Each line of the journal is a journal entry with its date, its accounts, and its debit and credit amounts. Together with the book of inventories and annual accounts, it is one of the mandatory books for every company.
In practice, with computerised bookkeeping the journal is generated by the software from the entries you record: invoices issued and received, payments, collections, payroll, depreciation. At year end it is exported electronically and submitted for certification. An autónomo under the simplified direct assessment method does not have to keep one: the tax record books for income, expenses, and capital assets are enough.
Typical mistake: leaving the bookkeeping until the end of the year and adding entries in bulk, with no real order or supporting documents. Another mistake is changing entries after the book has been certified: if something needs fixing, it is done with a new correcting entry, not by deleting the old one.
It is linked to the general ledger, which groups the same transactions by account, to the Plan General de Contabilidad, and to the annual accounts. In kontora each invoice or bank movement creates its entry in double-entry books, so the journal builds itself, in order.
Guides that use this term
- How to keep your business books in Spain without knowing accounting
- The accounting of an online shop, from the sale to the bank
- Annual accounts of a Spanish SL: drawing up, approval, deposit and what happens if you skip them
- Corporate income tax in Spain: your SL's first year
- Tax and accounting duties of a Spanish SL
Related terms
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