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What posts to the books, and when

The accounting entry each sale, return, goods receipt, supplier bill, online order and payroll month creates, and how to change the accounts it uses.

Who can do this: Viewing needs the View accounts permission (Tenant admin, Store manager and Accountant roles by default). Making changes needs Manage accounts (Tenant admin by default).

Point of sale

Sale: the money received goes to the account for its payment method (cash to the register's cash account, card to Card clearing, mobile wallet to Mobile wallet clearing, vouchers to Gift vouchers outstanding, an on-account sale to Accounts receivable for the named customer). Sales revenue is credited without VAT, and VAT payable is credited per VAT rate. An order discount goes to Discounts given. At the same time the cost of the goods moves from Inventory to Cost of goods sold, using the average cost captured at the sale.

Return: the mirror of the sale for the returned lines, through Sales returns. Cost is put back into Inventory only for items that were restocked.

Void: the sale's entry is reversed on the day of the void.

Shift close: a counted cash difference goes to Cash over/short.

Differences of a few cents from rounding go to Rounding differences.

Purchasing and payables

Goods receipt: Inventory is debited and Goods received not invoiced (GRNI) is credited. GRNI is a holding account for goods you have received but not yet been billed for.

Supplier invoice, when posted: GRNI is released at the receipt value, any price difference goes to Purchase price variance, other charges go to the account you chose, input VAT goes to VAT receivable (input), and the total is owed on Accounts payable.

Supplier payment: Accounts payable is debited and the bank or cash account is credited. For a foreign-currency bill, a change in the exchange rate goes to FX gain/loss.

Customer receipt: the bank or cash account is debited and Accounts receivable is credited.

Online shop

Bank transfer recorded with Record payment on an order: Bank is debited and Customer deposits is credited. A deposit is money a customer paid before receiving the goods.

Order sent (Send it): the sale is booked. Revenue, VAT, any Delivery income and cost of goods are posted. The amount is taken from Customer deposits for a prepaid order, put on Cash on delivery in transit for a cash-on-delivery order, or put on Accounts receivable otherwise.

Cash-on-delivery order marked delivered: Cash is debited and Cash on delivery in transit is cleared.

Refund: the sale is reversed through Sales returns and VAT, paid back from cash, bank or the amount still in transit, and restocked items go back into Inventory.

Online entries are tagged with the Online shop channel and till entries with Counter, so profit and loss can be split by channel.

Payroll

When a payroll run is approved, one entry is made in the month worked: dated the approval day, or the month’s last day if the run is approved after the month has ended. Salaries and wages and Employer EPF and ETF are debited. EPF payable (employee 8% plus employer 12%), ETF payable, APIT payable, Staff loans and advances (repayments), Other payroll deductions payable and Net salaries payable are credited.

When the run is marked paid, Net salaries payable is debited and Bank (transfers) and Cash on hand (people paid in cash) are credited, on the payment date.

Stock adjustments and counts

When you post a stock adjustment (damage, theft, a correction) or complete a stock count that finds a difference, one entry moves the value between Inventory and Inventory adjustments, at the same cost the stock valuation uses: the unit cost you entered, otherwise the average cost.

Stock lost or written off: Inventory adjustments is debited and Inventory is credited. Stock found: the other way round. Items that have never been given a cost post nothing.

Opening stock is not posted here: its value comes into the books through your opening balances. Transfers between your stores post nothing either, because the total value of your stock does not change.

If something cannot be posted

The business document always goes through. If the entry cannot be written, for example because the month is closed or an exchange rate is missing, the event waits under Finance → Postings with the reason. See the article on unposted events.

Change the account a posting uses

Finance → Posting rules lists each Posting (for example Sales revenue or Card clearing) with its Scope and Account. Tenant default rows come from the standard chart. A scoped rule sends one register's cash, or one VAT rate, to a different account.

  1. Open Finance → Posting rules.
  2. Click Edit on a row to point it at another account, or click Add scoped rule.
  3. For a scoped rule, choose the Posting, enter the Scope as the screen hint shows, choose the Account, and save.
  4. To drop a scoped rule, click Remove. Postings then fall back to the tenant default.

A rule change affects new postings only. Entries already in the journal stay as they are.

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