Journal Entry Guidelines

Purpose

A journal entry (JE) transfers funds between university general ledger (GL) accounts.

General Ledger accounts

General ledger accounts are organized into three groups: Fund (2 digits), Unit (5 digits), and Object (4 digits). The format is as follows: FF-UUUUU-OOOO. You can view GL accounts and balances in Colleague Self Service (accessed via the Portal). 

Accounts include the following types:

• Departmental budget accounts
• Grant/Restricted accounts
• Student Organization accounts
• Custodial accounts

Guidelines

1. All journal entries must be submitted on the current approved form, which may be downloaded from Campus Use Forms.
2. Journal entries must be completed electronically in order to prevent errors that result from handwritten forms.
3. All journals must contain adequate supporting documentation that independently supports the entry being made.
4. All journals should include a plain English explanation and sufficient supporting documentation to facilitate review and approval.
5. Import your journal entry and supporting documentation to DocuSign. For instructions on how to use DocuSign, refer to the job aids linked on the following page.
6. Journals that are longer than one page must also be emailed to Accounting so they can be uploaded directly. In this instance, follow the 4 steps below.
   • In DocuSign, be sure to add a text box to the top right corner of the Journal Entry form that says GLIM.
   • Save the JE form on your desktop, do not change the extension of the macro file name, it should default to: .xlsm
   • Email the form as an attachment to Accounting@willamette.edu.
   • Always use the JE GLIM Import Template provided on Campus Use Forms to ensure you are using an up to date form.

NOTE: Changing the file suffix .xlsm to .xls or .xlsx will cause an error in processing. The file will be returned to you for correction, which will delay posting of your journal entry.