Journal Entry: party rows, copied rows and large entries
A Journal Entry posts debits and credits to any accounts. When a row is for a customer, supplier or employee, it also needs a Party Type and Party, so that the amount shows in that party's ledger and in Accounts Receivable or Payable. This page answers common questions about these rows.
When do I need a Party Type and Party?
A row needs a party when its account has Account Type Receivable or Payable (for example Debtors or Creditors). Without it, you get:
Row 1: Party Type and Party is required for Receivable / Payable account Debtors - BBS
| Party Type | Account Type of the account |
|---|---|
| Customer | Receivable |
| Supplier, Employee, Shareholder | Payable |
- Select a customer only on a Receivable account, and a supplier or employee only on a Payable account. A customer on a payable account does not show correctly in Accounts Receivable.
- Other accounts (bank, expense, income) take no party.
- You cannot add a new Party Type. To track amounts by another kind of record (for example a contractor or a vehicle), use an accounting dimension instead.
Why does a new row copy the previous row?
When you add a row, ERPNext copies the Account, Party Type and Party from a row that has a party, and fills the difference between debit and credit as the amount. This is on purpose: it saves time when you post one amount against many parties, for example many supplier bills in one entry.
If the new row is for another account, change the Account and clear the Party. To start with an empty row, add the row before you fill a party in the first row.
A Journal Entry with many rows is slow or times out
- An entry with more than 100 rows is submitted and cancelled in the background. You see a message that it is queued; check its status in Submission Queue. The entry shows as submitted when the job completes.
- Very large entries (thousands of rows) take long because each row makes General Ledger entries. Split them, for example one entry per month or per branch, or use Data Import to import several smaller Journal Entries.
- Some slowness with many rows was fixed in version 16 releases. Update the site to the latest release.