As an example, set up the beginning balances for job 8900. Job 8900 has been entered as shown on the following three screens.
Note that the work in process account for job 8900 is general ledger account 130. The next two screens show the activities entered for job 8900.
All materials for job 8900 are expensed against activity 8900.100m.
The labor for job 8900 is charged against activity 8900.100l.
When the system is originally set up, job 8900 has balance of $700.00: $500.00 for labor and $200.00 for materials. The following screen shows the general journal entry made to enter the beginning balances.
After the general journal entries have been made, the next step is to run the process, Post Jobs / Work in Process from the Select, Job Costing menu. This process posts all the general journal entries to the work in process account number and credits the expenses that the general journal entries have debited. The net effect of these entries on the overall accounting system is zero. They are a series of credits and debits that simply balance each other. Consequently, what is left are the detail of the jobs and their beginning balances.