General ledger
The Accounting module is the general ledger at the centre of Modulix finance. It holds the chart of accounts, the journal entries you record by hand, and the entries that other modules post automatically: invoices, payments, vendor bills, bank transactions, expense claims and tax returns. Every other finance page reads from it.
Before you begin
- Open the module from Accounting in the main menu (
/m/accounting), or search the command palette for Open accounting or New journal entry. - The books are kept in your organization's currency, the Default currency in organization settings. Fiscal years start in the month chosen in Fiscal year starts in on the same page. Set both before you post anything.
- You need the permissions listed in Permissions. By default only administrators have them.
The page has five tabs: Chart of accounts, Journal, Periods, Trial balance and Exchange rates.
Key concepts
| Term | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Account | A line of the chart of accounts, with a code, a name and a type: Asset, Liability, Equity, Income or Expense. |
| Header account | An account that groups other accounts and does not take entries itself (Takes entries is off). Its balance is the total of the accounts under it. |
| Role ("Used for") | What an account is used for when other modules post automatically, such as Receivables or Bank. Each role is held by one account at most. |
| Journal entry | A dated set of lines, each a debit or a credit on an account. Debits must equal credits before the entry is posted. |
| Fiscal period | A month of a fiscal year. You can only post into an Open period. |
| Source document | The invoice, payment, bill or other record that an automatic entry came from. |
Asset and expense accounts are read with their debits (debits minus credits); liability, equity and income accounts are read with their credits.
The chart of accounts
The Chart of accounts tab shows every account as a tree, with its posted balance. Header accounts appear in bold and show the total of the accounts under them. Inactive accounts are dimmed. Use the search box and the Type filter to narrow the list, and select an account's name to open its ledger.
Your starting chart
The first time anyone opens the books, Modulix creates the Standard (goods and services) chart in that person's language. Its main accounts are:
| Code | Account | Used for |
|---|---|---|
| 1010 | Cash | Cash |
| 1020 | Bank account | Bank |
| 1100 | Accounts receivable | Receivables |
| 1200 | Inventory | Inventory |
| 1400 | Tax recoverable | Tax recoverable |
| 2100 | Accounts payable | Payables |
| 2200 | Sales tax payable | Tax collected |
| 2400 | Customer credits | Customer credits |
| 3200 | Retained earnings | Retained earnings |
| 4010 | Sales | Sales |
| 5010 | Cost of goods sold | Cost of goods sold |
| 6080 | Bank fees | Bank fees |
| 6900 | Other expenses | Other expenses |
| 6990 | Rounding differences | Rounding |
It also includes headers (1000 Assets, 2000 Liabilities, 3000 Equity, 4000 Income, 5000 Cost of sales, 6000 Expenses) and common accounts such as prepaid expenses, equipment, rent, salaries, travel and professional fees.
Apply a chart template
Templates add accounts you do not have yet. They never remove or overwrite accounts.
- On the Chart of accounts tab, select Apply a template.
- Choose a Template:
- Standard (goods and services)
- Services (no inventory; service revenue is the sales account)
- Retail and distribution (adds freight in and inventory adjustments)
- Choose a Language: English, Français, Deutsch or Español.
- Select Apply a template.
Modulix adds the template's missing accounts and renames the template's accounts that nobody has renamed into the chosen language. A message tells you how many accounts were added and renamed. A role already held by one of your accounts stays where it is.
Add or edit an account
-
Select New account, or open an account and select Edit.
-
Fill in the fields:
Field Notes Code Required and unique. Stored in capitals. Name Required. Type Asset, Liability, Equity, Income or Expense. Used for Optional role (see below). Another account cannot already hold it. Parent account Optional; must be of the same type. Takes entries Turn off for header accounts that only group others. Active Inactive accounts cannot receive new entries. Description Optional notes. -
Select Save.
Once an account has entries, you can no longer delete it, change its type or stop it taking entries. Make it inactive instead. An account that still has accounts under it cannot be deleted either: move or delete those first.
Account roles
Modules that post automatically find their accounts by role, so make sure each role you need is held by an account.
| Role | Used by |
|---|---|
| Bank | Customer payments, supplier payments, expense reimbursements and tax payments go to it unless you choose another account. |
| Cash | Counts as cash in the cash flow statement, like Bank. |
| Receivables | Accounts receivable: what customers owe. |
| Payables | Accounts payable: what you owe suppliers. |
| Inventory | Default account on vendor bill lines for stocked products. |
| Tax collected, Tax recoverable | Sales taxes on invoices; recoverable taxes on bills and expense claims. See Tax management. |
| Tax settlement | Net tax owed to (or claimed from) the tax authorities once a return is filed. |
| Sales | Net amount of sales invoices and credit notes. |
| Other expenses | Default account on vendor bill lines and expense categories. |
| Rounding | Small differences when converting other currencies. |
| Customer credits, Retained earnings, Cost of goods sold, Bank fees | Mark these accounts for your own entries and reports; no module posts to them automatically yet. |
| Employee reimbursements | What you owe employees for approved expense claims. |
Employee reimbursements and Tax settlement accounts are added to your chart automatically the first time the Expenses or Tax Management module needs them.
An account's ledger
Open an account to see its type, role, balance and details, and its Ledger between two dates (by default, January 1 of this year to today):
- the Opening balance on the first day,
- each posted line with its date, entry number, description, debit, credit and running balance,
- the Closing balance.
Select an entry number to open the entry.
Journal entries
The Journal tab lists all entries, newest first, with their number, date, description, status, total and source document. Filter by Status, search, and save views as on any list.
Record an entry by hand
- On the Journal tab, select New entry.
- Enter the Date, a Description and, optionally, a Reference, then save. The entry opens as a draft.
- Select Edit lines. For each line, choose an Account and enter either a Debit or a Credit, and optionally a Description. Select Add a line for more lines.
- Watch the Totals row: it shows Balanced when debits equal credits, otherwise the difference.
- Save the lines.
A draft can stay unbalanced while you work on it. Only drafts can be edited or deleted.
Post an entry
Select Post on a draft. Modulix checks that:
- the entry has at least two lines, and debits equal credits (and are above zero);
- every account is active and takes entries;
- the entry's date falls in an Open fiscal period.
The entry then gets the next number (JE-00001, JE-00002…) and becomes final. If its fiscal year's periods do not exist yet, they are created.
Correct a posted entry
Posted entries cannot be changed or deleted. To correct one, reverse it and record a new entry.
- Open the posted entry and select Reverse.
- Choose the Date of the reversal (by default, the original entry's date). The date must be in an open period.
- Confirm with Reverse.
Modulix posts a new entry with the opposite lines, described as "Reversal of JE-…", and opens it. The original entry's status becomes Reversed, and the two entries link to each other (Reverses and Reversed by). Both stay in the books.
Entry statuses
| Status | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Draft | Being prepared. Can be edited, may not balance, can be deleted. Not in any balance or report. |
| Posted | Final and numbered. Counts in balances and reports. Can be reversed. |
| Reversed | Was posted, then cancelled by a reversing entry. Both still count, so they cancel out. |
Entries from other modules
Entries posted by other modules show their Source and Source document (for example, an invoice number). They are posted at once and follow the same rules: they must balance, their accounts must exist and their date must be in an open period. To correct one, change or cancel the document in its own module; that module reverses and reposts its entries.
| Module | What it posts |
|---|---|
| Accounts receivable | Sales invoices, credit notes and customer payments |
| Accounts payable | Approved vendor bills and supplier payments |
| Banking | Transfers between accounts, and statement lines booked to an account |
| Expenses | Approved expense claims and reimbursements |
| Tax management | Filed tax returns and their payments |
Lines posted by receivables and payables also record the customer or supplier, which is how their balances are kept in the books.
Fiscal periods
The Periods tab lists the months of each fiscal year with their dates and status. Periods are created automatically when the first entry of a fiscal year is posted. To create them in advance, pick a day of the fiscal year and select Create the periods: the twelve monthly periods of that year are created.
| Status | Meaning | Actions |
|---|---|---|
| Open | Entries can be posted. | Close |
| Closed | Nothing can be posted. | Reopen, Lock |
| Locked | Closed for good. | None |
- Close a period once every earlier period is closed and no draft entry is dated in it. Post or delete those drafts first.
- Reopen closed periods from the most recent one backwards.
- Lock a closed period when it must never change again.
Locked periods can never be reopened. Lock a period only after its figures are final, for example after your year-end accounts are filed.
Because automatic entries need an open period too, an invoice or payment dated in a closed period cannot be posted. Receivables lists such documents so that you can post them later.
Exchange rates
You can invoice, bill and bank in other currencies, but the books are kept in your organization's currency. The Exchange rates tab lists the rates used to convert other currencies.
- Select New rate.
- Choose the Currency, the day the rate applies From, and the Rate: what one unit of that currency is worth in your organization's currency.
- Save.
A document in another currency is converted at the latest rate on or before its date. If there is none, the document cannot be posted and the message tells you which rate to add. Rounding differences go to the Rounding account.
- Your own currency needs no rate.
- A currency can have one rate per day.
- Deleting a rate does not change amounts already posted.
Trial balance
The Trial balance tab lists every account with movements between two dates (by default, January 1 of this year to today):
- Opening: the balance before the first day, as a debit or a credit;
- Movements: the debits and credits in the period;
- Closing: the balance on the last day, as a debit or a credit.
The Totals row adds up each column, and a badge shows whether Debits equal credits. Select an account to open its ledger.
For balance sheets, profit and loss and cash flow, see Financial reporting.
Permissions
| Permission | What it allows | Granted by default to |
|---|---|---|
accounting.read | View the books: accounts, entries, periods, rates, trial balance | Administrators |
accounting.entry.write | Draft journal entries (create, edit, delete drafts) | Administrators |
accounting.entry.post | Post and reverse journal entries | Administrators |
accounting.manage | Manage the chart of accounts, fiscal periods and exchange rates | Administrators |
Give bookkeepers accounting.entry.write and keep accounting.entry.post for the people who review entries, if you want a second pair of eyes.
Tips
- Check the Used for column before you enable the other finance modules: a missing role stops their postings with a message such as "No account is used for payable".
- Reverse rather than delete: the books keep a full history, and the reversal can be dated in a later open period if the original period is closed.
- Close each month once its bank accounts are reconciled and its drafts are posted.