Hi I dont understand journals, I need to post wages onto Sage but people are telling me the only way to do this is buy using journals, I dont have a clue how to use journals or what data to input. I have searched everything online but nothing is useful, can anyone on here help me please.
Yes, you have to enter wages & salaries as a journal into Sage (unless you have Sage Payroll or something else that will interface directly with Sage to import the required transactions) The basic journal would be (assuming no SSP, SMP, SPP, pensions, adjustments etc..) is: Dr code 7000* (gross wages) £x (gross pay amount) Dr code 7006* (employers NI) £x (amount of Employers NI) Cr code 2220 (net wages) £x (amount of net pay actually paid to employee) Cr code 2210 PAYE £x (amount of tax deducted from employee - which is eventually paid to HMRC) Cr code 2211 National Insurance £x (total of employer & employee ni contributions)
*code 7000 means "nominal code 7000" which is gross wages, but depending on your chart of accounts in Sage, this might be a different code. You normally enter a journal from the Company|Nominal Ledger screen (where there is a journal icon/button on the top menu)
the reference is something that you choose (like a reference number "jnl001" or something like "April wages" the posting date is the date of the wages/salary being dealt with the nominal codes are the codes listed above, the name comes up automatically (it's the name of the code) the dept defaults to 0 if you aren't using "departments" in sage the details is what you put in here as a meaningful description "eg J Bloggs week 1 wages" etc... the VAT code will be T9 for all salary & wages the amount is going to be either a debit or a credit (see above)
sorry, I think that this question is a little too fundamental. The statement is that Sarah does not understand how to use Journals.
Understanding journals is pretty fundamental to double entry bookkeeping so it could be that you need to take a step back sarha to get to grips with this before taking two steps forwards.
I'm assuming Sarah that you are a permanent employee who has had this task dumped on you by bossess who assume that they can use a buzzword (journals) then anyone can do it without investing anything in training!
At the very least get them to get their hands in their pockets and buy you a copy of Business Accounts for book-keeping and financial accounting courses by David Cox (although any book on bookkeeping will cover journals this one is in a particularly readable format with lots of tests to ensure that you understand the material).
I really do feel sorry for people who work in companies where they use Sage and the management expectation is that they understand bookkeeping. The ICB really have it right on this one that people must learn manual bookkeeping before going anywhere near the computerised stuff.
Not having a go at you Sarah and I hope that you don't take the message that way. This scenario is repeated time an again accross industry where management have no appreciation of the knowledge that bookkeepers have.
I hope that the book suggestion helps to build a more fundamental understanding of what's happening in a double entry system and why journals are important.
kind regards,
Shaun.
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Shaun
Responses are not meant as a substitute for professional advice. Answers are intended as outline only the advice of a qualified professional with access to all relevant information should be sought before acting on any response given.
I'm sorry Rahdi Rah Rah, but as Shamus points out, if you do not understand the fundamentals of journals, you should not be doing bookkeeping at all!
Get your textbooks out and really start understanding how these work and how to use them - it's not rocket science, but really, it's like trying to drive a car without knowing where to put the key.
