Post a manual journal

A manual journal is an entry you write by hand. It has two or more ledger lines, the debits equal the credits, and there's no invoice, bill or bank line behind it. You use one to correct something in your accounts, or to record something that isn't a normal purchase or sale, like drawing down a loan.

It's more advanced than the rest of Sumly, and we only recommend it if you already know accounting yourself. In most companies, it's your own accountant who opens this page, not you.

Start a blank journal

The Manual journals page has two tables, "Drafts" and "Transactions". On a new company they read "No drafts yet." and "No posted journals yet."

Click "+ New manual journal" at the top right. The editor opens almost empty. There's a "Details" card that names the journal as a whole, an "Attachments" area to drop files into, and one entry card, "Entry 1", with two blank lines already in it. The "Bookkeeping" panel at the bottom reads "Complete at least one line to see the preview.", and the "Post manual journal" button under it is greyed out.

Name and date the entry

Type a name into the entry's "Description" field. Ours records a loan drawdown, so it reads "Loan". An "Incomplete" chip appears next to "Entry 1" straight away, and the Bookkeeping panel starts listing what's missing.

Click "Date" and pick the day from the calendar. It opens on the current month, with a "Today" shortcut at the bottom. Pick the day the money moved, not today. Here that's 10.08.2026. Leave "Currency" on "Euro (EUR)".

The journal has two description fields. The one in the "Details" card names the whole journal, and it's what the "Transactions" table shows. Each entry has its own as well. If you fill in only the entry's, the posted row comes back with an empty "Description" column, which makes the list hard to read later. So fill in both.

Pick the accounts and enter the amounts

"Account" is a search box, not a plain dropdown, so type part of the name or number instead of scrolling. Ours is a loan, so the first line goes to cash. Typing "cash" narrows the chart down to "1920 · Cash on Hand" and "1930 · Cash in Transit". Pick the first, choose that line's VAT code, and type 1,000.00 into its "Debit (EUR)" box. The totals under the table update as you type.

The second line is the other half, the loan account itself. Typing "Loan" brings up every loan account in the chart, so pick the one that matches how you borrowed the money, here "2600 · Bank Loans (Current)". Choose its VAT code too, and put the same 1,000.00 into "Credit (EUR)". Debits now equal credits.

The "VAT" column starts on "None" on both lines, and setting it is up to you. A line you leave alone reaches the ledger with no code on it. The "Description" column on each line is optional. "+ Add line" adds a line to this entry, and "+ Add entry" starts a second entry, with its own date, in the same journal.

Sumly doesn't suggest which accounts to pair. You choose which account to debit and which to credit. The Bookkeeping panel only checks that the entry balances, not that it's right. If you're unsure what your books need to show later, read what records a Cyprus company must keep.

Read the Bookkeeping panel before you post

The panel at the bottom tells you, as you go, why you can't post yet. It starts at "Complete at least one line to see the preview." and then becomes "Entry 1: missing a date, needs at least two complete lines". As you fill each thing in, it drops that item and names the next, down to the line still missing an account or an amount. When the entry balances, the chip next to "Entry 1" changes to "Ready". The panel then shows the ledger itself, in the same columns as the lines above. You see the two rows exactly as they'll land, and what each one does to the balance on its account. "Post manual journal" becomes active at the same moment.

Post it

"Save draft" keeps the journal under "Drafts" so you can finish it another day. Otherwise, click "Post manual journal". There's no confirmation dialog. Sumly takes you back to Manual journals, where the journal now sits under "Transactions". The "Created at" column shows the day you posted, not the entry date you chose. A journal dated the 10th and posted on the 12th reads "12 Aug 2026".

That's the last of the walkthroughs. Most months you'll never open this page, because a supplier invoice and a payroll run post their own entries for you. A manual journal is for whatever's left over. The rest of the set is in Learn.