Which accounts accept postings, and when posting is blocked

Every amount that reaches your books goes through the same posting engine: manual journal entries, receipts and payments, cheques, transfers, and the entries that invoices, returns and stock movements create on their own. The engine applies three rules to every entry. When you know them, a refused posting takes seconds to fix.

Rule 1: post only to level-5 accounts of a branch

Your chart of accounts has five levels. Levels 1 to 4 are grouping accounts: their balances are the totals of the accounts below them, so they never receive an amount directly. Only level-5 accounts accept postings.

Each branch also has its own copy of the chart, and a master template sits above the copies. The template is only a pattern for new accounts, so it never receives postings either. An entry must use a level-5 account from a branch's chart.

The account lists on posting screens already follow this rule: they show only level-5 accounts of your branch. In the chart of accounts, the Postable column and the Postable accounts only switch show you which accounts qualify.

If an entry still targets a wrong account, the system refuses it with transaction_on_non_leaf_account_not_allowed (a grouping account) or transaction_on_master_coa_not_allowed (a template account).

Rule 2: the fiscal year must be open

Each branch has one fiscal year record per calendar year. An entry is accepted only when the year of its date has a fiscal year for the branch that is Active and not Closed.

This rule explains the most common surprise of the year: on the first working day of January, every posting is refused until somebody adds the new year. It also stops anyone from posting into a year you have already closed. When the rule refuses an entry, you see fiscal_yar_not_active.

To fix it, open Fiscal years and add or activate the year for your branch. If the year is closed and you really need to post into it, a user with the reopen permission can reopen it.

Rule 3: the entry must balance

Total debit must equal total credit. The system accepts a difference of up to 0.01 to absorb rounding. On the journal entry form you cannot post until the totals show Balanced. All the lines of one entry share one batch number and are saved together: if one line fails, nothing is saved.

How a posting moves a balance

Each account has a nature, debit or credit. A debit increases a debit-natured account (assets and expenses) and decreases a credit-natured one (liabilities, equity and revenue). A credit does the opposite. The posting also updates every parent account above it, so totals on levels 1 to 4 are always current.

Who can post what

Each posting screen has its own permission, for example manual journal entries, transfers between accounts, customer receipts or supplier payments. If a button or a menu item is missing, ask your administrator to add the permission to your group.

Quick troubleshooting