Journal Entry Basics

Journal entries are records of your park's financial transactions over a given period of time. Transactions are listed in an accounting journal (.csv file in Campspot) and show debit and credit balances.

Accessing Journal Entry Reports 

To access these reports, select Reporting from the primary navigation.
Enter Journal Entry in the Search Reports: field.

After selecting your desired report and entering a date range, click the Download button.

Tip: Favorite your preferred Journal Entry report by clicking the star to left of the report title. This will place the report at the top of your list for easier future access. 

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Determining Which Report To View 

The Journal Entry you use will depend on which style of accounting your park uses - either Cash Basis or Accrual Basis. These styles of accounting are defined below: 

Cash Basis: A method of recording accounting transactions for revenue and expenses only when the corresponding asset is received or payments are made.

Example: Money received today for a reservation in the future is counted as revenue today.

Accrual Basis:  A method of recording accounting transactions for revenue when earned and when expenses are incurred. 

Example: Money received today for a reservation in the future will be counted as revenue when the reservation take place.

In addition to Journal Entries being split by Cash Basis and Accrual basis, there are also different versions of the reports that are specific to certain accounting softwares. Once you have accessed the .csv file you can use the information there to enter or import directly into your accounting program. If your park uses one of the accounting softwares listed below, you can view that version of the Journal Entry. 

  • Peachtree
  • Quickbooks (IIF for the desktop version of QB)
  • Xero
  • Intacct
  • Sage Intacct
  • Yardi

How To Generate Accurate Journal Entry Data 

In order to produce accurate financial information on the Journal Entry, some account mapping will need to be completed within your Campspot account. Custom Financial Account Mapping can be done, or re-mapping of Campspot default Financial Accounts can be done depending on your preference and needs. 

The image below shows a Cash Basis Journal Entry report after Custom Financial Account Mapping has been completed. All Accounts shown were created by the park in order to match what exists in their accounting software. 

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To learn more about Custom Financial Account Mapping [READ] this article or [WATCH] this webinar. 

To learn about re-mapping of Campspot default accounts visit HERE. 

Validating Your Journal Entry

To validate and track your park's revenue, there are recommended supplemental reports you can use as outlined below.  

Cash Basis:

For Cash Basis Journal Entries, the Journal Entry Construction (Cash Basis) and Journal Entry Detail (Cash Basis - By Invoice & Account) reports provide detailed breakdowns of how this Journal Entry was constructed.

As these Cash Basis reports will recognize revenue on the same day it was paid regardless of  guests' reservation dates, the Invoice Payment by Type and Total Payments Received reports will match the Cash Journal Entries. These payments reports are most commonly used for balancing registers at the end of the day or confirming payments, and not necessarily as a reflection of revenue earned.

Accrual Basis: 

For Accrual Basis Journal Entries, the Liability Detailed Report and Audit Trail can be used together to validate each account. These reports will recognize revenue based on the dates of the guest's stay, and not necessarily when their reservation was paid. The Trial Balance report is a summary of the Audit Trail.

The Audit Trail will include all accounts except Deferred Revenue, Prepaid Deposits and Accounts Receivable. These accounts can be found on Liability Detailed Report.