Xero manual journal import: debit and credit must balance

A Xero manual journal is a set of lines that all belong to one entry, and Xero checks that they net to zero before it will post them: every debit added up must equal every credit added up. Xero’s import template lets you write that two ways — a single signed Amount column, or a separate Debit and Credit column — and checks the arithmetic the same way either time. The one convention that catches people out is how a journal’s lines are grouped at all: enter Narration and Date once, on the journal’s first row, then leave both cells blank on every row you want counted as part of the same journal. A row with a Narration or a Date on it starts a new journal instead.

Accounting Import Check runs five separate rules over a journal template: journalUnbalanced totals every line’s debits and credits per journal and reports the exact amount they’re out by; debitAndCredit catches a single line carrying both a debit and a credit, which is two transactions written as one; debitCreditBothBlank catches a line carrying neither, which is a row with no value at all; accountCodeInconsistent notices the same line description posted to two different account codes, in case one of them is a typo; and dateMissing catches a blank Date cell that isn't Xero’s documented continuation shape — a blank Narration is required alongside it, or the row is just missing its date. Grouping a journal’s lines the way Xero itself groups them — by a blank Date and Narration, not by treating every blank cell as an error — is what keeps a correctly-formed journal from being reported as broken.

Open the file in a spreadsheet program and re-total each journal’s Debit column against its Credit column — or, if you’re using a single signed Amount column instead, check that the journal’s own amounts sum to zero. Xero accepts either shape; it does not accept a mix that doesn't balance. On the first row of each journal, fill in Narration and Date; on every row after it that belongs to the same journal, clear both cells completely rather than leaving a Date and blanking only the Narration, which Xero reads as a new, dateless journal rather than a continuation. Keep the file to 300 lines or fewer — Xero’s own limit for a spreadsheet-editor template — and split a longer journal batch across more than one file.