Glossary
What is a voucher?
What a voucher means in accounting and in Tally, the common voucher types, and where each one lives when the documents post the books themselves.
Updated
In short
A voucher is the record of one transaction, with its date, number, accounts and amounts. SimpleERP has no voucher screen: invoices, bills, payments and manual journals are the vouchers, and each posts its own balanced journal.
A voucher is the document or entry that records one business transaction in the books, with its date, number, accounts and amounts. Tally sorts vouchers into types such as sales, purchase, payment, receipt, contra and journal. Each voucher posts an equal debit and credit, and its number is how an auditor traces an entry back to the paper or document behind it.
Voucher (Tally term): a worked example
Lakshmi Steel Furnitures used Tally until March 2026. This is where each voucher type it used went after the move to SimpleERP.
| Tally voucher type | Lakshmi Steel example | In SimpleERP |
|---|---|---|
| Sales | Invoice to Ravi Stores for ₹1,18,000 | Sales invoice, posted once |
| Purchase | Bill from Tamil Nadu Steels for ₹2,36,000 | Purchase bill |
| Receipt | ₹45,000 received from Sri Murugan Traders | Payment received, applied to invoices |
| Payment | ₹1,00,000 paid to Tamil Nadu Steels | Payment made, applied to bills |
| Contra | ₹40,000 cash deposited in the bank | Quick transfer in Cash and bank |
| Journal | ₹7,000 loan interest charged by the bank | Manual journal |
FAQ
Questions, answered
Is a voucher the same as a journal entry?
Close, but not quite. A journal entry is the debit and credit lines in the books. A voucher is the numbered record that carries them, often with a bill or receipt attached. In SimpleERP every posted document has both: its own number and the journal it wrote.
Do I still need voucher numbers if the software numbers invoices?
Yes, every entry needs a number an auditor can follow. SimpleERP numbers invoices, bills, payments and journals in their own series by financial year, such as JE-2026-27-0031, and each journal links back to the document that created it.
Where do I enter a journal voucher in SimpleERP?
In Accounting, open Journals and add a new entry. Pick the accounts, enter debits and credits, and post when the difference is zero. Use it for entries no document covers, such as loan interest, depreciation corrections or owner drawings.
Can I attach the paper voucher or bill?
Yes. A journal entry can carry attachments, so a scanned loan statement or a signed cash voucher stays with the entry it supports. The printed journal voucher has Prepared by and Approved by signature blocks.
Related
Keep reading
Journal entry
A dated, balanced set of debit and credit lines with a reason.
Read moreContra entry
An entry that moves money between the business's own cash and bank accounts, touching no income or expense.
Read moreMoving from Tally or Excel
Import masters, balances and open bills from Tally or Excel, checked first and undoable, then run both systems for a month.
Read more
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