Journal Entries

Understand what journal entries are, when they're created, and how to view them in your books.

Journal entries are the underlying accounting records that power your financial reports. Every transaction in Kick - whether it came from your bank, a payroll run, or a bill - generates a journal entry that posts to your general ledger. Most business owners will never need to create one manually, but knowing what they are helps you understand what you're looking at in your reports.

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What a journal entry is

A journal entry is a double-entry record with two sides: a debit and a credit. Every financial event in your business is recorded this way - money always moves from one account to another. For example, when you pay a software subscription, the expense account for Software increases (debit) and your bank balance decreases (credit).

Kick generates these automatically every time a transaction is categorized.

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Where journal entries come from

Source	Example
Transaction	A categorized bank or card transaction
Manual journal entry	An adjustment created by your accountant
Opening balance	Your starting account balances
Payroll integration (Gusto)	Each payroll run posted by expense type
Bill vendor	A bill from Ramp or Bill.com posted to accounts payable
Invoice	An invoice from your vendor like Stripe

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View journal entries

Journal entries are visible in the General Ledger report. Go to Accounting → General Ledger, select an entity and date range, and expand any account to see the individual entries. Click the reference number on any entry to open the full detail.

You can also see journal entry activity in the Activity tab - filter by Journal Entry to see a log of all entries with timestamps and who or what created them.

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Manual journal entries

Your accountant may create manual journal entries for adjustments that don't come from a regular transaction - things like depreciation, accruals, or corrections. These are created from the command palette (⌘K → Add journal entry) or from the Accounting tab and require Admin or Accountant access.

If you see a journal entry in your General Ledger that you don't recognize, check the Activity tab to see who created it and why, or ask your accountant.

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Recurring and reversal entries

Manual journal entries can be set to recur on a schedule (monthly depreciation, for example) or to reverse automatically in the following period (useful for accruals). Your accountant manages these.

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Locked periods

Journal entries in locked periods cannot be edited or deleted. If a correction needs to be made to a locked period, your accountant will need to unlock it first.

→ Locks

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FAQs

Do I need to create journal entries myself?

For most business owners, no. Kick generates journal entries automatically as transactions are categorized. Manual journal entries are typically created by your accountant for adjustments, accruals, or corrections.

Where can I see what's been posted to my books?

Go to Accounting → General Ledger. Every journal entry is listed by account, with dates, amounts, and references. You can also use Activity to see a chronological log of all entries.

Can I edit a journal entry?

Transaction-sourced entries update automatically when you change a transaction's category. Manual journal entries can be edited by your accountant as long as the period isn't locked.