There are two ways into the books. Day-to-day trading goes through documents (invoices, bills, payments). Adjustments, opening balances, and books-only work go through a journal entry you add under Accounting → Journal Entries. Pick one path for each event.
Auto-posted journals still appear in Accounting → Journal Entries (Sales, Purchase, Disbursement, or General). That list is the ledger. The document is what the customer or supplier sees.
Auto-post is Auto-Post Transactions on Settings → Accounting → General. Invoices and bills also need Accrual. Supplier payments need auto-post only (they journal on Cash too). Accounts live on Sales Journal, Purchase Journal, and Disbursements — see Accounting settings and chart of accounts and Sales and purchase posting accounts.
When a document creates a journal
| Document | When it journals | Book it lands in |
|---|---|---|
| Invoice (Save & Finalize) | Accrual + auto-post. Cash: no invoice journal | Sales Journal. Inventory lines can add a COGS General journal if Track Inventory is on |
| Bill (Save & Finalize) | Accrual + auto-post. Cash: no bill journal | Purchase Journal (AP, inventory or expense, Input VAT) |
| Supplier payment | Auto-post on, when you post the payment (accrual or cash) | Disbursement Journal. Voiding it also posts a reversing General journal |
| Customer payment | Never. Updates invoice balance only | Enter a Receipt Journal yourself if you need the cash on the books |
Closed fiscal periods block both auto-post and a journal you type. Email, PDF, and draft saves never journal.
These stay operational. Skip them if you do not need the workflow. None of them create a journal.
Documents that never auto-journal
| This | Why |
|---|---|
| Estimates and sales orders | Quote or lock quantities. The invoice is what posts |
| Requisitions and purchase orders | Request or lock an order. The bill is what posts |
| Recurring invoice template | The template is a schedule. Each generated invoice follows the invoice rules above |
Open Accounting → Journal Entries when there is no invoice or bill for the event, or when auto-post did not run (Cash invoices/bills, auto-post off, or a customer receipt). How to add lines is in Record a journal entry yourself.
Which book to pick
| Book | Use it for |
|---|---|
| Sales Journal | A sale that will not have a Seedflow invoice (or Cash sales you need on the books without auto-post) |
| Purchase Journal | A purchase that will not have a Seedflow bill |
| Receipt Journal | Money in: customer receipts (required today, because customer payments do not auto-journal), owner capital, other deposits |
| Disbursement Journal | Money out that is not a supplier payment on a bill — payroll, rent paid without a bill, owner drawings. Do not also pay a supplier for the same cash if auto-post already journaled it |
| General Journal | Opening balances, depreciation, accruals, prepayments, reclassifications, year-end. Also where invoice COGS and supplier-payment reversals land when auto-post creates them |
A journal you type can name a customer or supplier and a location. Classes sit on journal lines, not on invoice or bill lines. See Locations and classes.
These are different actions. Use the document when you need balances and allocations to move. Use the journal only when you are correcting the ledger line.
What void does
| You void | Result |
|---|---|
| Customer payment | Allocations come off the invoice. No cash journal to reverse |
| Supplier payment | Allocations come off the bill, and a reversing general journal is posted if a disbursement journal existed |
| Invoice or bill | Stops the document. Does not automatically reverse its sales or purchase journal. Void payments first on a bill |
| Journal entry | Marks that entry voided. Does not create opposite lines, and does not change the invoice, bill, or payment |
Other guides in Books