The purpose of the General Journal is to adjust the balances of accounts.  There is a rule about Debits must equal Credits when using a Double Entry Bookkeeping system like Sage 50.  You have only entered Credits so you are violating that rule right now.

When you look at the bottom of the Debit and Credit columns the total is supposed to match or be in balance.

I don't know where the money is sitting right now on your books but your entry so far leads me to believe you have already a balance in the account 1020 that needs to be moved to the bank.  Your Credit indicated will decrease the balance of the account 1020 by the $2181 and because you are hinting that you are trying to deposit to the bank, then you need to Debit the bank account to increase it's balance.

If the money is not currently sitting in the account 1020, then you need to revisit why you are using that account and give us a lot more information about what you are trying to do and what has already been done in your setup regarding this entry if you need further help.

I received a direct deposit from the Government $2181, it is funding for the non-profit. It is income for us.

I just want to make a credit of $2181 to our account, record in comments as a gov payment?

What is the best process?

Thank you,

You need to be very clear about using the term Credit.

St. Lawrence Historical Advisory Committee INC. said:

I just want to make a credit of $2181 to our account

Some people will record this kind of entry as a Sale because it is income coming from some other place.  This allows you to see all entries related to these funding entries in the Customer history report (Customer Aged Detail).

However, a General Journal entry is not wrong but the use of "Credit" needs to be clear.  In your case, you wish to Credit an Income Account for Government Funding or Government Grants.  Then on the Debit side of the transaction record the same dollar amount to your bank account.  Basically just finish the entry you started but use a Revenue account for the Credit and the bank account for your Debit.  You may need to create the Revenue account.

If I am not wrong, from your perspective you want to credit your bank account based on what you said and that is not from the correct perspective.  When the bank puts money in your bank account, they credit the account because they owe you the money (increasing their liability to you).  The money belongs to your organisation, so you wish to increase the balance of your Asset Bank account which by definition is a Debit.

Thanks,

So every entry in Sage 50 has to be a double entry? I have no accounting background besides a basic understanding.

I am working from a paper ledger, trying to enter the monthly transactions. We receive a check from Gov, then we pay the telephone bill, pay bank service charges, etc. Very basic.

Is there a tutorial that can be read and followed for these type of entries, both sides? I am not much for video instruction.

St. Lawrence Historical Advisory Committee INC. said:

So every entry in Sage 50 has to be a double entry?

I'm afraid yes, since at least around the time Hudson's Bay Company started.  And not just Sage 50.  It's for all proper bookkeeping software.

There are a lot of tutorials and answers to basic bookkeeping questions all over the internet.  Make sure you pay attention more to the Canadian rules.

I always keep in mind two questions:

1) Where did the money come from and why?

2) Where did the money go and why?

If you receive money, where did it come from?  Was it an amount already billed to a customer?  Was it an amount the owner contributed to the company from personal funds?  etc.

If you are sending money out, which account should it come from, bank, credit card?  What was the expense and did I already post the expense?  Do I have the paperwork to prove the expense to the CRA?  etc.

This helps you determine which module you should be using to post the entry.

Basic Bookkeeping Rules

1) Beer is king!  Or at least ALE is king as it was called when bookkeeping was created 400-1600 years ago.  Assets = Liabilities plus Equity (the basic equation of the balance sheet).  Yes this is funnier when teaching high school students in the Junior Achievement program.

2) Debits on the left, credits on the right.

3) All entries have to balance.  The Total of all Debits = The Total of all Credits.

4) Debits increase the balance of all Asset and Expense accounts and decrease the balance of all Liabilities, Equity and Revenue accounts.

5) Credits are opposite.  Credits decrease the balance of all Asset and Expense accounts and increase the balance of all Liabilities, Equity and Revenue accounts.

6) Assets are what the company OWNs (bank accounts, Accounts Receivable, Capital Assets like Computers, etc.), Liabilities (loans, amounts owing to the CRA, Accounts Payable, etc.) are what the company OWEs but has not paid yet, Equity is the total made by the company since the beginning of the business.  There are more technical definitions but this is the basics.

St. Lawrence Historical Advisory Committee INC. said:

We receive a check from Gov, then we pay the telephone bill, pay bank service charges, etc.

To me this is at a minimum 4 entries.  If you are sales tax registered, then these entries should update a minimum of 9 accounts total (some are the same for more than one entry, like the bank account and Accounts Payable).  On paper each account should have it's own column, each entry should have it's own row.

Hopefully that gets you started.

Is there a step-by-step in Sage 50 to help me do the first entry, a check received from the government for $2181 as income and put into a bank account?

I was trying to get you to think through the logic of what you were trying to do.  If you don't do that for each entry, you will make mistakes and it will take forever to keep your books updated.

The short answer is, no there is no step-by-step guide in Sage 50 to teach you how to do bookkeeping.

What you are trying to do is record the government funding as income and record it as deposited in your bank account.  You see the entry on your bank statement Jan 2/20.

1) Open the General Journal

2) Enter the Source as indicated above: Deposit

3) Enter the date Jan 2/20

4) Enter the Comment: Gov Deposit

5) First line under the Account column, enter the Bank account number and in the Debits column enter the 2181

6) Second line under the Account column enter the Revenue account number for the Government Funding Revenue and enter the 2181 in the Credits column

7) If you wish to add line comments, you can put text in the Comment column on either or both lines.

8) On the Report menu you can see the journal entry before you post the entry.

8) If it balances, you can Post/Process the transaction.

9) Check your reporting to make sure what you think should happen does happen.  This goes back to the information above.  If I just recorded an amount that should have increased my bank balance, I will run a report to see if the bank balance increased.  Same for my revenue.

10) Move on to the next transaction.