General journal
In one sentenceThe record in which financial transactions are entered as they happen in chronological order, showing the debited and credited accounts and a brief description of each entry.
Simply put
The general journal is the business's “diary”: every transaction is written in it on the day it happens, so you know what happened, when and why.
From it, entries are posted to the general ledger to collect the movement of each account. In accounting software, the general journal is the report of entries sorted by date.
Example
In a carpentry workshop's general journal for 5 March: an entry for buying wood on credit from a supplier, then an entry for selling a door for cash, then an entry for paying a delivery fee, each entry with its number, date and description.
Don't confuse it with
General ledgerIt arranges movements by account rather than by date, and shows each account's balance.