A manual journal line contains one positive debit or one positive credit. Enter the amount in the appropriate column and leave the opposite column blank or zero. A line with positive amounts on both sides, or with neither side positive, cannot be accepted.
Use plain decimal amounts without a currency symbol or thousands separator. The company reporting currency determines the precision that the journal supports. Negative amounts are not a shortcut for choosing the other side: enter the positive amount in the correct Debit or Credit field instead.
Check the source calculation before changing sides. Reversing a debit and credit may leave the journal balanced while producing the opposite accounting effect. An error message about one line should be resolved using the supporting evidence, not by adding an arbitrary offset elsewhere.
When all lines are complete, compare the total debits with total credits. They must be equal and greater than zero. For a correction to an existing posted entry, use the reversal and correction workflow so the original record and the reason for the change remain traceable.
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