The Accounting module

What the ledger is, where entries come from, and how to read the trial balance, the profit & loss, the VAT return and the bank reconciliation — on one worked example.

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1 · What this module is for
Nothing here is typed twice. Invoices, bills, payments and stock movements become entries by themselves; you only add what has no document.
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The accounting home
Cash, receivables, payables and the result — read from the entries, not typed.
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Press Post transactions to ledger
It also runs by itself every night. A document can never post twice — the button is only for 'post now'.
2 · The chart of accounts
Every figure lands in an account. The numbering tells you what kind it is: 1 assets, 2 liabilities, 3 equity, 4 revenue, 5 expenses.
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The accounts you already have
1100 Cash, 1110 Bank, 1200 Receivables, 2100 Payables, 4100 Sales, 5100 Cost of sales — seeded when the workspace was created.
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Press New account
We need a place for machine maintenance, which the chart has no account for yet.
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Give it a number in the right range
5810 — a 5 for an expense, and a number nobody is using. A code already in the chart is refused.
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Say what kind of account it is
Expense. The type decides which report it appears in — an expense belongs in the profit & loss, not the balance sheet.
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Name it in both languages
Arabic matters: the trial balance an Egyptian accountant reads should not be in English.
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Save the account
3 · A manual entry, and when to use one
The factory paid 3,500 EGP cash for maintenance. No invoice, no bill, no payment record — so this is the one case you write the entry yourself.
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The journal: every entry in the workspace
Each one names the document behind it — invoice, bill, payment, stock movement — so any figure can be traced back.
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Press New journal entry
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Which book, and on what date
Cash, because the money left the till. The date decides which month — and which VAT return — it falls in.
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Line 1 — debit the expense
3,500 into Machine maintenance. Debit means 'this account received the value'.
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Line 2 — credit the cash
3,500 out of 1100 Cash. Every entry has two sides and they must be equal — that is double entry.
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Say what it was for
The memo is what your accountant reads a year from now. Write it for them.
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Press Post entry
It refuses if the two sides differ, or if the month is already closed. A posted entry is a record — you correct it with a reversal, never by editing.
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The entry is in the journal
Numbered, dated, with your name on it.
4 · Reading the reports
Four reports answer four different questions. They are built from the entries, so they always agree with each other.
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Trial balance — is the ledger sound?
Every account with its debit and credit. The two totals must match; if they ever don't, stop and call the accountant.
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Find the 3,500 you just posted
Machine maintenance carries a debit of 3,500, and cash is 3,500 lighter.
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Profit & loss — did we make money?
Revenue minus expenses for the period. Your new account appears here because you typed it as an expense.
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Balance sheet — what do we own and owe?
Assets on one side, liabilities and equity on the other, at a moment in time.
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General ledger — every movement on an account
Pick an account and see every entry that touched it, in order. This is where you answer 'why is cash this number?'
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Aged receivable — who owes us, and for how long
Current, 30, 60, 90 days. This is the list collections work from every week.
5 · The VAT return
Output VAT you charged, minus input VAT you paid, for one month — the figure you file.
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Pick the month
An invoice counts in the month it was ISSUED, not the month it was paid — which is why the invoice date matters.
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What you owe the authority
Every line traces back to an invoice or a bill. Export it for your filing.
6 · Bank reconciliation
The bank's statement against your own books, line by line, until nothing is unexplained.
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Bring the statement in
Import the bank file, or add the lines by hand for a small month.
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Match the obvious ones first
Same amount, same date, same reference — the system pairs those for you and leaves the doubtful ones to a person.
7 · Closing a month
When the month is agreed, lock it. After that nobody can back-date an entry into a month you have already reported on.
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The months, and what each one allows
Open accepts entries. Closed is for review. Locked refuses everything — that is the one an auditor relies on.
8 · Two things to set up once
Opening balances when you move onto the system mid-year, and cost centres if you want the result split by factory or line.
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Opening balances
What each account held on the day you started. Enter it once; the difference goes to a suspense account until it balances.
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Cost centres
A second dimension on an entry: which factory, which line. Then the same expense can be reported per site.