Create and manage recurring journals in Reckon One

Learn how to set up a recurring journal, so the entries you post every period (such as depreciation, accruals, prepayments, and management fees) are created for you automatically instead of being keyed in each time.

Before you start

To create or change a recurring journal template, you need the Create and edit permission for recurring transactions. Administrator and Superuser roles have this by default.

With View permission only, you can open the recurring transactions list and look at a template, but you can't create or change one. Ask your book administrator to update your role if you need more access.

It's worth talking to your accountant or bookkeeper before you set up a recurring journal.

Set up a recurring journal

A recurring journal has two parts – the schedule that decides when each journal is created, and the journal itself.

1. In the Day to day menu, select Business, then select Recurring transactions.
2. Click Add journal.
3. In Name, enter a name you'll recognise later, such as "Monthly vehicle depreciation". You'll see this name in the recurring transactions list.
4. Scheduling is set to Scheduled, which means Reckon One creates each journal for you automatically.
5. In Frequency, enter a number and select days, weeks or months. For example, enter 1 and select months to post the journal monthly.
6. In Start date, select the date you want the first journal created. The start date can't be earlier than today, as Reckon One doesn't create journals with a date in the past.
7. In Ends, choose when the template stops creating journals.
   • After – set the number of journals to create. The template is set to inactive once it reaches that number.
   • At date – set the date of the last journal. No journals are created after this date and the template is set to inactive.
   • Never – journals keep being created at your chosen frequency, with no end date.
8. In Summary, enter a short summary of what the journal is for. This appears on each journal that gets created.
9. (Optional) Enter a Description.
10. In Adjusting journal, select Yes if this is an adjusting journal. Otherwise leave it as No.
11. (Optional) If your book is registered for tax, select whether the amounts you enter are tax inclusive or tax exclusive.
12. On the first row, select an Account and enter an amount in either Debit or Credit.
13. (Optional) Add a Tax code, Narration, Contact, Trans type, Project and Classification to the row.
14. Repeat steps 11 and 12 on the second row for the other side of the entry. To add more rows, click on Add row, or click on the arrow next to it and select any of the options.
15. Check the Totals row. Your debits and credits have to be equal before you can save.
16. Click on Save & close, or click on the arrow next to it and select any of the options.

Once you save, the template shows the date your next journal will be created on. Reckon One works this out from the frequency, start date and end conditions you've set. If you change the schedule later, the new date appears after you save your changes.

Set an existing journal as recurring

If you've already posted a journal you know you'll need again, you can turn it into a template rather than starting from scratch. The summary, description, adjusting journal setting and all of the row details are copied across to a new recurring journal template.

1. In the Day to day menu, select Business, then select Journals.
2. Click the journal you want to reuse.
3. Click Set as recurring.
4. Fill in the recurring details, the same as if you were creating a recurring journal from scratch.
5. Click on Save & close, or click on the arrow next to it and select any of the options.

Create a journal from a template straight away

You don't have to wait for the schedule to come around. If you need the journal now, you can create one from the template on the spot.

1. In the Day to day menu, select Business, then select Recurring transactions.
2. Click the recurring journal.
3. Click Create from recurring.

The journal opens with the template details already filled in and today's date, ready for you to check and save. Creating a journal this way doesn't change the schedule, so your next scheduled journal still arrives as planned.

Skip the next journal

Sometimes you don't need a scheduled journal (for example, you've already posted it by hand, or the entry doesn't apply this period). You can skip a single journal without changing the schedule.

1. In the Day to day menu, select Business, then select Recurring transactions.
2. Click the recurring journal.
3. Next to Next journal date, click Skip next journal.
4. Check the new next journal date in the message that appears, then confirm.

Skipping reduces only the next journal. It won't affect subsequent journals set to recur.

Stop a recurring journal

To keep the recurring journal but stop having it create journals, set its Status to inactive. You can set it back to active whenever you need it again. Reckon One also automatically sets the recurring journal to inactive once it reaches the end date or the last of its occurrences.

1. In the Day to day menu, select Business, then select Recurring transactions.
2. Click the recurring journal.
3. Click the more options icon next to Save & close, then select Mark as inactive.

Use the same menu to make an inactive recurring journal active again.

To remove a recurring journal for good, delete it from the recurring transactions list. You need the Delete permission for recurring transactions to do this. Journals already created aren't affected. To delete a recurring journal:

1. In the Day to day menu, select Business, then select Recurring transactions.
2. Click on the checkbox next to the recurring journal.
3. Click Delete at the bottom of the screen.

View recurring journal history

To see who changed a recurring journal and when, view the history:

1. In the Day to day menu, select Business, then select Recurring transactions.
2. Click the recurring journal.
3. Click View history.

Find journals created from a recurring journal template

The Recurring template column on the journals list shows which recurring journal each journal came from. Journals with an empty Recurring template column were entered by hand.

1. In the Day to day menu, select Business, then select Journals.
2. If the Recurring template column isn't already there, click on the spanner icon and select it to have it show.

With Create and edit permission for recurring transactions, you can click the template name to open the recurring transaction straight from the journals list.

Read more

• Learn how to add a journal entry in Reckon One
• Learn how to view journal history in Reckon One
• Learn how to set up recurring bills in Reckon One
• Learn how to set up recurring invoices in Reckon One