Special journals are accounting journals set up to record a single category of transaction that happens repeatedly. Instead of entering every transaction in the general journal with a full debit and credit, a business records, for example, all credit sales in a sales journal and all cash payments in a cash payments journal. Each journal has columns tailored to its transaction type, which saves time, allows work to be divided among staff and reduces posting to the ledger.
Special journals were developed for manual bookkeeping, where writing out every account name and posting each line separately was slow. They are still taught because they explain how modern accounting software organizes transactions into modules such as sales, purchasing, receipts and payments, each feeding summary totals into the general ledger.
The four common special journals
| Journal | Transactions recorded | Usual posting |
|---|---|---|
| Sales journal | Sales of merchandise on credit | Debit accounts receivable, credit sales |
| Purchases journal | Purchases on credit | Debit purchases or inventory, credit accounts payable |
| Cash receipts journal | All cash received, from customers, cash sales, loans or owners | Debit cash, with credits to various accounts |
| Cash payments journal | All cash paid out, by check or electronically | Credit cash, with debits to various accounts |
Transactions that do not fit any special journal, such as adjusting entries, closing entries, sales returns or the purchase of equipment on credit, are still recorded in the general journal. Some businesses add other special journals, such as a payroll journal or a sales returns journal, when those transactions are frequent.
How posting works
Special journals work alongside a subsidiary ledger, often called a subledger, which keeps a separate account for each customer or supplier. The total of the subsidiary ledger must agree with a single control account in the general ledger, such as accounts receivable or accounts payable.
- Individual lines are posted daily to the customer or supplier accounts in the subsidiary ledger, so balances are always current.
- Column totals are posted to the general ledger at the end of the month, so a single debit and a single credit replace dozens or hundreds of separate postings.
- Columns headed other accounts, in the cash journals, are posted individually to the general ledger.
Worked example: a sales journal
In March, a wholesale stationer makes four credit sales: $1,200 to Alder Ltd on 3 March, $850 to Birch Co on 9 March, $2,300 to Alder Ltd on 17 March and $640 to Cedar Inc on 28 March. Each is entered on one line of the sales journal, showing the date, invoice number, customer and amount. During the month each amount is posted to the customer's account in the accounts receivable subsidiary ledger, so Alder Ltd shows $3,500, Birch Co $850 and Cedar Inc $640.
At month end the column is totaled at $4,990. A single entry posts a debit of $4,990 to accounts receivable and a credit of $4,990 to sales in the general ledger. The subsidiary ledger balances, $3,500 plus $850 plus $640, also total $4,990, confirming that the control account and subledger agree. Recording the same sales in the general journal would have required four separate entries and eight postings.
Special journals today
In accounting software, the sales, purchasing and banking modules play the role of special journals. Invoices, bills and payments are entered on screens designed for each transaction type, posted instantly to customer and supplier accounts, and summarized in the general ledger. The underlying logic, a specialized record feeding a control account, is the same, and reports such as the sales register or cash payments listing are the electronic equivalents of the old books. Understanding them helps accountants trace transactions through a system, reconcile subledgers to the ledger and investigate errors, and they remain part of professional exams on the accounting cycle. Each special journal is also a form of journal, the general term for any book of original entry.