Accounting Documents

An accounting document (also called a journal entry) is the fundamental record in the general ledger. It captures a complete financial transaction: which accounts were affected, whether each line is a debit or credit, the amounts in all relevant currencies, and the date the transaction is recorded.

Structure of an accounting document

Every accounting document has a header and one or more line items.

Header fields

The header describes the document as a whole.

Field	Description
Company Code	The company code this document belongs to. All line items post within this company code.
Document Date	The date of the underlying transaction (e.g. the date on an invoice or receipt).
Posting Date	The date the entry takes effect in the general ledger. Ayiza uses this date to determine the financial period and year.
Transaction Currency	The currency of the original transaction. You enter amounts in this currency.
Reference	A free-text reference for your own tracking (e.g. an external document number).
Tax Reporting Date	The date used for tax reporting purposes. Only visible if "Is Tax Reporting Date Active" is enabled on the Finance Company Code. If not set, the posting date is used for tax reporting.
Posting Batch	Optionally assign the document to a posting batch for batch posting.

Ayiza automatically determines the financial period and financial year from the posting date and your financial calendar. It also looks up the applicable exchange rates so that transaction currency amounts can be converted to the company code currency, group currency, and functional currency.

Line items

Each line item represents one side of the transaction. Lines have a line type that determines which fields are available and how tax is handled.

Line types

Line type	Description	G/L Account	Business Partner	Tax Code
General Ledger	Direct posting to a G/L account.	Required	Optional	Based on G/L account settings
Accounts Receivable	Customer-related posting.	Determined from customer's AR control account.	Required (customer)	Output Tax only
Accounts Payable	Supplier-related posting.	Determined from supplier's AP control account.	Required (supplier)	Input Tax only

Common line fields

Field	Description
G/L Account	The general ledger account to post to. For AR/AP lines, this is determined automatically from the business partner's control account.
Debit / Credit	Whether this line is a debit or a credit.
Amount	The amount in the transaction currency.
Tax Code	The indirect tax (VAT) code, if applicable. Availability depends on line type and G/L account settings — see below.
Withholding Tax Code	If withholding tax is enabled on the company code and the G/L account, select the applicable code.
Cost Center	Optional cost center for management reporting.
Project	Optional project code for project-based tracking.
Investment Center	For capital-related items. Only visible if investment center tracking is active on the company code.
Business Partner	The customer or supplier, if this line relates to a business partner.
Company Bank Account	Required if the selected G/L account is marked as a bank account (isBankAccount = true).
Tax Reporting Date	A separate date for tax reporting purposes. Only visible if "Is Tax Reporting Date Active" is enabled on the Finance Company Code.
Comment	A free-text description of what this line item represents.

Tax code behaviour by line type

The tax code field behaves differently depending on the line type:

• General Ledger lines: The tax code is shown only if the G/L account has "Is Indirect Tax Enabled" set to true. It is mandatory if "Is Indirect Tax Required" is also true. If the G/L account has an "Indirect Tax Type Restriction" (e.g. "Input Tax"), only tax codes of that type are available.
• Accounts Receivable lines: Only Output Tax codes are available.
• Accounts Payable lines: Only Input Tax codes are available.

info

If the company code is not VAT-registered (i.e. isVatRegistered is false on the Finance Company Code), tax fields are hidden entirely across all line types.

You can add as many line items as needed. The only requirement is that total debits must equal total credits — the document must balance.

Multi-currency handling

When you create an accounting document, you enter amounts in the transaction currency. Ayiza automatically converts these amounts to up to three additional currencies:

1. Company code currency — the local currency of the company code (e.g. GBP for a UK company).
2. Group currency — the reporting currency of your corporate group (e.g. EUR), if configured.
3. Functional currency — an additional reporting currency, if configured.

Exchange rates are looked up automatically based on the posting date and the configured forex source. The converted amounts appear on each line item alongside the transaction currency amount.

If a tax code is specified, Ayiza also calculates the net amount, tax amount, and gross amount in all four currencies.

Document status lifecycle

Every accounting document moves through a defined set of statuses:

Draft  ──▶  Posted  ──▶  Reversed

Status	Meaning
Draft	The document has been created but not yet posted. You can still edit it freely.
Posted	The document has been posted to the general ledger. It now affects account balances and appears in reports. Posted documents cannot be edited.
Reversed	The document has been reversed. A new offsetting document was created to cancel out the original entry.

info

A posted document can never be deleted or modified. If you need to correct a posted entry, you reverse it (which creates an offsetting document) and then create a new corrected entry.

Creating a manual journal entry

To create a manual journal entry (also called an Advanced Journal):

1. Navigate to General Ledger > Accounting Documents.
2. Click Create.
3. Fill in the header fields: select the company code, set the document date and posting date, choose the transaction currency, and optionally enter a reference.
4. Add line items. For each line:
   • Select the G/L account.
   • Choose Debit or Credit.
   • Enter the amount in the transaction currency.
   • Optionally set a tax code, cost center, project, business partner, or comment.
5. Verify that total debits equal total credits.
6. Click Save to save the document as a draft.

The document is now in Draft status. You can continue editing it, add or remove lines, and make corrections before posting.

Posting a document

Posting moves a document from Draft to Posted status and records it in the general ledger.

1. Open the accounting document.
2. Review the header and line items.
3. Click Post.

Once posted, the document is assigned a document number (if not already assigned) and the line items are reflected in G/L account balances, the trial balance, and financial statements.

tipp

You can also post documents in bulk using Posting Batches. See the section below.

Reversing a posted document

If you need to undo a posted document, you reverse it. Reversal does not delete the original — instead, it creates a new accounting document with the same line items but with debits and credits swapped.

1. Open the posted accounting document.
2. Click Reverse.
3. Select a reversal reason and confirm the posting date for the reversal document.
4. Confirm the reversal.

After reversal:

• The original document is marked as Reversed.
• A new document is created with status Posted, containing the offsetting entries.
• The two documents are linked to each other for audit trail purposes.

Copying an accounting document

If you need to create a similar journal entry to one that already exists, you can copy it:

1. Open the existing accounting document.
2. Click Copy.
3. A new draft document is created with the same line items. You can modify the dates, amounts, or any other fields before saving.

This is useful for recurring entries such as monthly accruals or standard adjustments.

Posting batches

A posting batch lets you group multiple draft documents together and post them all at once.

1. Navigate to General Ledger > Posting Batches.
2. Create a new posting batch with a code and description.
3. When creating or editing accounting documents, assign them to this posting batch.
4. When you are ready, open the posting batch and click Post All to post every document in the batch.

Posting batches are helpful for month-end closing when you have many journal entries to review and post together.

Importing journal entry lines from Excel

For large journal entries with many line items, you can import lines from an Excel spreadsheet.

1. Open an existing draft accounting document (or create a new one and save it first).
2. Click Import Lines.
3. Download the Excel template to see the required column format.
4. Fill in the template with your line item data: G/L account, debit/credit indicator, amount, tax code, cost center, business partner, and comment.
5. Upload the completed file.

Ayiza validates each row and calculates derived fields (tax amounts, currency conversions) automatically. Any validation errors are reported so you can correct them before saving.

hinweis

You do not need to enter currency conversion amounts in the Excel file. Ayiza calculates the company code currency, group currency, and functional currency amounts for you based on the posting date and exchange rates.