Journal

All the business transactions are to be recorded in the journal in the form of debit and credit. This is the second stage in accounting cycle.

A Journal is a book in which transactions are recorded in the order in which they occur i.e. chronological order. A journal is called a book. The process of recording a transaction in journal is called ‘journalizing’. The entry made in the journal is called journal entry.

Format of a Journal

Date	Particulars	L.F.	Debit Amount	Credit Amount
1	2	3	4	5

1. Date Column:

In this column the date on which the transaction took place is entered. The transactions must be recorded in chronological order, i.e. transactions are to be entered date wise. The year and month is written once, till they change.

2. Particulars Column

In this column the names of the accounts to be debited is written in the first line and then the names of the account to be credited is recorded in the second line. They are followed by Narration given in the brackets. Narration is a brief explanation of the transaction entered.

3. L.F. Column

This is called ledger folio column. In this column the page number of the ledger will be entered when it is posted into its relevant account in the ledger. This helps in verification of books of account in case of any error.

4. Debit Amount Column

In this column the amount to be debited is written.

5. Credit Amount Column

In this column the amount to be credited is written. The amount is in Rupees in INDIA, in Dollars in AMERICA etc.

Note: Except, the ledger folio column, all other columns are recorded at the time of journal entry.