Understanding Journals

Questions? Contact Accounting and Reporting

Overview

Learn about journals and find detailed instructions on specific journal topics.

Journals are created to enter financial information into the General Ledger. Financial information includes deposits, payments, transfers, allocations, and other types of activity necessary to accurately describe the finances of the University.

Journal Preparers and Approvers

Journals are created in PeopleSoft by a Journal Preparer and reviewed by a Journal Approver.  

Journal Preparers

Journal Preparers create online journals and use Header fields and Journal Lines to accurately record each transaction.

Journal Preparers should consistently use their established Journal Preparer ID when creating journals following UCSF's journal naming convention format "XXABCYYYY", where:

  • XX = the fiscal period of the journal
  • ABC = your specific 3-character Journal Preparer ID
  • YYYY = a sequential numbering scheme of your choosing

View the list of Journal Preparer IDs.

Journal Approvers

Journal Approvers review and approve or deny the online journal. They ensure every journal is reasonable and accurate based on the journal documentation, knowledge of the activity, and conformity to UCSF's policies and outside agencies such as the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Approvers review the journal description, Header details, and chartfields for accuracy.

Journal Approvers cannot deleted or change the contents of a journal.

Review Establishing Journal Preparers and Approvers in PeopleSoft for links to training and the additional steps needed to assign the Journal Preparer and/or Journal Approver role to a UCSF staff member.

Journal Source Codes

At UCSF, the journal source code is used to identify the type and purpose of a journal.  Not all source codes are available to all PeopleSoft Journal Preparers and Approvers.  In addition, some source codes require additional workflow for approval by the Control Point or the Controller's Office.

Review a list of current Journal Source Codes.

Using Accounts Correctly

To keep reporting consistent and clear, it is important that you use the proper Accounts when preparing a journal.  Additionally, in some cases "paired Accounts" must be used together on journals for some transaction types including assessments and inter-departmental transfers, Medical Center PSA Revenue, and Medical Center Purchased Services Revenue.  

To ensure that you are using the correct Accounts in your journal entries, refer to:

 

Related Resources

For detailed instructions on specific journal topics: