Journal

A journal is a detailed account that records all the financial transactions of a business, to be used for future reconciling of and transfer to other official accounting records, such as the general ledger.

A journal states the date of a transaction, which accounts were affected, and the amounts, usually in a double-entry bookkeeping method.

For accounting purposes, a journal is a physical record or digital document kept as a book, spreadsheet or data within accounting software such as QuickBooks. When a business transaction is made, a bookkeeper enters the financial transaction as a journal entry. The expense or income affects one or more business accounts, which the journal entry details. Journaling is an essential part of objective record-keeping and allows for concise review and records-transfer later in the accounting process. Journals are often reviewed as part of a trade or audit process, along with the general ledger.

A journal entry is the entry of record that details the financial transaction in a journal. When a journal entry is recorded into a company's journal, it's usually recorded using a double-entry method, but can also be recorded using a single-entry method of bookkeeping.

Double-entry bookkeeping is the most common form of accounting. It directly affects the way journals are kept and journal entries are recorded. Every business transaction is made up of an exchange between two accounts. This means that each journal entry is recorded with two columns.

For example, if a business owner purchases $1,000 worth of inventory with cash, the bookkeeper records two transactions in a journal entry. The cash account decreases by $1,000, and the inventory account, which is a current asset, increases by $1,000.

Single-entry bookkeeping is rarely used in accounting and business. It is the most basic form of accounting and is set up like a checkbook, in that there is only a single account used for each journal entry. It is a simple running total of cash inflows and cash outflows.

If, for example, a business owner purchases $1,000 worth of inventory with cash, the single-entry system records a $1,000 reduction in cash, with the total ending balance below it. It is possible to separate income and expenses into two columns so a business can track total income and total expenses, and not just the aggregate ending balance.

A journal is also used in the investment finance sector. For an individual investor or professional manager, a journal is a comprehensive and detailed record of trades occurring in the investor's own accounts, which is used for tax, evaluation and auditing purposes.

Traders use journals to keep a quantifiable chronicle of their trading performance over time in order to learn from past successes and failures. Although past performance is not a predictor of future performance, a trader can use a journal to learn as much as possible from his trading history. The journal typically has a record of profitable trades, unprofitable trades, watchlists, pre- and post-market records, notes on why an investment was purchased or sold, etc.