Sales Journal
Use the Sales Journal when you want to create an invoice that records sales that do not involve inventory, such as service sales or consulting, and creates an outstanding receivable. If you need to record inventory sales, use Customer Invoices. Sales tax and shipping amounts are not automatically calculated in the Sales Journal, but can be added as detail lines.
Saving a Sales Journal invoice automatically updates the general ledger and creates an outstanding receivable. You can use Customer Payments to record the amount a customer pays against the invoice.
Note: When setting up your company with MultiLedger, you should use the Sales Journal to enter outstanding receivables that are dated prior to your Start Month. An outstanding receivable will be created without affecting the general ledger account balances. For more information, see “Setting Up Prior Outstanding Receivables.“
Sales Journal Field Descriptions
This section discusses the individual fields on the Sales Journal.
Quote
When you save a Sales Journal invoice with the Quote option checked, the transaction does not affect the General Ledger, and can be modified, deleted, or converted to a Sales Journal invoice at any time. For more details on working with Quotes, see “Quotes“
Recurring
If you have Sales Journal invoices that occur on a regular basis, you can save them with Recurring checked. You can define the frequency for a recurring entry and have MultiLedger remind you when the transaction should be created. For more details on working with recurring entries, see “Recurring Entries.“
Invoice #
Enter an invoice number up to eight characters long to identify the invoice. The last character must be a number.
After the invoice is saved, the invoice number (or last number of a combination of characters) is automatically increased by one.
Customer
Select a customer from the pop-up list. The customer’s name, address, and any Notes set up for the customer are entered automatically too.
Notes appear during transaction entry, but do not print automatically on the invoice.
You can add a new customer or edit existing customer information without closing the Customers pop-up list by clicking New (Alt-N on Windows or N on Macintosh) or Edit (Alt-E on Windows or E on Macintosh).
You can have the Note:s and Add’l Note:s you’ve set up for a customer print on Sales Journal invoices by selecting “Print Customer Notes: on Sales Journal” on Preferences under the File menu.
Date
Simply type over the highlighted day or use the +/- keys on your keyboard to increment/decrement the date. You can enter a date from the 30 open months, provided the month isn’t locked, in the form MM/ DD/YY.
The invoice date, along with any selected terms, determine the invoice’s due and discount dates.
Statement Description
Enter a description up to 25 characters long. You could enter a purchase order number or some other reference number. The description will print on a customer statement but not on the invoice. If you don’t enter a description, the customer name will be automatically copied to this field when you save the invoice.
Terms
Select the terms from the pop-up list. If the pop-up list does not appear, terms have not yet been set up.
You can choose default terms for your customers on Customer Setup that will be selected automatically when you reach the Terms pop-up list.
Terms determine the discount date and when payment is due for the invoice. If terms are not entered, the invoice’s date becomes the due date.
Ledger Account
Select the ledger account from the pop-up list. For more information on using pop-up lists, see “Using Pop-Up Lists.“
When you save the invoice, the account entered here is increased by the amount for the detail line. Usually, this is an income account in the 4000–4999 range.
Job
Select the job for this detail line from the pop-up list. If the Jobs pop- up list does not appear, no jobs have been set up, or Skip Jobs (Ctrl-K on Windows or K on Macintosh) under the Edit menu is checked.
Description
When the cursor enters this field, the customer’s name is automatically copied to it and highlighted.
You can enter up to 25 characters of descriptive text for a particular detail line in the invoice. The text entered in the Description field prints on invoices along with the amount (unlike the Statement Description field, which prints just on customer statements).
Amount
Enter an amount for the detail line. If the amount has zero cents, you don’t have to enter .00.
New Line (Windows Only)
To enter another detail line to the invoice, click New Line or press ENTER.
Invoice Total
This shows the total for the invoice as you add detail lines to the invoice’s detail list. When you save the invoice, the Invoice Total amount increases the Accounts Receivable account in the General Ledger.
Recording a Sale with the Sales Journal
- Click Sales Journal in the Command Center.
- If necessary, enter or change the invoice number.
The Customers pop-up list appears:
- Select a customer from the pop-up list and press TAB.
For details about using pop-up lists, see “Using Pop-Up Lists.“
Note: After selecting a customer, you can see the customer’s transaction history by clicking the History button at the top of the window. The current date is used as the Cutoff Date for the report.
Click the window’s close box to close it and return to the Sales Journal.
- Continue filling in the rest of the fields with the appropriate information.
For field explanations, see “Sales Journal Field Descriptions.“
Note: You can add comment lines to the invoice at any time by choosing Insert Line from the Edit menu (Ctrl-I on Windows or I on Macintosh). For more information, see “Adding Comment Lines to Transactions.“
- After you have entered a ledger account (usually an income account in the 4000-4999 range) and amount (Job and Description are optional), press TAB to add the detail line to the invoice.
As you add detail lines to the invoice, the Invoice Total field is updated:
- On Windows, if necessary, click New Line or press ENTER to begin entering another item.
On Macintosh, if necessary, press TAB or RETURN again to begin entering another item.
- When you’re finished entering all the information for the invoice, click Save.
If the Invoice Total exceeds the customer’s credit limit, an alert appears allowing you to continue to save or cancel.
When the invoice is saved, the transaction is posted automatically to the general ledger, and the invoice number is increased by one.
Printing a Sales Journal Invoice
Use Print on the Command Center to print Sales Journal invoices. After saving an invoice, do the following:
- Click Print in the Command Center.
- Select the correct month from the list on the right.
- Click the Sales Journal Invoices radio button.
- From the list of documents, select the invoices that you want to print.
If no invoices are highlighted, all invoices will be printed.
- If necessary, check Print Metafile (Windows) or Print PDF/PICT File (Macintosh).
For more information on using Metafiles or PICT Files, see “Using the Print Screen.“
- Click Print.
- Select your print options and click OK or Print.
For more details about the Print command, see “Using the Print Screen.“
Note: MultiLedger’s flexibility allows you to adjust where the invoice fields print on an invoice form. For more information, see “Customizing Print Field Positions for Your Printer.“
Modifying or Deleting Sales Journal Invoices
When the cursor is in the Invoice # field, the Modify button is enabled. Click Modify to see a list of Sales Journal invoices that you can modify or delete. If the Sales Journal invoice you’re looking for doesn’t appear, you may have to select another month from the pull-down menu.
Related Articles
Customer Transaction Flowchart
How to Record Sales in MultiLedger
How to Use Customer Invoices in MultiLedger
How to Use Receipts Journal in MultiLedger
How to Use Customer Payments in MultiLedger
How to Create Quotes in MultiLedger