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Quicken Classic for Windows
Registers & Transactions (Windows)
How to enter a general journal entry
jtduke44
How to enter a transaction that doesn't involve the normal cash, credit cards, or bank accounts. I.s. a general journal entry.
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Accepted answers
NotACPA
Use a "self-referencing" transaction ... that is, for the Category in the transaction that reduces the value to $0, use the name of the Account itself, enclosed in Square Brackets. E.G. [Account Name].
That will reduce the value without creating actual cash.
Frankx
Hi
@jtduke44
,
I think it needs to be noted that the above advice will NOT accomplish what you stated you wanted to do - namely
jtduke44
said:
... debit an expense account TBD.
Rather than using a [Account Name] as the category - you should be using an expense category such as "Equipment expense", or something similar.
Let me know if you have any follow-up questions. And don't forget to salute the "General Journal" (old accountants' joke).
Frankx
q_lurker
As a general policy, I will sometimes enter a $0 entry with split categories in a checking or cash account that debits one account/category and credits another account/category. Need to be careful that the + and - get applied to the right split entries. In principle I see that as saying I spent the money on this piece of equipment but the money came from that account rather than this (checking) account. OR I spent the money on this piece of equipment but at the exact same time I took money from this other account to pay for it, so no money flowed to or from this (checking) account.
I think an accountant (I am not one) might consider that a general journal entry.
[BTW: I 'unaccepted' a couple of answers that weren't really answers. Having too many such acceptances tends to confuse the flow since those accepted answers get duplicated at the top of the thread.]
All comments
NotACPA
There's no such thing, in Quicken, as a General Journal ... ergo no "General journal entry".
If you tell us what you're trying to do, we can probably tell you how to do it in Q.
Q, like a general journal, IS a true "double entry" accounting system. When you specify the category (or account) that's the other side of the transaction, Q will automatically make the "offset entry" into that account or register.
jtduke44
I'm trying to remove a item from the list of fixed assets which was both purchased and then scrapped for zero value last year. No depreciation was taken. I want to credit my Improvements account for a rental property (where it currently sits) and debit an expense account TBD.
NotACPA
Use a "self-referencing" transaction ... that is, for the Category in the transaction that reduces the value to $0, use the name of the Account itself, enclosed in Square Brackets. E.G. [Account Name].
That will reduce the value without creating actual cash.
Frankx
Hi
@jtduke44
,
I think it needs to be noted that the above advice will NOT accomplish what you stated you wanted to do - namely
jtduke44
said:
... debit an expense account TBD.
Rather than using a [Account Name] as the category - you should be using an expense category such as "Equipment expense", or something similar.
Let me know if you have any follow-up questions. And don't forget to salute the "General Journal" (old accountants' joke).
Frankx
q_lurker
As a general policy, I will sometimes enter a $0 entry with split categories in a checking or cash account that debits one account/category and credits another account/category. Need to be careful that the + and - get applied to the right split entries. In principle I see that as saying I spent the money on this piece of equipment but the money came from that account rather than this (checking) account. OR I spent the money on this piece of equipment but at the exact same time I took money from this other account to pay for it, so no money flowed to or from this (checking) account.
I think an accountant (I am not one) might consider that a general journal entry.
[BTW: I 'unaccepted' a couple of answers that weren't really answers. Having too many such acceptances tends to confuse the flow since those accepted answers get duplicated at the top of the thread.]
jtduke44
Thanks. This was helpful. Thanks also for monitoring other answers which didn't necessarily apply to my question.
luremaker
My tax preparer said to use a general journal entry for my issue. I have 2 businesses and have created accounts for both in my Quicken 2007 for mac. Account A wrote a check to cover a bill because Account B was not available to write any checks at that time. We are considering that transaction as a loan from A to B. Now I want to issue a check back to A as repayment for the loan. I have created an asset account for "Loans to B" and a liability account for "Loans from A". How do I go about making the entries into my registers?
q_lurker
@luremaker
I suggest you start a discussion/question thread under one of the Mac topics. Generally, Quicken does not maintain a "General Journal", but I suspect someone with Mac experience can point you in the right direction.
luremaker
Thanks. I'm real new to this. How do I get to the Mac topics?
Chris_QPW
@luremaker
see this:
https://community.quicken.com/discussion/7849429/how-to-add-a-post-to-the-community
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