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Ledger and journals

Distinguish a journal's accounting date from its creation date

Use the date appropriate to the question you are investigating.

Updated 2026-11-11

A journal can have an accounting date that differs from the date its request or record was created. The accounting date places the adjustment in a reporting period. Creation and posting information explain when the work was entered or completed.

When reconciling a report, start with the accounting date and the report's own period. When investigating a preparation or processing issue, creation and posting information may help explain the sequence. Keep those questions separate so a late-entered adjustment is not mistaken for activity in the wrong month.

The journal export includes Date and Date created as separate columns. Preserve those headings when sharing the file or building a review spreadsheet. Renaming both to a generic 'date' can obscure why a record appears in an earlier accounting period.

Corrections add another date to consider: the effective reversal date. An original, its reversal and a corrected entry can belong to different periods. Review their linked history and the approved accounting treatment rather than treating the latest creation timestamp as the date of every financial effect.

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