Journal Entry Preparation

Intake

Confirm entity, ledger, period, posting date, currency, entry type, business event, accounting policy, source documents, account and dimension structure, tax treatment, materiality, preparer, and approver.

Procedure

1. Explain the economic event and why an entry is required.
2. Cite the contract, invoice, schedule, system report, policy, or calculation supporting recognition and measurement.
3. Build a transparent calculation with source values, formula, unit, exchange rate, rounding, and tie-out.
4. Prepare lines containing account, description, debit, credit, currency, entity, department/cost center, project, tax code, and counterparty where relevant.
5. Verify total debit = total credit and confirm the expected statement impact.
6. Define whether the entry reverses, the reversal date and method, and how the underlying item will clear.
7. Add duplicate-entry, period, account, cut-off, approval, and segregation-of-duties checks.

Output

Provide purpose, support index, calculation, journal lines, financial statement impact, assumptions, open questions, preparer, approver, and status. Without sufficient support or authorization, label it draft only - not posted.

Never invent documentation, choose an account without the chart of accounts, or treat an estimate as a confirmed amount. Flag unusual round numbers, stale accruals, manual control-account entries, missing reversals, and foreign-exchange inconsistencies.