Accruals

An accrual records an expense in the month you incurred it, even though you have not been billed or paid yet. For example, if your accountant works for you in March but invoices in April, an accrual puts the cost in March, where it belongs. This makes each month’s profit accurate instead of lumpy.

Each accrual posts two lines to your books: a debit to an expense account on the Income Statement, and a credit to a liability account on the Balance Sheet. The liability shows that you owe the money.

You manage accruals under Accounting → Manage Accruals.

Before you start

• You need a role with access to accruals. See Team and roles.
• Your Chart of Accounts needs an expense account and a liability account to use. The standard chart includes accrued-liability accounts you can use.

Add an accrual

1. Click Add accrual.
2. Enter the Date. Use a date in the month the cost belongs to, typically the last day of the month.
3. Enter the Supplier and choose an Accrual type: Professional services, Interest accruals, Salaries & wages, Tax accruals, Rent, Utilities or Other.
4. Enter the Amount.
5. Choose the Expense account (I/S). This is the debit side.
6. Choose the Liability account (B/S). This is the credit side. For some common expense accounts, Bokapsys fills in the usual liability account for you; you can change it.
7. Optionally add a Description and a Department.
8. Click Save accrual.

The accrual appears in the list, and the tiles at the top show the Total accruals and Total amount.

Post accruals

Saved accruals reach your books according to your posting settings:

• On Auto-post, Bokapsys posts them for you, usually within a few minutes.
• On Manual, they wait for you.

Whenever accruals are waiting, a banner shows how many. Click View pending to review them, or Post Now to tick the ones you want and post them. Posting accruals affects only the accruals you select.

An accrual dated in a closed accounting period is not posted until the period is reopened.

Edit or delete an accrual

Use the edit and delete icons on each row.

• If you change the Date, Amount, or either account of an accrual that is already posted, Bokapsys reverses the old entry and the accrual is queued to post again with the new details. Changing only the supplier, description or department does not touch your books.
• Deleting an accrual removes it and reverses any posted entries for it, so the ledger stays complete. You cannot delete an accrual whose date falls in a closed period.

Tip

When the real bill arrives and is recorded, remember to clear the accrual so the cost is not counted twice. A common approach is a journal entry that reverses the accrual in the month the bill is recorded.

Related

Posting settingsChoose automatic or manual posting for accruals.

Prepaid expensesThe opposite case: paid now, expensed later.

Journal entriesRecord any other adjustment.

General LedgerSee accrual entries and their reversals.