# Journal entries > Debits and credits you enter by hand that balance, posted to a book of the general ledger on a date. A journal entry is debits and credits you enter by hand, such as a payroll charge. Its lines balance and post to [ledger accounts](/docs/apps/finance/accounts) in one of an entity's [books](/docs/apps/finance/books) on a date. ## How it works The general ledger holds what invoices, payments, and journal entries post, in each book, by account and by customer or vendor. It is a [ledger](/docs/concepts/ledgers): it is only added to, and its balances are sums of its entries. Invoices and payments post to the general ledger themselves when they are issued and received. You add journal entries for anything else, such as payroll or a depreciation charge: 1. Draft a journal entry in a book, with lines that debit and credit accounts and balance. 2. Click **Post journal entry**. Finance checks that the lines balance, numbers the entry, such as JE-12, and makes it final. A journal entry is a [Document](/docs/concepts/records/documents). It moves from **Draft** to **Posted**, and a posted entry never changes. To correct one, click **Reverse journal entry**, which posts entries that cancel it line for line and marks it **Reversed**. Nothing dated on or before a book's **Lock date** can post. A journal entry never posts to a control account, such as accounts receivable. The **Drafts** view lists entries not yet posted. ## Next steps Close a period and read the statements. The accounts entries post to.