Posting Column Totals from a Journal to a general Ledger Accounting 1, Chapter 5 – Section 3

Journal Entries That Are NOT to be Posted Individually Forwarding totals (“Carried Forward” and “Brought Forward”) Amounts recorded in special amount columns (Sales Credit and Cash Debit and Credit) The General Debit and General Credit column totals

Blank Post. Ref. Column To assure that no postings are overlooked, no blank posting reference spaces should be left in the Post. Ref. column of the journal A checkmark () should be used when there are no individual amounts to be posted (Exception: when the TOTALS for the month are recorded because the special amount column totals are posted)

Posting Column Totals The general Debit and Credit columns are NOT special amount columns because the column headings do NOT contain the name of an account The General Debit and Credit column totals are NOT posted and a checkmark in parentheses () is written below the totals to indicate this

Posting Special Amount Column Totals Separate amounts in special amount columns are not posted individually Only the totals of special amount columns are posted Posting special amount column totals saves time and results in greater accuracy

Steps to Posting Special Amount Column Totals The steps to posting special amount column totals is almost the same as posting individual amounts (Date, journal page #, column total – dr. or cr. – and balance), BUT the account number is written in parentheses (###) below the column total, NOT in the Post. Ref. column