invoice date of the bill
3	XYZ Suppliers	Credit	11,300

The Total shows 11,300 on both sides, so the voucher saves. Put Show on VAT register on the VAT line: that line's amount is the VAT, and its Taxable amount is what the VAT was charged on. The Taxable amount box appears only on a line whose ledger is your company's purchase or sales VAT ledger. When you type the amount, the screen proposes the taxable amount as the amount × 100 ÷ 13, which gives 10,000 here; for any other rate, type the right figure over it.

With Include journal voucher on, the VAT purchase report then shows this bill with a taxable amount of 10,000 and VAT of 1,300 (The VAT purchase reports). Switch on Applicable for payment reference? as well, and the 11,300 is offered as a bill to pay when you pay XYZ Suppliers Against voucher (Pay a supplier and what clears what).

What the screen checks

Check	Message
The date is before the fiscal year starts	The financial year for this transaction date has already been closed, so you are not allowed to make a transaction on this date.
No lines	Please provide data details to save the transaction.
Debits and credits differ	Debit and credit amount should be same
A line of 0	Transaction with zero (0) value not allowed.
The project's budget would be passed	Budget limit crossed for this project( business unit )/ budget title
A foreign currency has no rate	Please set the rate for the currency selected.

The budget message appears only when your company switched on Restrict entry based on budget of project/business unit and you chose a Project/Business Unit: the voucher's debits plus what the project has already spent may not go past its estimated cost (Company settings that change buying and vouchers). The full list is in Messages you may see.

After saving

You want to	Do this
Change it	Edit, until it is approved (where approval is on) or its year is locked. A journal made by payroll or by a branch transfer is not edited here (Change or delete a saved voucher)
Remove it	Delete, until its year is locked (not a payroll journal). An approved journal is not deleted: reverse it with a new journal
Start a similar one	Copy to journal voucher
Add many at once	Import from a spreadsheet (Import receipts, payments, contra and journals from a spreadsheet)
Move a balance between branches	The Contra journal voucher tab (Move ledger balances between branches)

Common questions

The screen will not save: "Debit and credit amount should be same".

The total of the debit lines differs from the total of the credit lines. The Total under the lines shows both; add the missing line or correct an amount.

I booked an expense by journal and want to pay it later against this entry.

Tick Applicable for payment reference? when you save the journal. The payment voucher then offers it as a bill to pay Against voucher (Pay a supplier and what clears what).

A bill with VAT was booked by journal and is missing from the VAT purchase report.

Open the line and tick Show on VAT register, with the Taxable amount, PAN and Party invoice no. Check the proposed taxable amount: it assumes 13% VAT (The VAT purchase reports).

How do I record TDS on a service bill?

Debit the expense on a ledger set up for TDS; the line asks for the Service Supplier and the TDS payable ledger and splits the bill into the TDS held back and the Net pay after TDS (Deduct TDS when you book or pay an expense).

I need to undo a journal.

Delete it if it is not approved and its year is not locked. Otherwise make a journal with the same lines the other way round.