Opening Balance, Gateway Payouts & Accounting Settings
Opening Balance (/accounting/opening-balance)
If you are starting the books on a business that already has money, stock or customer balances, enter that starting position once.
What you enter
- Asset balances: cash, bank, and inventory. The screen suggests an Inventory figure from the stock you already hold, valued at cost; click it to use it.
- Customers who owe you (opening receivables): a name and an amount for each.
- Suppliers you owe (opening payables): a name and an amount for each.
- The opening date. It can't be in the future.
What it does
The difference between what you own and what you owe is placed in Opening Balance Equity (3900), so the books start balanced. Opening receivables and payables then behave like any credit document: you can collect or pay them from Receivables and Payables.
Doing it again
Opening balances can be entered once. To change them, reverse the opening entry in the Journal (filter Opening balance) and enter them again. The screen tells you if an opening balance already exists.
Gateway Payouts (/accounting/gateway-payouts)
Card and online payments usually reach your bank days later, minus the gateway's fee. Use this screen to make the books match your bank statement.
- In Accounting Settings, switch on Hold card payments in Gateway Clearing. From then on, card and online sales are booked to Payment Gateway Clearing instead of Bank.
- The page shows Awaiting payout: the total sitting in clearing.
- When the gateway pays out, click + Record payout and enter the gross amount, the fee and the date.
- The entry moves the gross out of clearing, books the fee to Gateway Fees, and puts the rest into Bank.
If clearing is switched off, card payments go straight to Bank and this screen shows nothing to record.
Accounting Settings (/accounting/settings)
These choices change how future events are booked. Entries already in the journal are never rewritten.
| Setting | What it does |
|---|---|
| Purchase tax is reclaimable | Tax on stock purchases is kept as Input Tax Receivable (an asset you offset against sales tax) instead of being added to the cost of stock. |
| Expense tax is reclaimable | The same choice for expenses, decided separately. |
| Shipping is income | Shipping charged to customers is booked as Shipping Income (on) or folded into sales (off). |
| Hold card payments in Gateway Clearing | Card and online sales wait in Payment Gateway Clearing until a payout is recorded. |
Discounts
Discounts are booked gross: Sales Revenue is recorded at the full price and a separate Sales Discounts account takes the discount off. Net sales are unchanged, but you can report gross sales and discounts separately.
Online orders
Cancelling an online order that has not shipped runs a full sales return, so stock and the books follow the status. Shipped or delivered orders are refused and go through a Sales Return, where the quantities that actually came back are chosen.