Journal Transactions

Is it possible to copy a prior journal entry, and use it as a template for a new journal entry?

Also, can I import journal entries from Excel into Manager?

The term copy in Manager refers to copying one type of transaction to a different type, such as a sales order to a sales invoice. See Use the Copy to function | Manager. The term clone is used in the context you describe. Cloning produces an exact copy of the parent transaction, ready to be edited (if necessary, such as for a different date or amounts) before being created.

Journal entries can be created in bulk using the Batch Create function. See Use Batch Create and Batch Update functions | Manager. Two observations, however:

  • It will not be easy, because hexadecimal UUID’s must be deciphered from other transactions involving the same accounts and subaccounts.
  • Journal entries in Manager are rare, because almost all transactions are entered in dedicated tabs. So your need for bulk journal entries is probably minimal.

I don’t see anywhere in the application menu how/where to clone a JE. Is that because I am using the free version??

No, that is because you are not looking in the correct place. To clone any transaction or report, you must view it. The Clone button is at the top:

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every month i create a journal to account for withheld tax. Is there any way to get a template and use a spreadsheet to batch create this rather than doing this journal entry manually ?

  1. There are no templates that you can use, however, there’s a recurring journal entries feature which enables auto generation of journal entries periodically according to user defined intervals.

  2. Unlike invoices and payslip, it’s not possible to copy a journal entry to a recurring entry.

I think there should be a copy to recurring journal entry like every other recurring transaction.

You can also use Batch Create to create a journal entry. But for one journal entry, that would be more work than entering it manually. As @Ealfardan wrote, the recurring journal entry will do exactly what you want. See the Guide: Set up and manage recurring journal entries | Manager.

A recurring entry will have the same debit/credit figures and i am not sure how that would link to the specific purchases or sales invoices.
For now, I will have to figure out how to use batch create by ‘borrowing’ from the batch update data.

You can edit the recurring journal entry with exact monthly figures before creating it. Try it. Based on your description of what you want to do, this is by far easier than Batch Create. You can always undo the transaction in the History file.

But if the entries vary a lot from month to month, you might just as well enter the journal entry manually. You would have to enter all the information in a spreadsheet first in order to use Batch Create, then go through the effort of the Batch Create process itself, identifying all the GUIDs involved, etc.

Perhaps I am missing something here, but why are you using a Journal.
Why not do the withheld tax on the invoices as they are entered.

If the phrase withheld tax is being used as Manager uses the term, a journal entry is still necessary to clear the Withheld tax account periodically when taxes are filed and application of the tax withheld by customers to the total amount due is claimed.

Is there a reason this can not be done via a breakdown of the payment used in Manager. Having a line item for each component of total tax payment made.

I find it cleaner for similar applications and consistent with how payments are used in other contexts.

Conceptually, you could do it that way, too. Enter the full amount of tax due on the payment form, posted to the correct tax liability account. Enter the amount being applied from withheld tax certificates as a negative number, posted to Withholding tax.

However, your approach presumes a legal organizational structure under which the withheld tax (usually an advance collection of income tax) is a liability of the business. That will usually be true for corporate forms of organization where the business pays income tax. But for sole traders and partnerships that pass income tax liability to the owners, the business will be making no tax payment. So there would be no place to record the offset. Therefore, you need to use a journal entry to debit some other account. The journal entry approach works for all forms of organization and under all tax regulations; the offsetting entry on a payment form only works in certain circumstances.

The withheld tax is in fact an asset of the business to provide for a potential future liability of income tax.

In the case of business structures such as sole proprietors and partnerships at tax assessment time this asset would be apportioned in the form of drawings.

DR Drawings
Cr Withheld tax

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5 posts were split to a new topic: Management Accounts are not restricted by any jurisdiction

Perhaps I am missing something here, but why are you using a Journal.
Why not do the withheld tax on the invoices as they are entered.

I have 2 types of withheld tax to deal with for each transaction. One is done on the invoice and the other is done through the journal.

There was a discussion on the same here: Withholding tax receivable - #38 by kendirangu

It is something very similar to my requirement about financing.

@Davide, you lost me. What are you referring to as being similar to your financing requirement? This topic began a year and a half ago with questions about copying that really turned out to be about cloning. It was revived with questions about recurring journal entries and Batch Create. Then it digressed into functionality of tax withheld at the source. Finally, it went completely off the rails by straying into discussion of provisions for taxes by entities that pay no tax.

I am inclined to close the topic, but won’t until you enlighten us about how amortization schedules are involved, and on which of these several subjects.

Sorry @Tut. I looked at the topic very quickly and didn’t notice the date.

About my idea, I proposed the creation of a module “journal notes” in which one can save extra accounting journal entries similar to what a purchase order is to a purchase invoice.