A revenue journal, also called sales journal, is one type of special journal used in accounting to record revenue earned by a company. Special journals are used along with a general journal to record financial transactions that occur within an organization. A revenue journal is designed to uniquely record only sales transactions. The sales transactions are recorded as revenue and recorded as being paid by cash or placed on account; known as accounts receivable.
Set up a revenue journal. A revenue journal is designed uniquely for recording only transactions where revenue was earned. A revenue journal has several columns in it beginning with date. The next column is to list the account that is debited. The next two columns are for invoice number and post reference information. The very last column is labeled Accounts Receivable debit and Sales Credit.
Post a revenue transaction. When a sale occurs, the revenue journal is used to record the transaction. If a company makes a sale with a customer on account, the date is placed in the first column and the customer’s name is placed in the account debited column. This represents the customer is placing an amount on account in accounts receivable. If the sale was made with cash, cash would be listed as the debited account. The invoice number is recorded and the amount is recorded in the last column.
Complete the revenue journal at the end of the month. After all revenue transactions are recorded, the information is transferred into the company’s general ledger. The very last column is where all amounts are recorded. This column is totaled out and the total amount is placed as a credit to the Sales account in the company’s ledger. After this takes place, a checkmark is placed by the total to represent the amount is posted in the ledger. All accounts in the debit column of the revenue journal are placed in the appropriate accounts. A checkmark is placed in the post reference column of each item as it is transferred to the appropriate account.
