Deleting Journal Entries Not Yet Posted

To delete a journal, select Delete Journal in the Process field on the Journal Entry - Lines page and click Process. The system prompts you with a message before deleting the journal.

Note: You can delete only journals that have not yet posted. The system creates an audit trail of the deletion, along with other enabled journal events. You can view the audit log by accessing the Search Audit Logs page (Set Up Financials/Supply Chain > Common Definitions > Audit Logging > Search Audit Logs).

See Search Audit Logs Page.

See Setting Up Financials Audit Framework (Audit Logging).

You can delete a journal that has not been posted.

If the journal has been budget checked, one of several things can happen:

  • You can delete a journal that is not yet posted after it successfully passes budget checking.

    Delete it by accessing the Journal Entry - Lines page. In the Process field, select Delete Journal. This process calls the budget checking module, which reverses the budget entries.

  • The Budget Processor process is automatically invoked after you confirm deletion.

    Budget transactions related to this journal will be deleted. After this process runs, review your budget account balance and activity.

Note: You can also unpost journal entries that have been posted. This is a distinct process from deleting journals that have never been posted and is described in the Processing Journals topic.

Note: You can allow journals with control accounts to be deleted or unposted if you enable the options Allow Delete Journal with Control Accounts or Allow Unpost Journal with control accounts on the User Preferences - General Ledger page. Be aware, however, that if you allow posting to control accounts in General Ledger by selecting these options, the control account balance in the subledger no longer matches the control account balance in the general ledger.

See User Preferences - General Ledger Page.

Journal Delete Methods

You can select one of two methods for handling journal deletion. You enable one of the following methods from the Installation Options - General Ledger Page.

  • Physical Delete: When using this option and you delete a journal from the Journal Entry - Lines page, the system deletes all the related journal data from all relevant journal tables. This is the default and historical method of deleting journals (method in prior releases). With this method, the only remaining trace of the deleted journal is if audit logging was enabled for deleted journals.

  • Logical Delete: When using this option and you delete a journal using the Journal Entry - Lines page, the system treats the following in the same way as the Physical Delete:

    • Removes Commitment Control data from the Commitment Control records.

    • Removes approval data, regardless of approval method (Virtual Approver or Approval Framework (AF, formerly AWE)).

    • Removes Suspense cross references.

    Unlike the Physical Delete method, the system retains the deleted journal data in the following records:

    • Journal Header (JRNL_HEADER)

    • Journal Header Attachments (JRNL_HEADER_ATT)

    • Journal Line (JRNL_LN)

    • Journal Balance (JRNL_CF_BAL_TBL)

    • Journal InterUnit Anchor (JRNL_IU_ANCHOR)

    • Journal VAT (JRNL_VAT)

    • Open Item (OPEN_ITEM_GL)

    • Journal Header Error (TSE_JHDR_FLD)

    • Journal Line Error (TSE_JLNE_FLD)

    You can view the logical deleted journal via the journal entry components (and journal inquiry components) in the same way as you would view a posted journal (Display Only mode) and the only action that you can perform is to copy the deleted journal. The system marks the logical deleted journal as follows:

    • Journal Header Status = D (Deleted).

    • Budget Header Status = N (Not Budget Checked).

    • Approval Status = N (None).

    Create/Update Journal Entries - Lines Page