# Post an Entry

Date, lines, descriptions, balance, post.

The description is the step people skip, and it is the only part of the entry that will still mean anything to somebody in a year.

![The New Journal screen, where the date, journal number, reference and notes sit above a line grid taking an account, a description and a debit or credit amount on each row, with running totals beneath.](https://www.sorviai.com/help/journal-entries/new-journal-form.png)

*The description is what makes the entry readable later. The totals must agree before it will save.*

## Post an entry

- **Set the posting date**

  This decides the period. Backdating into a closed or filed period changes numbers you may already have reported.
- **Add the lines**

  Each line is one account with a debit or a credit. Two lines is the usual minimum.
- **Describe every line**

  Not the entry as a whole. In six months the line description is the only thing that will explain the posting.
- **Attach the working**

  A depreciation schedule or an accrual calculation, so the number can be checked without being recreated.
- **Check it balances**

  Debits must equal credits. SorviAI Finance will not post otherwise.
- **Post it**

  It hits the accounts immediately and appears in your Trial Balance.

> **Tip:**
>
> **Write the description for a stranger**
>
> "Adjustment" explains nothing. "Accrue September electricity, estimate per August bill" explains everything, and the person reading it in March will probably be you.

## Getting the direction right

| To increase | Post a |
| --- | --- |
| An asset, such as a bank account or stock | Debit |
| An expense | Debit |
| A liability, such as an accrual or a loan | Credit |
| Income | Credit |
| Equity | Credit |

To decrease any of them, post the opposite. That table is the whole of double entry, and every journal you will ever post is an application of it.

## Reversing an entry

Post an opposite entry rather than deleting. Two visible postings that net to nothing is what an auditor wants to see; a hole where a posting used to be is not. Accruals in particular are normally reversed in the following period as a matter of routine.