An accounting journal is a form where financial transactions are initially recorded before moving through the accounting cycle. Entries are made chronologically and in accordance with the rules of double-entry bookkeeping.
The accounting journal contains five columns: transaction number, date, account affected, and debit and credit columns.
Consistent with the rules of double-entry bookkeeping, the totals of the debits in the journal must equal the totals of the credits.
With computerized accounting software, entries are usually not made directly in an accounting journal. Rather, with accounting software, transactions are usually entered into a specialized data-entry screen, depending on the type of transaction being recorded.
Companies may employ specialized journals for individual transaction types. For example, a company may have a sales journal, cash disbursements journal, or an inventory purchases journal. Most smaller companies, however, will usually use a single journal for all transactions, known as a general journal.
Journal entries represent the first point of entry in the accounting cycle.