Correcting a posted entry

Why you cannot just fix the number

Journal lines are append-only, enforced by a database trigger. The trigger fires for every connection, including privileged ones, so no support script or migration can quietly rewrite a posted amount either.

Journal entries themselves can never be deleted. Only the effective date and the company can be settled, and only inside the transaction that created the entry. A later attempt to amend is refused.

Reverse, then repost

A reversal is a new entry with every debit and credit swapped, carrying the same property, tenant, vendor and owner as the original. Once it is posted, you post a fresh correct entry.

The reversal is dated the day you make it, not backdated to the original. Backdating would reopen a closed period and change a figure someone has already reported.

1. 1Open the entry you need to correct and confirm it is the right one.
2. 2Reverse it, giving a reason. The reason is mandatory and is stored with the reversal.
3. 3Post the corrected entry in the normal way.
4. 4Check the property or account balance to confirm the net effect is what you intended.

What the reversal refuses to do

You cannot reverse an entry twice, and you cannot reverse a reversal. If a correction is itself wrong, post a fresh correcting entry rather than unwinding the unwinding.

Reversing needs accounting write rights in the organisation. The action is written to the audit log with the reason, the original entry and the new one.

What the history looks like afterwards

Three entries survive: the mistake, the reversal, and the correction. That is deliberate. A tidy ledger that quietly disagrees with what you reported last month is a worse outcome than a visible correction.