Accounts - Getting started

1What the Accounts module does #

Financial Accounting keeps the books: every account the business has, every rupee in and out of them, and the statements that come from them - the trial balance, the profit and loss statement and the balance sheet. Sales, purchases, payroll and the cash counter all post into the same books; this module is where the accounts themselves are set up, where money that is not a sale or a purchase is entered, and where the books are checked, closed and reported.

The chain is always the same:

2Where to find help #

Help comes in three places, and they say the same thing.

• On every screen: the Help panel on the right (press the chevron to open or dock it). It explains what the screen is for, a worked example, every field in order, the keys, and - under If something does not work - every message the screen can show, why, and what to do.
• Below this guide: The manual - the Help of every Accounts screen (the accounting masters, Voucher Manager, the voucher list and the voucher entry screen, Close Transaction Period, the GST filing pages and the report viewer), gathered so it can be read or printed from start to finish.
• The help search at the top of every screen finds a word in all of it; Ask beside it answers a question in your own words from the same help.

The GST Returns screen has its own complete guide, opened from its Help panel (GST Returns - the complete guide). Every report also carries its own help in the viewer: what it is for, every filter in detail, and whose figures you see.

3Where things are #

Pressing Financial Accounting in the sidebar opens the module's menu page: the accounting voucher types first, as cards under Voucher Entry, then the module's other items under their headings.

4The Accounts Dashboard - where things stand #

Financial Accounting > Accounts Dashboard (under *Start here*) shows the module at a glance: cash in hand and in the bank as the books stand; the year's profit or loss; what customers owe and what is owed to suppliers, with the overdue part and bills by age; and vouchers not yet posted.

• Every tile has a button that opens the report behind the figure, and every list has one at its head - the dashboard is where you start, the report is where you act.
• A figure that wants attention reads red; one that is as it should be reads green; a plain figure is just a fact.
• The figures are for the report option you signed in with (All, Branch or Group), shown at the top as *For*, up to today. *This year* is the financial year; *this month* the calendar month.
• Cancelled vouchers are never counted, and money figures count posted vouchers only. What is entered but not posted has a tile of its own.
• The page is read when it opens and on Refresh (F3); it does not refresh by itself. Nothing is changed there.
• The right. The dashboard has a user preference of its own: *User Can View Accounts Dashboard* in User Manager > Preferences. It starts unticked for everyone, because the dashboard shows money figures; an administrator ticks it for whoever should see it. Administrators always hold it.

5First-day setup (administrator) #

Do these once per company, in this order. Every financial year is its own company database, opened from company selection; the year's dates are shown at the foot of every screen.

1. Licence and menu. Check that the licence includes Financial Accounting. Tick the accounting menu items on each user's Menu Definition tab, and on the Vouchers tab the rights on each accounting voucher type (Create, Alter, Delete, Find, Print, and Allow Post Dated for those who may enter post-dated vouchers). On the Tools tab: Change Transaction Date for anyone who may date an entry other than today, Close Transaction Period, and Filing Return for GST.
2. Account Settings (Settings > Account Settings, administrators only): the amount format, Indian or Western digit grouping, the compulsory-tracking switches, and the credit-approval rules. See Settings below.
3. General Settings: whether a zero-valued voucher may be saved, and Track Division if you account by division.
4. Ledger groups. Check the built-in chart and add your own groups under it - for example groups under Sundry Debtors for local and export customers. Give a group an account-numbering method if its accounts should be coded automatically.
5. Ledger accounts. Create the accounts, with each one's switches: bill-by-bill for parties, cost centres for analysed expenses, cheque tracking for banks, GST classification for tax heads and parties. Import them from a spreadsheet if there are many.
6. Cost centres, profit centres, cheque books and standard narrations, if you use them.
7. Voucher types. In Voucher Manager, check each accounting voucher type: which account groups it offers on the debit and the credit side, numbering, whether narration is compulsory, the amount limit, locking, and profit-centre or employee allocation.
8. Opening balances. Key every ledger's opening balance and its splits. Open the Trial Balance: if there is a Diff. Opening balance row, open Opening Balance Audit and find the gap before the first voucher.
9. GST. If you file returns here, set approvers in GST Filing Settings, and make sure the company, branch and party GSTINs and the transaction classes' GST nature are right.

6Keys that work on the Accounts screens #

On the master pages (groups, ledgers, cost centres, profit centres, cheque books, narrations):

On the voucher entry screen of an accounting voucher:

F6, F9 and F10 work only while adding or modifying - in view mode the screen says Option not available in view mode ! - and do nothing while another dialog is open. In the allocation windows after a save: F3 New Ref. (or New for a cost centre), F4 Adjustment, F7 Advance, F8 On Account, F5 OK.

7The chart of accounts - ledger groups #

Every ledger belongs to a group, and groups sit in a tree under a handful of primary groups. A group's Primary Category is what the rest of the application reads: it decides where an account appears in the statements, which accounts a voucher offers, and what the Ledger Account Master shows for an account.

The built-in groups

A company starts with a built-in chart. The primary groups and the most used sub-groups are:

Where a category lands in the statements

Add a group

1. Open Ledger Account Group and type the Group Name (unique; not the same as its parent's).
2. Leave Primary Group off and pick Under Group - the parent in the tree, for example Sundry Debtors. (Switch Primary Group on only for a new top-level group; the next field then becomes Group Behavior - Asset, Liability, the income and expense heads.)
3. Pick the Primary Category - usually the same as the parent's. You may type a new one, but the application only understands the categories it knows (Customers, Suppliers, Bank Accounts and the rest).
4. Optionally, set Account numbering for the accounts of this group (below), then Save (F5).

Account numbering

The code shows __Pending__ on a new ledger until it is saved.

• Branch Sharing Compulsory (ERP edition) makes accounts of the group declare which branches share them.
• Built-in groups cannot be deleted (Delete is disabled); a group with other groups under it, or with ledgers, is refused by the database.
• Renaming a group carries the new name to its sub-groups and its ledgers; rename one group per save.
• + Create new group at the foot of the Under Group list creates the parent without leaving the page.

8Ledger accounts #

The Ledger Account Master holds every account. It opens ready to add; after Save it stays on the account in view mode, and the Actions on the right unlock.

Add an account

1. Type the Name (unique across the books) and, if you like, a Description (Alias).
2. Pick the Group Name - the decision that matters. On a new account, picking the group presets the balance side (Credit for capital, liability, income and supplier groups; Debit for the rest), switches bill-by-bill on for customers and suppliers, and marks an account in the Employee group as an employee account.
3. Key the Opening Balance and its D/C, the Prev. Year Balance if you keep it, and the Date of Account Opening (today by default).
4. Switch on what the account needs (below), and pick its Statutory Classification - __NotApplicable__ when none applies; blank is refused.
5. Press Save (F5) and confirm. Then use the Actions for the address book, credit limit, budget and opening splits.

The switches

GST details

The Statutory Classification decides which GST fields open. Assessable Value (a taxable income or expense head) enables Tax Class, RCM Method, HSN/SAC and ITC Eligibility - and on an accounting voucher such an account asks for the GST on its line (below). A tax head (SGST, CGST, IGST, CESS, VAT, CST, ED) enables only Tax Class. A dealer class (Registered or Unregistered Dealer, Retail Consumer, Composition Dealer, UIN Holder, SEZ, Transporters) enables GST Calculation Basis and Default Transaction Class. The party's GSTIN and PAN are kept in its address book.

The Actions

Every action needs a saved account in view mode; the button's hint says why when it is disabled.

Rules the page and the database enforce

• Stock, Profit & Loss and Profit & Loss (Last Year) are reserved - a new account cannot take those names, and built-in accounts cannot be deleted.
• Profit & Loss cannot hold an opening balance. Last year's result goes on Profit & Loss (Last Year).
• An account created by another module (an employee's, say) can be edited but should not be renamed here, and cannot be deleted here.
• An account with an opening balance, division-wise opening rows, or anything posted against it cannot be deleted - in practice a used account is kept and switched Inactive.
• Switching bill-by-bill or cost centres off deletes that account's saved opening bills or cost-centre split.
• With Link ledger accounts to CRM leads on (Account Settings) and the CRM licence, a Select Lead ID to link with this account box appears.

9Opening balances #

1. On each ledger, key the Opening Balance, its D/C and the Date of Account Opening, and save.
2. Split the balance where the account needs it, from the Actions: Bill-by-Bill Opening... for customers and suppliers (each old bill: Ref No, Bill Date, Amount, Due Date), Cost Centre Allocation..., Branch-wise Opening..., Division-wise Opening....
3. Open the Trial Balance. When the opening debits and credits disagree, a Diff. Opening balance row shows the gap; double-click it to open Opening Balance Audit.

How the split windows work

• Add (F3) adds a row already set to the account's own side, with the amount still to allocate filled in - allocating everything to one row needs no typing.
• The strip at the top shows the opening balance, Allocated and Remaining. On the bill, branch and division splits Allocated is a net: rows on the account's own side add, rows on the other side take away. The cost-centre split is a plain sum.
• Save (F5) is refused unless the split equals the opening balance exactly: The opening balance must be fully allocated - allocated ... of ... (remaining ...). Allocate the difference or remove all rows. Removing every row is allowed and clears the split.
• A reference number, a branch or a Division x Branch pair may appear only once. An opening bill that vouchers have already adjusted cannot be changed or deleted.
• With a nil opening balance, pressing Cost Centre Allocation... or Bill-by-Bill Opening... clears any saved split instead of opening it.

Opening Balance Audit

10Cost centres and profit centres #

Cost centres

A cost centre is a department, site or project that expenses (or income) are analysed by. Cost centres sit in groups.

1. On Cost-Centre Groups, add the groups: Name, Primary Group ? (on for a top-level group) or Under Group.
2. On Cost-Centres, add each centre: Cost Centre Name, Print Name, Under Group, and an opening balance with its Balance Type [D or C] if it has one.
3. On the ledgers to be analysed, switch on Maintain Cost Centres ?. Every voucher line on such an account then opens Cost Centre Allocation after the save.

In the window, New (F3) picks a centre from List Of Cost Centres, with a rate (%) or an amount; a centre may be used once per line. The total must equal the line: Balance amount ... exists. Allocate in full before saving. The reports Cost Centre - By Name, Cost Centre - Columnar, Ledger Accounts By Columnar Report and Cost Centre - Profit & Loss read these allocations.

Profit centres

A profit centre is a whole-voucher tag - a shop, a division of the business, a project. On Profit-Centres: Profit Centre Name, Order No, Description, Is Inactive ?, and Applicable Branches (ERP edition). A voucher type with Enable Profit-Centre Allocation ? shows a Profit Centre box on the voucher, which must then be filled (Please select a Profit Centre.); the voucher type can rename its caption, for example to Project. Books Against Profit Centre and the profit-centre analysis reports read it.

11Budgets and targets #

1. On an income or expense ledger, press Budget / Target... (Actions; the ledger must be saved and in view mode).
2. Pick Type [B/T] - Budget for an expense, Target for an income (preset from the group) - and Type [D/C].
3. Type the Annual Amount: every month fills with a twelfth. Change any month; the window shows when the months no longer add up to the annual figure.
4. Save (F5).

The Budget / Target Variance report compares the budget (or target) with the account's actual movement in the period: variance, variance %, achieved % and a status of Favourable, Adverse or On track (within the tolerance you give, 5% by default). It uses the monthly figures when they are keyed, otherwise a twelfth of the annual amount, and pro-rates part months by days. Break it down monthly or quarterly, or show only the adverse rows.

12Accounting voucher types #

An accounting voucher type is set up in Masters > Voucher Manager. The base types of Financial Accounting are Receipt, Payment, Contra, Journal, Salary Payment and Schedule; a company may have several voucher types on one base type (Receipt and Bank Receipt, say). What matters most for accounts:

Settings marked in Voucher Manager's own help as Desktop only for now or Reserved do nothing on the web. For accounting vouchers that includes Day Book Display; and Enable Narration by Entry is not read by the web voucher screen, so there is no narration per line.

13Entering a receipt, payment, contra or journal #

Accounting vouchers use the same entry screen as sales and purchases, reshaped for accounts: no party box and no items, and an Accounting tab with the Accounting Entries grid - Dr./Cr., Particulars, Debit, Credit - totalled at the foot.

1. Open the voucher type from Financial Accounting (Voucher Entry). A new voucher opens in its own tab, ready to add.
2. Check the Transaction Date and, if the type asks for them, the Ref. No, Profit Centre, Employee or currency.
3. Press Add Debit (F9). List Of Debit Accounts offers only the accounts the voucher type allows on the debit side; pick one, type the Amount and OK (F5).
4. Press Add Credit (F10) and pick the other account from List Of Credit Accounts. The amount is already filled in with whatever balances the voucher.
5. Type the Narration - Ctrl+Enter for a new line - or pick a saved one with the search button beside it.
6. Press Save (F5) and confirm. The allocation windows the accounts need then open one after another (next section).

Keying many accounts at once - Add Multiple (F6)

Add Multiple Accounts lists every account the voucher type allows, with a Debit and a Credit box each, and Allowed on saying which side it may take. Type against the accounts the voucher touches and press Add (F5). The foot shows how many lines will be added and Balanced or Difference ... as you type. An amount on one side clears the other; amounts are always positive - the column decides the side. It is a full grid: search, sort, filter, group by Allowed on. It does not force a balance (you may add one side now and the other later), and it does not ask for GST: open a line afterwards to add it.

GST on an expense or income line

An account whose Statutory Classification is Assessable Value opens a fuller entry window: Is Calculate GST, HSN Code, Unit, GST Rate (%), Is IGST Applicable, and the IGST, SGST, CGST and Cess amounts. With Auto-Post Tax Entries the tax lines are added to the voucher for you, tied to their parent line - edit the parent, not the tax line; deleting the parent removes its tax lines.

Changing a line

• The Actions column of the grid edits or deletes a line. A line's side cannot be changed - delete it and add it again on the other side.
• A zero amount is refused in the entry window (Zero value is not allowed!).

What is checked when you save

Every problem is listed at once, numbered, before the Confirm Save window:

• The date is inside the financial year (unless post-dated) and your date rights allow it.
• Profit centre, employee, reference number and narration, where the voucher type makes them compulsory.
• Debit equals credit: Debit and credit do not match: debit ..., credit ..., a difference of .... A voucher must balance before it can be saved.
• Not a zero-valued voucher, unless General Settings allows one.
• Not above the voucher type's amount limit.
• A manual number that is not blank and not already used in the series.

The server checks the licence, your save right and the date rules again; the database refuses anything dated in a closed period.

Debit notes and credit notes

Cr.Note is a Sales base type and Dr.Note a Purchase base type, so credit and debit notes are opened from Sale and Purchase and entered with items and a transaction class like the invoices they correct - see the Sales and Purchase guides. A pure money adjustment with no goods is a Journal.

Working on a saved voucher

• Find (F2) opens the voucher picker; the voucher loads read-only. Modify (F4) puts it back into edit, unless it belongs to another module, the voucher type's lock forbids it, or it is posted.
• Delete asks, then removes the voucher and all its entries - refused for a voucher made by another module or locked by the voucher type.
• Duplicate opens a copy dated today with a fresh number; Copy To copies it into another voucher type.
• Print (Ctrl+P) prints in a format of the voucher type; a second print needs the Re-Print right.
• The right rail reopens the saved Bill-By-Bill Allocation, Cost-Center Allocation and Cheque Tracking, and carries Notes, Properties (the audit trail), Documents, Messages, Share and - on the ERP edition with workflow on - Workflow.

14After the save - bills, cost centres and cheques #

When the voucher has saved, a window opens for every line that needs one, in this order. Each saves on its own, after the voucher.

Bill-By-Bill Allocation

For every line on an account with Maintain Bill by Bill Balance ? on. The strip shows the voucher, Net Amount, Allocated and Balance; the grid holds Method, Ref. No, Ref. Date, Amount and Due Date.

Saving a bill again after Modify (F4) keeps its references: the window opens with the rows it had, already allocated in full, so OK (F5) or Cancel (Esc) leaves them as they were. When the bill's total changed, its own single New Ref. row follows the new total. Any other set of rows that no longer adds up to the new total opens in the window with the difference shown in Balance: change the amounts and press OK (F5). Cancelling at that point leaves the bill with no references.

The balance must be nil before OK (F5): Balance amount ... exists. Allocate in full before saving. Closing with a balance is refused too - allocate it or delete the rows. Cancelling one account's window stops the windows still to come. The outstanding reports (Receivable Bills, Payable Bills, the ageing reports) are built from these references.

Cost Centre Allocation

For every line on an account with Maintain Cost Centres ? on - see Cost centres above.

Cheque Tracking

For every line on a bank account with Track Cheques ? on. Per cheque: Method (Cheque, DD, Transfer, ECS, UPI), Cheque / Ref No, Date, Amount, Due date and Pay to; the plus button adds a second cheque to the same line. The number cannot be blank, and the due date cannot be before the cheque date.

Standard narrations and cheque books

• Std. Narrations: saved phrases per voucher type (Voucher Type, Narration). The search button beside the narration lists them; the button next to it opens the master to add one.
• Cheque Books: a book per bank account - Book ID, Date, Bank Account (accounts in a Bank Accounts group), Start No and Qty; the end number works itself out and the database creates the leaves, listed below with each leaf's status, party, amount and date. A saved book cannot be modified, only deleted with its unused leaves.

15Transaction dates, the financial year and post-dated vouchers #

• Inside the financial year. A voucher's date must fall inside the company's financial year - the year of the database you signed into, not the report period shown in the footer. Outside it: Transaction date must be within ... - .... Last year's entries are made in last year's company.
• Closed periods. Nothing dated in a closed period can be added, changed or deleted (see Closing a period).

Post-dated vouchers

The Post-dated tick under the date is for an entry dated ahead - a cheque dated next month. Ticking it needs the voucher type's Allow Post Dated right; it lifts the financial-year limit on the date, and a new entry then accepts only a future date (Since you are selected post dated option, only future date will be allowed !). A date after the year without the right is refused by the server.

16Bank reconciliation #

The Bank Reconciliation Statement report matches your bank book with the bank's statement - and it is also where the clearing dates are keyed.

1. Open Reports > Account Books > Bank Reconciliation Statement, pick the Bank account and the As on date, and Run (F5).
2. It shows Balance as per books, adds Cheques issued but not presented, takes off Deposits not yet credited by the bank, and arrives at Balance as per bank (derived) - which should equal the statement.
3. For each entry your statement shows as cleared, type the Bank date (and a Remarks if you like) in its row. A bar counts the lines not yet saved.
4. Press Save all. Cleared entries leave the outstanding lists. Discard throws away unsaved edits.
5. Tick List cleared entries too to add the section of entries already cleared, with their bank dates - the proof half of the statement.

• A bank date cannot be before the voucher's own date. All problems are listed at once under Nothing was saved - fix these and save again:.
• All the lines of one voucher on that bank clear together.
• Blank a bank date to un-clear an entry; it stands outstanding again.
• One save covers one bank account, up to 200 edits.

Bank Book shows every entry of a bank account with its running balance; Cash Book the same for cash; Cash Book - Daily Summary one line per day for all cash accounts together.

17Closing a period #

When a month's (or a quarter's, or a filed return's) books are final, close the period so nothing dated in it can be added, changed or deleted by accident - by anyone, administrators included.

1. Open Tools & Utilities > Close Transaction Period (it needs Execute on Close Transaction Period in User Manager > Tools, and the Financial Accounting licence).
2. Pick Period begin and Period end (both days are locked), the Branch (ERP edition; All branches for administrators, or a user with one branch), and a Description of up to 255 characters.
3. Press Close Period (F5) and confirm. The period is listed as Closed.

• The period must lie inside the financial year and must not overlap a period already closed for the same branch or for all branches.
• A user who is not an administrator may close only dates from two days ago up to today; an administrator may close any period of the year, even a future one.
• To correct something: select the period, Reopen, fix the entry, and close it again - a new close, or Close Again by an administrator. A reopened period stays in the list in orange, for the record.
• A closed period locks sales, purchase, accounting, inventory and manufacturing vouchers, attendance, pay bill batches, and cash counter openings, closings and receipts. Anyone trying gets Transaction period was closed. You can not make/edit/delete entries !
• Marking a GSTR-3B (or GSTR-1) filed can close its month by itself, when GST Filing Settings say so.

18GST returns #

GST Returns reads the books and lays them out as the government's forms, checks them, takes them through your approvers, gives you the portal file and records the ARN. Its complete guide opens from its own Help panel; the essentials:

1. Pick the Return and the Month (or the financial year for GSTR-9). The Reporting scope is your report option - All, Branch or Group company - and decides both the entries and the GSTIN. Press Run (F5); nothing is read before that.
2. Read each table's card, and its Errors & warnings. Double-click a row to drill to the bill; the entry opens over the return, and when you save it the return refreshes itself.
3. Submit for approval... - refused while errors remain; warnings must be ticked as reviewed. The figures are frozen as submitted.
4. Each approval level decides in turn - Approve, Return or Reject (with a reason). With no levels set, Submit approves at once.
5. Once approved, download the Portal JSON, upload and file it on the GST portal, then Mark filed... with the 15-character ARN and the filing date. Reopen... (filing officers, with a reason) makes it a draft again.

• Every GST Returns action needs Execute on Tools > Filing Return; changing GST Filing Settings also needs Execute on Tools > Settings.
• GST Filing Settings: approval levels (users or user groups) and filing officers per return, self-approval, closing the month when GSTR-3B or GSTR-1 is filed, the B2CL invoice limit, the tax rounding tolerance and the GSTR-2B match tolerance.
• GST Filing Register: every return from its first submit - period, return, GSTIN, report option, status and level, tax, ARN and filing date. Double-click opens the return.
• The GST reports (HSN-Wise Outward Summary, Rate-Wise GST Summary, GSTR-3B Self-Check, E-Invoice / IRN Register) are under Reports > GST Reports.

19TDS and TCS #

What the web holds today:

• The Transaction Class master (Masters > Other Masters) has a TDS / TCS box: Is TDS/TCS Applicable ?, Effective Date From, Rate With PAN (%), Rate Without PAN (%), Threshold Limit, Threshold Value Calc. Basis (On Assessable Value or On Net Value), Threshold Value Totaling Basis (Dr. Total or Cr. Total) and the Sundry Item For TDS/TCS Posting. These are saved with the class.
• A ledger's Statutory Classification list includes TDS, for the TDS payable account; Is TCS Applicable ? is a ledger switch.
• Payroll carries a TDS amount on the pay template allocation and the pay bill.

The web voucher screen does not calculate or deduct TDS from these settings, and there is no TDS report. Record the deduction yourself: on the payment, credit the TDS payable account (a ledger under Duties & Taxes) with the tax and the party with the net, or pass a Journal; the TDS account's Ledger Account - View is then your register.

20Who sees what #

21Settings that change the module's behaviour #

Settings > Account Settings (administrators only) lists each setting with its number, grouped:

Elsewhere:

The group GST E-invoice of Account Settings (when the IRN is raised, the e-way bill with it, the voucher lock) belongs to e-invoicing, which is part of Sales: see the Sales guide, section GST e-invoices (IRN).

22Reports #

Every report opens in the standard report viewer: set the filters, Run (F5), and read it as a Document, Analyse it in a grid (group, sort, filter, totals), draw it as a Chart, or Pivot it. Print (Ctrl+P), export to Excel, CSV, PDF or HTML, e-mail it, or Schedule it to be mailed nightly, weekly or monthly. Double-click (or Enter on) a row to drill to the voucher or the next report. Named presets keep a set of filters. Inactive accounts are included unless you tick Hide inactive accounts; cancelled vouchers are left out.

Financial statements

Books and ledgers

Outstanding

Cost centres, analysis and GST

23Moving from the desktop #

• The same: the chart of accounts, the ledgers, the voucher types and every voucher are the same records - the web and the desktop read and write the same database, so a voucher entered on either is seen by both.
• Different: the web lists every save problem at once; Add Multiple keys many accounts in one grid; the allocation windows follow each other after the save; Print is Ctrl+P (F12 belongs to the browser).
• Not on the web yet: the post-dated flag is not stored with a web voucher, so web vouchers are not on the Post-Dated Cheques Register; there is no narration per line; there is no TDS calculation or report; the ledger's bank-account details have no screen; and on a company that tracks divisions, an accounting voucher has no Division box.

24If something does not work #

Every screen's Help panel lists all of its messages under If something does not work. The common ones: