By Natalie Williams on Tuesday, 30 August 2011
Category: Microsoft Dynamics GP

Introduction to Dynamics GP: Quick Journals

Welcome to the second entry in a series of posts focusing on some of the basic functionality within Microsoft Dynamics GP. This guide will cover the creation, use and advantages of Quick Journals.

Quick Journals are extremely useful for creating recurring journal entries in which the accounts stay the same each time, but the amount differ. A simple example would be an entry of wage expenses.

To create a Quick Journal, open the Quick Journal Setup window. From the main menu select Microsoft Dynamics GP >> Tools >> Setup >> Financial >> Quick Journal.

Give the Quick Journal a unique ID, a description, a source, and reference. Next, select an offset account. This account will be used to balance the debits and credits of the transaction. If you would to give users the ability to change this offset account during transaction entry, mark the Allow Override checkbox, otherwise, leave it unchecked. Finally, add the accounts to be used in the transaction. Note that not all accounts entered in the Quick Journal Setup window need to be used in the transaction. Click Save to complete the creation.

To make an journal entry using a Quick Journal, open the Quick Journal Entry window. From the main menu select Transactions >> Financial >> Quick Journal.

Select a Quick Journal ID. Then, simply enter the amounts for accounts to be used in the transaction. In this example, I am not entering an amount against account 100-5100-00. Note that unlike regular general journal entries, Quick Journals cannot be saved to a batch. They can, however, be saved individually. Click Post to complete the transaction.

Here the Quick Journal that was posted in this example:

Notice how the account I did not enter an amount against was not used in the transaction? This makes Quick Journals incredibly flexible. Also note that the total was entered against the offset account to balance the transaction.

To learn more about the advantages of classes in Microsoft Dynamics GP, check out our training video on Quick Journals, and for more topics visit our GP training videos page. Also, read the previous entry in this series here to learn about the advantages and use of classes in Dynamics GP.