Before you may proceed to post a batch, you need to balance the batch. This will not be necessary when your batch is in balance (i.e. where you have entered debit transactions and credit transactions of equal value) in a batch. An example for this is when you take-on opening balances from a trial balance, obtained from the accounting records of your previous accounting system.

To Balance a Batch:

1. Click on the F5: Balance icon, or press the F5 key on your keyboard.
   - Right-click on the selected batch (journal) on the Batch Type Selection screen, and select the Balance Batch option on the context menu.
   
   - You may also click on the F9: Process icon, or press the F9 key on your keyboard. You then need to select the Balance Batch from the list of batch processing options.
   
   A progress indicator will be displayed, while TurboCASH generates the balancing entries for the batch.
   
   
   
2. TurboCASH will first validate and check the batch entries and will then balance the batch entries. It is recommended that you do not use your computer for anything else, while the process is running.
3. When this process is finished, the balancing entries will automatically be inserted directly below your last transaction entry. An example of the transactions entered in the Sales Journal, is as follows:
   
   
   1. Reference - Balancing entries are indicated by eight asterisks in the Reference Field.
   2. Date - The Date of the balancing entries will be the date of the last transaction, which you have entered.
      - If you have entered transactions with dates in more than one accounting period, balancing entries will be generated for each accounting period.
      
      
   3. Description - BALANCING ENTRY followed by the Batch name and the alias name are displayed in the Description field.
      • Over type the description, as it is not very meaningful to an outside auditor or accountant. If you over type these, it will definitely make it easier to trace and reconcile transactions.
      • Over type the description with “Sales Invoices INV001 - INV003” in the description column.
      • Over type the VAT description with “Output VAT INV001 - INV003” in the description column.
      • Do not over type the (8 asterisks), as this indicates that these are contra transactions.
4. After this is done, the example for the transactions in the Sales Journal, is as follows:
   
   
5. After the batch balances, you still need to do the following to finalise the batch:
   1. Click on the F9: Process icon, or press the F9 key on your keyboard, to change the alias (batch name).
      - This will help you if you wish to identify a specific batch to generate a batch type report, or if you wish to export posted batches to a file.
      
      
   2. Click on the F8: List icon, or press the F8 key on your keyboard, to list the batch.
      - It is a good idea to list the batch, and check the entries on the batch thoroughly. If there are any errors, you may edit the batch, before posting the batch.
      
      
   3. Click on the F6: Post icon, or press the F6 key on your keyboard, to post the batch. The transactions will automatically be posted (updated) to the ledger.
      - In this example, it would debit the individual accounts (i.e. debtor accounts), credit the total to the contra account (i.e. sales account) and credit the VAT amount to the Output VAT account.
      
      

- You may also post batches from the Input→Update Ledger (Batches tab) menu option, or from the Post Batch option on the Batch Type Selection screen’s context menu.