View the general journal, the general ledger and the trial balance

What is it for?

The « Comptabilité indicative » (indicative accounting) page turns your documents into accounting entries and shows them in three forms: the general journal (all entries by date), the general ledger (the movements of each account) and the trial balance (the total of each account). Your accountant finds the detail of your sales, purchases and settlements there without re-keying anything.

Example. Atlas Conseil issues invoice FA-2026-0012 for 1,200 DH including VAT (1,000 DH excl. VAT, VAT 20%) to a customer. The sales journal (VT) shows one entry: debit 3421 Customers 1,200.00, credit 7124 Sales of services 1,000.00 and credit 4455 VAT invoiced 200.00. When the customer pays by bank transfer, an entry in the bank journal (BQ) debits 5141 Banks and credits 3421 Customers: the customer account returns to zero.

1. Who can do what?

Action	Who
View the journal, the ledger, the trial balance and the chart of accounts	All roles: owner, administrator, collaborator, accountant and viewer.
Export to CSV or Excel	All roles (right « Exporter le journal comptable », export the accounting journal). Excel export also requires your subscription to include the Excel export of reports.
Edit the chart of accounts	Owner and administrator (right « Modifier le plan de comptes »). The accountant, the collaborator and the viewer see it read-only. See Customize the chart of accounts.

In a custom permission group, the resource « Comptabilité indicative » (family « Pilotage ») offers: Consulter le journal, le grand livre et la balance, Exporter le journal comptable and Modifier le plan de comptes. An account scheduled for deletion can still be viewed and exported, but the chart of accounts can no longer be edited.

2. Open the page and choose the period

1. Open Reports, section « Fiscal & conformité », then the card « Comptabilité (journal, grand livre, balance) ». The accountant also finds it in the accountant space, with the link « Journal, grand livre, balance ».
2. Choose the « Exercice » (financial year = calendar year), then the « Période »: « Année entière » (full year), a quarter (« 1er trimestre » to « 4e trimestre ») or a month.
3. Switch views with the tabs « Journal », « Grand livre », « Balance » and « Plan de comptes ».

The financial year is the calendar year (1 January to 31 December). Entry numbering restarts on 1 January whatever the displayed period: an entry keeps the same number whether you display the month or the whole year.

The notice « Écritures indicatives — Billora n'est pas un logiciel de comptabilité. Plan de comptes CGNC simplifié, à faire valider par votre comptable ou expert-comptable. » (indicative entries; Billora is not accounting software; simplified CGNC chart, to be validated by your accountant) stays displayed at the top of every view and on the first line of every export, with the date and time of the calculation. A calculation is kept for 60 seconds: a document changed a moment ago may only appear after that delay.

3. Read the general journal

Each entry is a card: a header (journal code, entry number, date, document) then its lines (account, label, debit, credit). The document number links to the source document when there is one (invoice, credit note, expense, supplier credit note, cheque, bank deposit, customer record). At the bottom, the line « Total de la période » confirms that « Total débit = Total crédit ».

• The search box (« Rechercher une pièce, un compte, un tiers… ») searches document numbers, labels, accounts and third parties.
• The « Tous les journaux » filter limits the display to one journal.
• Entries are shown in batches of 200; use « Précédent » and « Suivant ».
• A « Contre-passation » (reversal) badge marks an entry that cancels a previous one (cancelled payment, bounced cheque): nothing is ever deleted, the history stays readable.

The journals: VT (Sales), AC (Purchases), BQ (Bank), CA (Cash) and AN (Opening balances). Their codes can be changed in the chart of accounts.

4. Which entry for which document?

Document	Journal and date	Debit	Credit
Invoice issued (neither draft nor cancelled)	VT, issue date	3421 Customers (incl. VAT, per customer)	71xx sales (excl. VAT, net of the global discount) and 4455 VAT invoiced, one line per rate
Customer credit note (full or partial cancellation, overpayment)	VT, credit note issue date	71xx and 4455	3421 Customers
Credit note of type commercial discount	VT	7129 Discounts, rebates and refunds granted, and 4455	3421 Customers
Expense (neither draft nor cancelled)	AC, expense date	Expense account of the category (excl. VAT) and 34552 recoverable VAT (34551 if the expense account is class 2, fixed asset); if VAT is not deductible, the whole amount incl. VAT goes to expense	4411 Suppliers (incl. VAT, per supplier)
Supplier credit note (not cancelled)	AC, credit note date	4411 Suppliers	Expense account of the linked expense and recoverable VAT
Payment received by transfer, card or other	BQ, payment date	5141 Banks	3421 Customers (one line per invoice paid)
Payment received in cash	CA	5161 Cash	3421 Customers
Payment made (expense, refund of a customer credit note)	BQ or CA	4411 Suppliers (or 3421 for a refund of a customer credit note)	Bank or cash
Cancelled payment	Same journal, cancellation date	Reversal of the original entry, which stays in place at its date
Cheque received	BQ	5111 Cheques to be collected	3421 Customers
Bank deposit	BQ, deposit date	5141 Banks	5111 Cheques to be collected (one entry per deposit, one line per cheque)
Cheque cashed without a recorded deposit	BQ, date of cashing	5141 Banks	5111 Cheques to be collected
Bounced cheque	BQ, date of the status change	3421 Customers	5141 if the cheque had been deposited at the bank, otherwise 5111
Cheque issued	BQ	4411 Suppliers	5141 Banks (reversed if the cheque bounces)
Opening balance of a customer	AN, date of the opening balance (a balance from a prior year is carried on 1 January for the amount still due, see « À-nouveaux »)	3421 Customers	44972 Opening balances and carried-forward items (counterpart)
À-nouveaux (carried-forward balances) of 1 January	AN, 1 January	Debit balances of customers (per customer), suppliers, cheques to be collected and unallocated amounts	The matching credit balances; counterpart 44972

Carried-forward balances. On 1 January, Billora carries over from prior years, per customer and per supplier, the balance of 3421 and 4411, the cheques still to be collected (5111) and the unallocated amounts. So paying in 2027 an invoice of 2026 correctly clears the customer account. Expenses, revenue, VAT and cash are not carried, and the opening balance of a bank account is not entered.

No entry is produced for quotes, proforma invoices, purchase orders, delivery notes, goods receipts or payment promises. A cancelled cheque produces no entry. Credit note applications do not create an entry: they stay on the same third-party account.

5. The general ledger

The « Grand livre » tab lists the accounts with movements, with their opening balance (entries from 1 January to the day before the period), their movements and their closing balance. A balance is followed by D (debit) or C (credit).

1. Click an account to open its detail: each movement with the running balance. The line « Solde d'ouverture » (opening balance) carries the entries before the period.
2. For 3421 Customers or 4411 Suppliers, the list « Détail par tiers » (option « Tous les tiers ») isolates one customer or supplier: that is their individual account, with their auxiliary code.
3. Movements are shown 200 at a time (« Précédent », « Suivant »); the running balance takes all pages into account; the list of third parties is limited to 200 (field « Rechercher un tiers »).
4. Click « Tous les comptes » to go back to the list.

6. The trial balance

The « Balance » tab shows, for each account, the opening balance, the movements and the closing balance, with the total at the bottom. Switch between « Par compte » (by account) and « Par classe » (by class, classes 1 to 8 of the chart). The sentence « Contrôle : somme des soldes débiteurs = somme des soldes créditeurs. » confirms that the balance is balanced. Clicking an account opens it in the ledger.

7. Points of attention

When a document is inconsistent, Billora never rounds it silently: the difference is carried by a dedicated suspense account (34971 debit or 44971 credit) and a « Points d'attention » box flags it, with the document and the amount concerned.

Point of attention	What it means
Compte d'attente utilisé (suspense account used)	The amounts of the document do not balance (for example excl. VAT + VAT differs from the total incl. VAT). The difference is in 34971 or 44971: to be regularised with your accountant. A one-cent difference is mere information.
Compte par défaut utilisé (default account used)	An expense category has no account, or a sales line has no product. Choose the account in the chart of accounts.
Paiement non affecté (unallocated payment)	A payment or a cheque is not (or not fully) linked to an invoice or an expense: the rest is in 44973 (unallocated receipts) or 34972 (unallocated payments), separate from the differences.
Avoir fournisseur non imputé (supplier credit note not applied)	The credit note is not linked to any expense: the default expense account is used and VAT is assumed recoverable.
Total différent des lignes (total differs from lines)	The total excl. VAT of an invoice or credit note does not match the sum of its lines: the breakdown is made pro rata.
Encours initial repris / Encours initial sans date (opening balance carried over / without a date)	The customers' opening balances are carried into the opening-balances journal. A balance without a date is not carried: fill in its date on the customer record.
Encours initial incohérent (inconsistent opening balance)	A customer's opening-balance settlements exceed the opening balance: the account becomes a credit.
À-nouveaux du 1er janvier (carried-forward balances of 1 January)	Permanent information: balances are carried over from prior years (customers, suppliers, cheques to be collected, unallocated amounts).

8. Export for your accountant

In the Journal, Grand livre and Balance tabs, the buttons « CSV » and « Excel » download the view for the chosen period: the journal line by line, the ledger with the running balance, or the trial balance with its total. The CSV is UTF-8 with a « ; » separator; the indicative notice is on the first line of each file. Each export is recorded in the activity log (« Journal comptable indicatif exporté »).

9. What is not covered

• Fixed assets and depreciation, payroll, stocks (inventory) and VAT returns (moving from 4455 to 4456).
• Lettering (matching), and carrying the expense, revenue, VAT and cash balances of prior years (only third parties, cheques to be collected and unallocated amounts are carried forward).
• Invoices whose stored totals are out of date (old documents): they show as « Total différent des lignes » or in a suspense account, as in the reports.
• Offset financial years: the financial year is always the calendar year.
• Transfers and cards are posted to the default bank account (or its sub-account), because a payment does not yet say which bank it went through.

10. Common error messages

• « La période doit tenir dans une seule année civile : l'exercice comptable est l'année civile. » — choose a period within a single year.
• « Cette période contient trop d'écritures pour être affichée : choisissez une période plus courte. » — display a quarter or a month.
• « Trop de calculs comptables en peu de temps. Réessayez dans une minute. » — wait a minute before trying again.

Frequently asked questions

Why did the entries of a past month change?

Because they are calculated on demand from your documents, without being frozen. An invoice edited, a payment cancelled or a document corrected afterwards changes the entries of its period. Export after closing.

Why is an amount in a suspense account?

The source document is inconsistent or incomplete (see « Points d'attention »). Open the document indicated, correct it or have the difference regularised by your accountant.

Is this my official accounting?

No. These are indicative entries from a simplified CGNC plan. Your accountant validates them or takes them over in their own software.

Where are last year's balances?

The balances of customers, suppliers, cheques to be collected and unallocated amounts are carried over on 1 January (opening-balances journal). The other accounts start again from zero: the financial year is the calendar year. Choose the year you want in the « Exercice » list to view a past year.

Can my accountant fix an account?

They view and export read-only. They tell you which account to use and the owner or an administrator edits the chart of accounts (the account of a category, a customer, a bank…), without touching your documents. See Customize the chart of accounts.

Next steps

• Customize the chart of accounts
• The accountant space
• The VAT report