Day Book, Journal and Ledger¶
Three views of the same underlying postings, each answering a different question. Knowing which one to open saves most of the hunting.
| Screen | The question it answers |
|---|---|
| Day Book | What was posted on this business day? |
| Journal | What was posted across a date range, in the order it happened? |
| Ledger | What has happened to one particular account? |
Day Book¶
A day book is the traditional chronological register of everything posted on a single business day. In KJB it is exactly that: pick a business day, and it shows what was posted, grouped into vouchers.
Day summary gives you the day's Total debits and Total credits. In double-entry bookkeeping these should agree, and comparing them is the quickest check that a day is whole.
An empty Day Book is a real answer, not a failure to load. When nothing was posted it says No postings — "Nothing was posted on this business day." It is telling you that this business date carries no postings.
Journal and Ledger¶
These two sit on one screen, Journal & Ledger.
Journal is the same chronological register, but over a date range you choose rather than a single day. Entries appear as vouchers. When the range holds nothing it says No entries — "No postings in this date range."
Ledger answers the other question: pick one account, and see its statement. Until you pick one it says No ledger selected — "Choose a ledger to view its statement." That is an instruction, not an error.
Things to know¶
These screens read; they do not create. They show postings that already exist. What creates them is the trading day itself — sales, payments, purchases — flowing through.
A business day is the accounting unit, not a calendar day. The Day Book is organised by business date, which is why a late-night service belongs to the day it started on rather than the date at the moment of posting.
Debits and credits agreeing is a health check you can do in seconds. If the two totals in Day summary do not match, that is worth investigating before anything downstream is relied on.
What to check when a day looks empty or wrong¶
- Confirm you are looking at the right business date — not the calendar date you expect.
- Check the date range and the outlet you are looking at, if your books cover more than one.
- Look for the underlying records — the day's bills and purchases — to establish whether anything was posted at all. If they exist and the register is empty, that is worth raising rather than working around.