How it works
Every journal entry has a date, a description and two or more lines. Each line debits or credits one account, and the total debits must equal the total credits. Most transactions, such as invoices and bills, create journal entries automatically. Manual journal entries cover the rest: accruals, depreciation, reclassifications and corrections, usually posted during the month-end close.
Example
A revenue recognition tool posts a monthly entry for a customer's annual contract: debit Deferred Revenue 1,000, credit Subscription Revenue 1,000. The ledger's income statement now reflects the month's earned revenue.
In integrations
Posting journals is a common write in finance products and an easy place to break the books. The Unify Accounting API is designed to check that entries balance, that accounts and tracking categories exist, and that the period is open before submitting. A closed period returns a typed error rather than a silent failure, and each post appears in the audit trail. Journal write-back is common in revenue recognition, payroll, payments and consolidation products. Because a wrong journal changes reported results, many customers want approvals or a draft state before anything posts.