You can do it either way, and it will work.

The 'invoice' way is better if you want to keep track of what you're buying  (i.e. Diesel vs. Gas, unit XXX fuel vs unit YYY, Litres as well as Dollars, etc.)  You can set up a Service Item code for each truck, each fuel type, etc.  

The 'Invoice' way is a bit easier for entering sales taxes.  If you set up a 'fuel station' vendor for each province and set up the default taxes codes, it'll also be easier than choosing every time you open a G/L transaction.

Using the 'Invoice' way is also better if you are keeping track of a mixture of payment methods, since there's only one way to enter a purchase, regardless of a number of payment methods.

If there are multiple users of your system (or if you expect there to be in future) you won't have to give everyone direct access to the G/L.  

So, yes you can enter it on the G/L, but it might be better and easier to use the invoice screens.

Thanks Randy - that makes sense.

I like your suggestion about creating a "Fuel Station" vendor as I was concerned about having so many different "one time vendors" - ultimately I guess it does not matter.

So theoretically I could also create a "Motor Vehicle Expense" vendor, "Food Expense" vendor, "Office Supplies" vendor through this same way and simply add the details of each transaction within the "Item description" in the invoice itself ?

Invoice all expenses from credit card thru Acct Payable - I would not use 'one time vendors' as you will not be able to look these up. You can set up Esso as a vendor and all purchases from any Esso station will be entered there and as long as it is filed under E for Esso then you will be able to find it when an auditor wants you to look for this particular invoice.

Ah yes, okay! Perfect. Thank you for your input. That adds more clarity