There are two accounts within the general ledger that cannot have any transactions posted to, nor opening balances entered. They are the Historical Balancing and Current Year Earnings accounts.
There is also an account to which transactions cannot be posted, however an opening balance can be entered in the first year using Jim2. That account is the Retained Earnings account.
This account is the difference between opening balance assets and liabilities. This account shows that assets and liabilities did not balance when entered. This account will change each time an asset or liability opening balance is changed. It will also hold a negative figure offsetting any Profit & Loss opening balances entered, if starting Jim2 mid financial year. See here for information on clearing this account. |
Opening balances can only be entered when starting Jim2 after the traditional start of the financial year. These figures will add a balance into the Current Year Earnings account and a reversing figure into the Historical Balancing account, as these opening balance Profit & Loss figures should already be within the Balance Sheet accounts. |
This account holds profit/loss figure from transactions and any opening balance entries. This account figure is calculated continually as each transaction relating to the Profit & Loss accounts is entered. This amount will not appear in the Trial Balance report as all the profit and loss GL accounts that contribute to this calculated balance are already included. |
This account is for last year's profit/loss figure. This account will need to be manually updated for the first year using Jim2. Whenever closing a financial year, from then on the profit or loss calculated in the Current Year Earnings account will be moved to the Retained Earnings account. |
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Note: You cannot post directly to Header or Control accounts as well. |
Further information
Edit the General Ledger Layout