Journal Entry

Overview

Journal Entries are manual accounting entries that directly update the General Ledger without corresponding to physical transactions. They're used for adjustments, corrections, period-end accruals, and other accounting operations that don't flow from normal business transactions like shipments or invoices.

The primary use case is accounting adjustments. If you discover an error in a previous entry, a journal entry can correct it. If you need to accrue expenses at month-end that haven't been invoiced yet, a journal entry records the accrual. If you need to reclassify amounts from one account to another, a journal entry makes the move. These manual entries give your accounting team the flexibility to keep books accurate despite the complexities of real-world business.

Each journal entry contains multiple line items - typically at least two, since debits must equal credits. Each line specifies a GL account, whether it's a debit or credit, and the amount. The entry as a whole has a date (when it applies) and a description (explaining what it's for). This structure follows standard double-entry accounting and ensures the books stay balanced.

Consolidation journal entries are a special type created automatically by the system. When multiple shipments or invoices are consolidated, the system creates a consolidation journal entry that aggregates their GL impact into a single entry. This reduces GL clutter while preserving transaction detail. Consolidation entries are marked with a special type so they can be identified and excluded from certain reports.

Journal entries support period-end accounting processes. At the end of a month or year, you might need to record depreciation, accrue unbilled revenue, adjust prepaid expenses, or make other timing adjustments. Journal entries handle these non-transactional accounting needs, ensuring your financial statements accurately reflect your financial position even when the timing of business transactions doesn't perfectly align with accounting periods.

The workflow for journal entries typically involves creating them in a draft state, reviewing them for accuracy, and then posting them to make them permanent. Once posted, they create the actual GL entries and become locked. If a posted journal entry needs to be corrected, you can't edit it - you must void it (creating reversing entries) and create a new correct entry, maintaining a complete audit trail.

GraphQL API

The journalEntry collection provides access to journalEntry data via the GraphQL API. All queries use the Relay connection specification with cursor-based pagination.

Query Name:journalEntryViewConnection

Available Features:

• Cursor-based pagination (first/last/after/before)
• 14 filter options
• 15 sortable fields
• 5 relations to other collections

Query Examples

Basic Query

The journalEntry collection is accessed via the journalEntryViewConnection query, which returns a Relay-style connection with pagination support.

GraphQL

query {
  journalEntryViewConnection(first: 10) {
    edges {
      node {
        consolidationCustomer
        consolidationDescription
        consolidationPeriod
        consolidationSaleSource
        date
      }
    }
    pageInfo {
      hasNextPage
      endCursor
    }
  }
}

Pagination

Use cursor-based pagination to retrieve large datasets:

GraphQL

# First page
query {
  journalEntryViewConnection(first: 50) {
    edges {
      node { journalEntryId }
    }
    pageInfo {
      hasNextPage
      endCursor
    }
  }
}

# Subsequent pages
query {
  journalEntryViewConnection(first: 50, after: "cursor-from-previous-page") {
    edges {
      node { journalEntryId }
    }
    pageInfo {
      hasNextPage
      endCursor
    }
  }
}

Filtering

Apply filters to narrow results:

GraphQL

query {
  journalEntryViewConnection(
    first: 10
    connectionRelationErrorDates: { begin: "2024-01-01", end: "2024-12-31" }
  ) {
    edges {
      node { journalEntryId }
    }
  }
}

Sorting

Sort results by one or more fields:

GraphQL

query {
  journalEntryViewConnection(
    first: 10
    sort: [{ field: "consolidationCustomer", mode: "desc" }]
  ) {
    edges {
      node {
        journalEntryId
        consolidationCustomer
      }
    }
  }
}

Relations

Query related data:

GraphQL

query {
  journalEntryViewConnection(first: 10) {
    edges {
      node {
        journalEntryId
        creditAccount {
          name
          glAccountUrl
        }
      }
    }
  }
}

Summary and Aggregation

This collection supports data aggregation and dimensional analysis through the summary field. You can calculate metrics (like totals, averages, counts) and group them by dimensions (like category, date, status).

Query Structure

GraphQL

journalEntryViewConnection(filters...) {
  summary {
    errorCode
    errorMessage
    groupBy {
      # Group by dimensions (see table below)
    }
    metrics {
      # Calculated metrics (see table below)
    }
  }
}

Available Metrics

This collection provides 25 metrics that can be aggregated:

GroupBy Dimensions

Group metrics by these dimensions:

Simple Fields

These fields return values directly without additional options.

consolidationCustomer

The customer party associated with a consolidated transaction journal entry. Retrieved from the consolidatedTransactionDescriptorList by looking up the consolidationPartyUrl and validating the party has a CUSTOMER role type.

Label: Consolidation customer

Sortable: Yes

Default Formatter:html

Example Query:

{
  journalEntry(journalEntryUrl: "example-url") {
    consolidationCustomer    # Uses default formatter: html
    consolidationCustomerRaw: consolidationCustomer(formatter: "none")  # Get raw value
  }
}

date

The transaction date of the journal entry. Used for filtering and sorting journal entries chronologically.

Label: Effective date

Sortable: Yes

Enum Fields

• averageCostChangeWarning
• consolidationPeriod
• status
• type

Relations

creditAccount

• Related Collection: generalLedgerAccount
• Label: Credit account

Example Query:

query {
  journalEntryViewConnection(first: 10) {
    edges {
      node {
        creditAccount {
          name
          glAccountUrl
        }
      }
    }
  }
}

Filtering Example

query {
  journalEntryViewConnection(
    first: 10
    date: { begin: "2024-01-01", end: "2024-12-31" }
  ) {
    edges {
      node {
        journalEntryId
        date
      }
    }
  }
}

Last updated

query {
  journalEntryViewConnection(
    first: 10
    recordLastUpdated: {
      begin: "2024-01-01"
      end: "2024-12-31"
    }
  ) {
    edges {
      node {
        journalEntryId
        recordLastUpdated
      }
    }
  }
}