Configuring and Setting Up General Accounting Settings and Account Routing
The system records accounting entries automatically for every invoice, return, payment, and stock requisition. From the general accounting settings you control the form of journal entries and their fields, and the assignment of accounts and cost centers to each line; and from account routing you specify the account each type of transaction is posted to: sales, returns, discounts, purchases, clients, suppliers, warehouses, treasuries, cost of sales, salaries, cheques, and stock requisitions. This guide explains each setting and its effect on entries.
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Warning: choosing Cancel Accounts for sales, returns, purchases, or purchase returns stops the creation of the entry entirely for these documents. Use it only if you don’t want accounting entries for them.
Before You Start
- You need the permission to edit general settings. To see the financial periods, the closed periods, and the cost centers, you need the permissions to view closed periods and view cost centers.
- Change the routing before you start working where possible; the change affects new entries and entries that are re-saved.
General Accounting Settings Page Cards
| Card | What It Opens |
|---|---|
| General Accounting Settings | General accounting settings: entry fields and the assignment of accounts and cost centers (below). |
| Financial Periods | Financial periods: setting the start and end of each accounting period and closing it. |
| Closed Periods | Closed periods: locking a period to prevent adding or editing any transaction dated within it. |
| Account Routing | Account routing: linking each type of transaction to its account (below). |
| Custom Fields for Entries | Additional fields in the journal entry. |
| Custom Fields for Assets | Additional fields in assets. |
General Accounting Settings
Open General Accounting Settings. After editing, click Save.
1. Journal Entry Configuration
| Setting | Options (Default) | What It Does |
|---|---|---|
| Next Journal Entry Serial Number | Display only | The next entry number. To change it, click Auto Number Settings. |
| Separate Numbering for Manual Entries | Enabled / Disabled (Disabled) | Enabled: manual entries have a sequence independent of the automatic entries (starting from 1), and the next manual entry serial number appears. Disabled: all entries are in one sequence. |
| Journal Entry Fields: Tax | Enabled / Disabled (Enabled) | Shows the tax column in the manual entry lines. |
| Journal Entry Fields: Cost Center | Enabled / Disabled (Enabled) | Shows the cost center column in the entry lines. The column always appears if the line already has a cost center. |
| Journal Entry Fields: Tags | Enabled / Disabled (Disabled) | Adds a tags field to each line in the entry, with filtering by them in entries and reports. |
| Currency Conversion Factor | Show / Hide (Hide) | Show: the exchange rate field appears so you can edit it manually when the entry’s currency is not the default currency. Hide: the exchange rate registered in the system is used. The same setting controls the exchange rate field in invoices, requisitions, and work orders. |
2. Account Assignment Rules
Assigning accounts at the line level by transaction type: when a transaction type is enabled, a column appears in it to choose the account for each line manually.
| Setting | Options (Default) | What It Does |
|---|---|---|
| Sales Invoices | Enabled / Disabled (Disabled) | The account chosen for each line becomes the credit sales account for that line, and it takes precedence over the sales account set on the product. |
| Purchase Invoices | Enabled / Disabled (Disabled) | An account for each line in the purchase invoice. |
| Stock Requisitions | Enabled / Disabled (Disabled) | An account for each line in manual requisitions, and it takes precedence over the product’s cost of sales account. |
3. Cost Center Distribution Rules
Distributing cost centers at the level of each line by transaction type: when enabled, a cost center column appears for each line. Create the centers from Cost Centers.
| Setting | Options (Default) | What It Does |
|---|---|---|
| Sales Invoices | Enabled / Disabled (Disabled) | Enabled: a cost center for each line. Disabled: the cost center specified in the invoice header is applied to its entry. |
| Purchase Invoices | Enabled / Disabled (Disabled) | A cost center for each line in the purchase invoice. |
| Stock Requisitions | Enabled / Disabled (Disabled) | A cost center for each line in manual requisitions, except for the transfer requisition. |
| Allow Cost Center Distribution Exceeding 100% | Enabled / Disabled (Disabled) | Disabled: a row is rejected if the total of its distribution percentages exceeds 100%, with the message “The sum of the distribution percentages across cost centers cannot exceed 100%!” |
Account Routing
Open Account Routing. The side menu shows these tabs: Sales, Purchases, Inventory, Treasury, Stock Requisitions, Employee Salary (with the payroll app), Cheques (with the cheque cycle app), and Fiscal Year. For each item, choose the routing type and the main account, then save.
Routing Types
| Type | What It Does |
|---|---|
| Automatic Assignment | All transactions are posted to the account (or main account) you choose. If you don’t choose an account, the system’s default account is used. For clients, suppliers, warehouses, and treasuries, a sub-account is created for each one under the chosen main account. |
| Specify per Each | An account selection field appears in each form or record (client, supplier, warehouse, treasury, invoice, product…) for you to specify yourself. |
| Specify Main Account per Each | For clients only: you choose for each client the main account under which their account is created. |
| Cancel Accounts / No Routing | For sales, returns, and purchases: no entry is created for the transaction. For discount and adjustment: it isn’t recorded in a separate line and is merged into the main line. For the product’s sales account and cost of sales: the default account is used. |
The Sales Tab
| Item | Options (Default) | Default Account and Effect |
|---|---|---|
| Clients | Automatic / Specify per Each / Main account per each (Automatic) | A sub-account for each client under the clients account. |
| Sales | Automatic / Specify per Each / Cancel (Automatic) | The sales account, credited with the invoices’ value. Cancel stops the entries of sales invoices and debit notes. |
| Returns | Automatic / Specify per Each / Cancel (Automatic) | The returns account (sales returns), debited with the value of refund invoices and credit notes. Cancel stops their entries. |
| Allowed Discount | Cancel / Automatic (Cancel) | Automatic: the invoice discount is recorded as a debit in the allowed discount account, and the sales at the total before the discount. Cancel: sales are recorded net after the discount. |
| Product Sales Account | No routing / Specify per Each (No routing) | Specify per Each: the sales account and the cost of sales account appear on the product page, and the sales entries and their cost are split by each product’s account. |
| Adjustment Routing | Cancel / Automatic / Specify per Each (Cancel) | Automatic: the adjustment value in the invoice is posted to the chosen account. Specify per Each: you choose the account in the invoice, and if left blank, the allowed discount account is used. |
| Cost of Sales | Automatic / No routing (Automatic) | The account debited with the cost of goods sold. Appears only when stock requisitions for sales invoices are turned off. |
| Retention Routing | Automatic / Specify per Each | With the Construction app: a retention account for each client. |
Example: allowed discount
An invoice of 1,000 with a discount of 100.
- Cancel (the default): debit the client 900, credit sales 900.
- Automatic: debit the client 900, debit allowed discount 100, credit sales 1,000.
The Purchases Tab
| Item | Options (Default) | Default Account and Effect |
|---|---|---|
| Suppliers | Automatic / Specify per Each (Automatic) | A sub-account for each supplier under the suppliers account. |
| Purchases | Automatic / Specify per Each / Cancel (Automatic) | The purchases account. Cancel stops the entries of purchase invoices. |
| Purchase Returns | Automatic / Specify per Each / Cancel (Automatic) | The purchase returns account (or the purchases account if not specified). Cancel stops the returns’ entries. |
| Earned Discount | Cancel / Automatic (Cancel) | Automatic: the purchase invoice discount is recorded in the earned discount account instead of reducing the purchases cost. |
| Adjustment Routing | Cancel / Automatic / Specify per Each (Cancel) | The same behavior as the sales adjustment, and the fallback account is the earned discount. |
The Inventory, Treasury, and Fiscal Year Tabs
| Item | Options (Default) | Effect |
|---|---|---|
| Warehouses | Automatic / Specify per Each (Automatic) | An inventory account for each warehouse under the chosen main account, or you specify it on the warehouse page. |
| Treasuries | Automatic / Specify per Each (Automatic) | An account for each treasury under the chosen main account, or you specify it on the treasury page. |
| Retained Earnings Routing | Automatic | The account to which the net profit or loss is carried forward when the financial period is closed (retained profit and loss). |
Stock Requisitions
From Stock Requisitions, choose the offsetting account for each requisition type. The priority: the account specified in the requisition itself, then the product’s account (when the product sales account routing is set to Specify per Each), then this setting.
| Requisition Type | Default Account |
|---|---|
| Stock addition requisition | Other credit balances |
| Stock issue requisition | Other debit balances |
| Incoming stocktaking sheet / outgoing stocktaking sheet | Cost of sales |
| Invoice, sales order, refund invoice, credit note, point of sale shift | Cost of sales |
| Purchase debit note | Purchases |
| Manual import inbound / outbound | Other credit balances / other debit balances |
Some document-linked requisition types appear on this page only when stock requisitions for purchase invoices are enabled.
Employee Salary and Cheques
| Setting | Options (Default) | What It Does |
|---|---|---|
| Employee Accounts Routing Type (Employee Salary) | Automatic / Specify per Each (Automatic) | Automatic: payroll entries go to the accrued wages account. Specify per Each: you specify an account for each employee, and their salaries are posted to it. |
| Paid Cheque Account Routing Type (Cheques) | Automatic Assignment / Specify per Each (Automatic) | Automatic: the notes payable account. Specify per Each: you choose an account in each paid cheque that replaces notes payable in the delivery, collection, and rejection entries. |
| Received Cheque Account Routing Type | Automatic Assignment / Specify per Each (Automatic) | Automatic: the notes receivable account. Specify per Each: you choose the account in each received cheque. |
Transactions Without a Routing Setting
- Taxes: each tax has two accounts created automatically under Current Liabilities, one for sales tax and another for the tax on purchases and expenses.
- Expenses and receipt vouchers: the account chosen in the document, or its category’s account, against the treasury account.
Frequently Asked Questions
- Why isn’t an entry created for sales invoices? Because the sales routing is set to Cancel Accounts.
- Why doesn’t the discount appear on a separate line in the entry? Because the allowed discount routing is on Cancel (the default); set it to Automatic.
- How do I give each product a different sales account? Set the product sales account to “Specify per Each,” then specify the account on the product page, or enable assigning accounts per line in sales invoices.
- How do I put clients under different main accounts? Set the clients routing to “Specify Main Account per Each.”
- Why doesn’t the exchange rate field appear in the entry? Because the currency conversion factor is on Hide.
- Why was the entry rejected because of cost centers? Because the total of the distribution percentages exceeded 100% and the setting doesn’t allow it.
- Why doesn’t the cost of sales tab appear? Because it appears only when stock requisitions for sales invoices are turned off.