In D365 Finance, every journal starts with a Journal name. Most of a journal’s behavior comes from its Journal name: which voucher numbers it uses, who can see it, who can post it, and which posting layer it posts to. A well-designed Journal name means users do not have to choose these options on every journal, and financial controls stay consistent.
Path: General ledger > Journal setup > Journal names
AOT : table LedgerJournalName, form LedgerJournalSetup.
1. Basics: Journal type
Start by selecting the Journal type. It controls which journal form can use the Journal name. Common types:
| Journal type | Purpose |
|---|---|
| Daily | Daily transactions in a general journal |
| Periodic | Periodic (recurring) journals |
| Allocation | Allocation journals |
| Vendor disbursement | Vendor payment journals |
| Customer payment | Customer payment journals |
| Invoice register / Vendor invoice recording | Registering and recording vendor invoices |
For the full list, see Microsoft Learn: Ledger journal types.
2. Voucher numbers: Voucher series and New voucher
- Voucher series: the number sequence for voucher numbers.
- New voucher controls how voucher numbers are assigned:
- In connection with balance: the system assigns a new voucher number when the debit and credit lines balance.
- Manual: the user enters the voucher number.
- One voucher number only: the whole journal uses a single voucher number.
- Number allocation at posting: when set to Yes, the journal uses temporary voucher numbers during entry, and the system assigns the final voucher number at posting. You set the temporary number sequence in General ledger parameters > Number sequences.
Caution: Post all open journals for the Journal name before you change Number allocation at posting. Mixed settings or duplicate voucher assignment can cause the posting error “Voucher XXX is already used as of date XXX”. To fix it:
- Confirm that the voucher number has actually been used.
- Find the number sequence that the Journal name uses.
- Go to Organization administration > Number sequences > Number sequences.
- Select the number sequence and open the Status list.
- Delete the record whose status is Free but whose number is already used.
- Post the journal again.
3. Posting behavior
- Posting layer: the layer the journal posts to. Current is for external financial reporting, Operations is for internal management reporting, and Tax is for specific tax transactions.
- Offset account proposal: sets a default offset account (Fixed offset account and Account type). Use it when the offset account is always the same.
- Detail level:
- Details: each journal line posts as a separate account transaction.
- Summary: during posting, the system combines lines in the same voucher that have the same date, account, financial dimensions, and currency into one transaction.
- Lines limit: if a journal has more lines than this limit, the system splits it into smaller journals at posting. Example: with a limit of 4, a journal with 7 lines posts as two journals of 4 and 3 lines.
4. Sales tax: Amounts include sales tax
| Setting | Base amount | Tax amount | Total amount |
|---|---|---|---|
| Yes | Entered amount / (1 + tax rate) | Base amount × tax rate | Entered amount |
| No | Entered amount | Base amount × tax rate | Base amount + tax amount |
If users do not need the tax fields during journal entry, turn on Hide sales tax fields in journal entry form.
5. Financial controls
- Approval: use this when important entries need approval before posting. Set Active to Yes, then add the approving user or user group in Approve. Approval workflow is also available.
- Blocking – Private for user group: only members of the selected user group can see the journal. Use it for confidential entries.
- Journal control (ribbon button): limits which account types the Journal name can post to, and which dimension values are valid.
- Posting restrictions (ribbon button): limits users to posting only the journals they created. Users who are not assigned a posting restriction can post all journals for the Journal name.
6. Payment journals: summarize amounts to the bank
When the Journal type is Customer payment, Vendor disbursement, or Daily, you can turn on Summarize amounts in bank account. Each payment still posts with its own voucher, but the system combines bank transactions according to the Summarization criteria:
- Do not summarize: the system does not combine bank transactions.
- Default criteria: combines bank transactions that have the same bank account, method of payment, currency, main account type (customer or vendor), and transaction date.
- Default criteria with document number: the default criteria, plus the same document number (such as an invoice number).
- Default criteria with payment reference: the default criteria, plus the same payment reference.
Prerequisites:
- In Feature management, enable Ability to post detailed vendor and customer payments, but summarize amounts to bank account.
- In Cash and bank management parameters, set up the Bank transaction summarization ID number sequence.
Because the bank statement shows the summarized amount, this feature makes bank reconciliation much easier.
Summary
Create separate Journal names for each business scenario, such as general ledger entries, adjustments, confidential entries, and payments. For each Journal name, set the Journal type, voucher numbering, posting layer, and approval controls. When users pick the right Journal name, the voucher numbering, approval, and posting rules apply automatically.