The entry says 'September adjustment'. Debits equal credits, but nobody remembers the reason. That description may be enough to save a transaction; it is not enough to review it three months later. Documenting manual journal entries means leaving an explanation that someone else can test without contacting the preparer. The account, date and amount matter, but so do the underlying event, the evidence and the reason this entry did not originate from a purchase, sale or bank transaction. The reviewer needs a route back to the facts, not a longer version of the account name.
Check for an existing posting first
Search the source documents and their movements before preparing the journal. An accepted supplier bill may already have created the obligation you intend to recognize. Adding the same amount manually would duplicate the expense. Compare references, dates and accounts rather than only the ending balance. A wrong classification may call for a reclassification; a missing transaction requires a different assessment. Record what you checked. 'Bill B-218 reviewed; September maintenance has not been recorded' is useful evidence of the search. 'Per email' leaves the next person guessing which email and what it establishes.
Worked example: maintenance before the bill arrives
Assume a distributor received maintenance in September for CRC 180,000. The contract charges CRC 60,000 per visit, and the operations manager confirms three completed visits. Billing will occur in October. For this illustration, the accountant decides to recognize an expense and an accrued obligation at the September close. Taxes and exchange differences are excluded to keep the documentation visible. This treatment depends on the company's accounting framework and circumstances. An estimate is not a replacement for the supplier's document, and this example does not establish a tax deduction or prescribe treatment for every business.
- Working paper reference: AJ-2026-09-014, September maintenance.
- Calculation: three confirmed visits at CRC 60,000, totaling CRC 180,000.
- Illustrative debit: maintenance expense, CRC 180,000.
- Illustrative credit: accrued services payable, CRC 180,000.
- Evidence: contract, visit details and the operations manager's confirmation.
- Follow-up: compare the October bill before clearing or reversing the accrual.
The working paper should identify the visit dates, who confirmed completion and whether the contract includes other charges. A free inspection would change the calculation. Separately billed parts require their own evidence. Distinguish confirmed amounts from estimates and explain how uncertainty was handled. Retain the reviewed calculation as an identifiable version instead of a spreadsheet that can be overwritten without a trace. Someone replacing the operations manager should still be able to reconstruct CRC 180,000 and explain why the service belongs to September. The document should answer that question without relying on the preparer's memory.
Use each field for a different job
Make the description summarize the event: 'September maintenance received, supplier bill pending'. Put AJ-2026-09-014 in the reference. Use notes for the reasoning, calculation and evidence location, along with the reviewer and review date. Copying an entire email thread usually obscures the decision. Preserve the relevant exchange separately and summarize what was agreed. Where several journal lines allocate the service between departments, describe the allocation basis. Hours or confirmed visits can support the split; a percentage chosen simply to make departmental results look tidy cannot explain the underlying expense.
A review should establish whether the service occurred, belongs to this company and has already been posted. It should also check the accounts and period. In a small team, the preparer may also perform the initial review. Acknowledge that limitation and arrange a later check with the accountant. A signature on the working paper is an organizational control, not evidence that Tario enforced a mandatory two-person approval workflow. Keeping that distinction clear helps the team decide which checks happen in software and which still require someone to read the contract and challenge the calculation.
Recording and correcting the entry in Tario
Tario supports manual journals with a posting date, description, reference, notes and debit or credit lines. Validation requires positive line amounts and balanced totals using the company's accounts. You can prepare a draft before posting, and the date is checked against closed periods. These controls catch entry problems; they do not decide whether an estimate is reasonable. After posting, inspect the journal book and the affected account balances. A saved transaction is only the starting point for checking its result. Posted entries follow a reversal and replacement flow rather than ordinary draft editing.
Resolve the accrual when the actual bill arrives
October's bill is CRC 186,000 because the supplier added a CRC 6,000 travel charge. Confirm the charge and when the travel occurred before recording it. Under the policy selected for this illustration, the accountant can coordinate reversal of the accrual with recognition of the bill so maintenance is not counted twice. Explain the difference separately and keep the transaction references. Then verify that the CRC 180,000 accrual does not remain outstanding alongside the bill. For recurring accruals, maintain an unresolved-item list. An older balance may mean the bill is missing, the service was canceled or the reversal never happened.