A recurring journal entry is an exact duplicate of the original entry—with a different J/E date. Recurring journal entries are useful for systematic daily or monthly entries. Recurring entries can be set up so that they are created every month, every other month, or any monthly or daily frequency desired, and then are posted manually. Although a recurring batch can be adjusted before posting, it is not usually necessary to do anything other than post the batch once it's ready.
A J/E template is simply a special type of journal entry batch which is protected from being posted, and can be copied and reused as often as needed. Transaction descriptions and G/L account numbers can then be consistent from day to day or month to month, and much repetitive typing is eliminated.  Templates usually contain placeholder figures such as $0.01 just to show where the debits and credits should be entered. When the template needs to be used, it is copied, and those placeholders figures are then adjusted manually to reflect the actual figures needed for that batch.

TIP: Some accountants also use the template designation as a way of temporarily "locking" a batch so it cannot be accidentally posted (similar to the Suspend feature). The advantage there is that templates are listed separately from regular active and suspended batches in Tool #61 Create/Post Journal Entries, thus keeping the template out of sight while working normal day-to-day GL activity.

Remember that neither of these features is intended to handle fixed asset depreciation, investment income, expense accrual, or prepaid expense entries. CU*BASE has special Subsidiary and Investment Processing tools designed to handle these types of entries automatically and much more efficiently!