Academies Finance
STARACADEMY– User Guide
Section 10 - Entering Journals
Journals
Entering Journals
Once you have selected the requiredNominal(andDepartment Codes if required) from the drop down list(s)you must enter the Journal Amounts.
The Bank A/C must be left as Current Account.
A Descriptioncan be added for each line of the Journalbut if it isn’t then when the Journal is posted the Description at the head of the screen will be copied down to any Descriptionfield for individual Journal lines that has been left empty.
Whether the Journal Amount is a negative or positive amount will depend on the transaction type:
Income Transactions:
POSITIVEA positive amount will decrease the selected Nominal Code with the amount entered
NEGATIVEA negative amount will increase the selected Nominal Codewith the amount entered
Expenditure Transactions:
POSITIVEA positive amount will increase the selected Nominal Codewith the amount entered
NEGATIVEA negative amount will decrease the selected Nominal Codewith the amount entered
Please Note: Your Journalmust balance to zero before posting(i.e. the positives and negatives must be equal). If your Journaldoes not balance a message box will appear stating the difference for you to investigate:
Options
Once Print and Post is clicked any lines that have been entered with an amount of £0.00 will be deleted and the following screen will be displayed:
The journal will automatically be printed and allocated a specific batch number. Matching Journal entries will be reconciled automatically to the “-1”Bank Statement.
Should you wish to reprint the batch at any time then select the “Reprint Journal” button and you will be given a choice of Journal Batch Numbers to choose from:
Select the one you want from the drop down list and it will be re-printed automatically:
Should you not have the Journal Batch Number to hand you can use the CTRL and F “Find” facility to help you identify the one you want:
Please Note: - If the Journal Accounting Period is for a Prior Year an additional warning message will be displayed before posting:
Preview Balances if Posted
If you wish to view the effect the current Journal entries will have on the balances of the relevant Nominal and Department Codes before they are Postedclick the Preview Balances if Posted button. This will show a preview of both the current and changed Balancesif the current Journal entries were to be posted.
If Posted the above Journal would affect the Nominal and Departmental Balances as follows:
Each Journalentry is split between two lines: Nominal Code andDepartment Code Balances. If the Journal does not affect one of these Balancesa blank line will be shown.
Deleting a Line from a Journal
Please Note: If you have entered any lines with an Amount of £0.00 these will automaticallybe deleted when Print and Post is clicked.
Viewing Journals Entered Report
If you wish to see a report containing all Journalsentered into Star Academy you will need to do this via the Transaction Reporting button on the ‘Reports’ tab on the ‘Main Menu’.
Bank Transfer Journals
Petty Cash
Once a Petty Cash account has been created within Star Academy it will need to be topped-up at regular intervals to ensure it is kept at its agreed level, for example £50.00.
It is recommended that the Journal for this transaction is completed at the same time as the cheque is written.
From the ‘Main Menu’ select the ‘Transactions’ tab and click ‘Journal’.
To transfer cash fromthe Current Accountto the Petty CashAccountenter the Journal as below;
Once you are satisfied that the Journal details are correct click Print and Post.
PleaseNote: The Cheque Numberthat automatically appears in this box will be the next sequential Cheque Numberthat has not been used within your accounts.
This will appear regardless of whether you have Cheque Printingactivated, i.e. if the last Cheque Numberin the accounts is 502050 the number that appears here will be 502051. If this is not the number of the cheque you are using overtype the number shown with the correct Cheque Number.
The journal will automatically be printed.
The transactions generated by this Journal will now appear on the Bank Reconciliationsfor both the Current Account and Petty Cash Account. These transactions can then be reconciled as per the normal reconciliation instructions.
Other Bank Accounts
Funds transferred between Bank Accountsmust be made via Journal transfer.
For example, the transaction below decreases the Current Accountand increases the Investment Account (i.e. money is being transferred from Current to the InvestrmentAccount).
Once you are satisfied that the Journaldetails are correct click Print and Post.If your Journal balances a message box will appear detailing the Voucher Numbers assigned to each line of the journal.
The journal will automatically be printed.
If you wish to cancel the Journalat any time before clicking Print and Post click Exit without Saving to return to the ‘Main Menu’.
The transactions for this Journalwill now appear on the Bank Reconciliationsfor both the Current Account and the Second Bank Account. These transactions can then be reconciled as per the normal reconciliation instructions.
Please Note: Although a cheque may be issued from the CurrentAccount transfers will be assigned to cheque number ‘-1’ by the system. It is recommended that the cheque number used is included within the journal description for future reference if required. It is also necessary to remember that the next time a Cheque Printing run is processed or a Cheque Number is requested on a Transaction or Paid Order (when Cheque Printing not activated) that the Cheque Number used will need to be incremented by one to compensate for the cheque used for this transfer.
Transfer of monies between Funding Streams:
This option merely allows the transfer of funds from one Funding Stream to another –
- E6000 Transfer to Other Funds (Unrestricted)
- E6010 Transfer to Other Funds (Restricted)
- E6020 Transfer to Other Funds (Restricted Fixed)
Using the normal method of Journal entry select the Funds you wish to make transfers for.
Any Funding Transfers will not be reflected on individual Nominal Code entries in the AR, instead these are present for any accountancy transactions that are needed to be reflected on the Financial Statements (e.g. the Balance Sheet). Matching Journal entries will be reconciled automatically to the “-1” Bank Statement.
Assets
If you want to manually enter the asset b/fwd balances, depreciation or disposal of assets you must use the internal specified codes. After any of the assets journals have been Posted the Fixed Assets report should be checked to ensure the completeness and accuracy of the entries made.
Click this option
Enter the number you requiretodisplay the correct Nominalcodes.
(1) Depreciation
Select the code prefixed ‘2’ that relates to the class of Depreciation you wish to post and enter a positive value for the amount you want to post.
Then select the matching code prefixed ‘D’ that relates to the class of Depreciation you wish to post and enter a negative value for the amount you want to post.
Add any further entries as required and post the journal as normal.
For example if you want to post £5,000 Depreciation for Motor Vehicles then make the following entries:
(2) Disposals
Follow the same process for Posting Disposals as is used for Posting Depreciation – but note that the codes available on the Disposal Journal screen are different from those available on the Depreciation Journal.
Please Note: The figure posted for a Disposal should reflect the current net book value of the asset that has been disposed of – i.e. thereby reducing the total value of the assets held on the Balance Sheet, it is not the amount of money received from the disposal of the asset (which may be different from the current net book value).
(3) B/Fwd Take-on Balances
Enter the relevant Bfwd amounts as positive entries and a balancing negative total amount against the E1020 code, for example:
Once the Bfwd figures have been posted you should check the Fixed Assets Report to see the posted entries.
NCC Only
If the Academy has a support agreement with NCC Accounting Software Support there may be occasions when specific Journal entries need to be made under their supervision. Once a password has been obtained from Finance Support the Description will be filled with the wording “NCC Only Re-coding” and the normal Journal entry method can then be followed as advised.
Click this option
Journal Templates
If you regularly Journal Amountsbetween two codes, for example, to transferstaffing expenditure, it may prove useful to createJournal Templates. From the Journal screen double click the yellow Templateslist to open the create Journal Templates screen.
Select the Nominal and /or Department and/or Staff Codes that the journal transfer is to take place between.
For Example: The following Journal template is to re-code Staffing costs:
Click the exit key to return to the main Journalscreen once all details required have been entered. The Journal Template name will now appear in the Templates list. In future you can nowuse the drop-down arrow to select the Template required:
The coding details for the Journal will automatically be entered so only the Description and Amount fields will need to be completed.
Journal Import Template
This option will be available in a future upgrade.
Section 10– Entering Journals
Page 1 of 15