Frequently Asked Questions - Accounting
I have made a payment to a vendor, but entered an incorrect date, far in
the future. Consequently the payment does not show when I try to reconcile
the relevant bank statement.
How do I back-out the incorrectly entered payment?
Cash/Vouchers/Reverse Payment.
Then when you are done adding the payments you want to reverse,
approve the batch.
Tested on: LedgerSMB 1.3.15.
source: http://permalink.gmane.org/gmane.comp.finance.ledger.smb.user/6087
When I open a screen to enter a GL transaction, there is no list to select accounts from. How do I know which accounts are available?
These are AJAX-completed boxes. Just wait after starting to type the account number or the beginning of the account name and a list of items to select from will pop up.
Short answer: Yes
LedgerSMB can tie product sales to a tax class so that VAT can automatically be split off into the required VAT accounts on a sale, and when cancelling an invoice, automatically perform the reverse bookings.
Each product can be 'attached' to an account and the associated % will be applied automatically.
NOTE: LedgerSMB has a Fixed assets module as of 1.3. The FAQ below is out-dated.
LedgerSMB does not have a built-in assett tracking / depreciation feature. Depreciation can be managed manually using General Ledger Transactions. You should probably confirm this with your accountant, but the basic procedure (kindly suggested by Tony Fraser) is, assuming a computer asset over 5 years:
Set up 3 accounts:
- An asset account such as "Computers"
- An asset account such as "Accumulated Amortization, Computers" that is normally a negative balance therefor it is a contra account
- An expense account such as "Computer Depreciation"
Upon purchasing a depreciable asset (in this case, a computer):
| Account | Debit | Credit | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| On purchasing the computer | |||
| Computers | 1000.00 | ||
| Bank Account | 1000.00 | ||
| End of Year 1 | |||
| Computer Depreciation | 400.00 | (40% of $1000) | |
| Accumulated Amortization, Computers | 400.00 | ||
| End of Year 2 | |||
| Computer Depreciation | 240.00 | (40% of $600) | |
| Accumulated Amortization, Computers | 240.00 | ||
| End of Year 3 | |||
| Computer Depreciation | 144.00 | (40% of $360) | |
| Accumulated Amortization, Computers | 144.00 | ||
| Disposal | |||
| Bank Account | 75.00 | (sale of computer) | |
| Accumulated Amortization, Computers | 784.00 | (reversing entry) | |
| Computer Depreciation | 141.00 | (residual value) | |
| Computers | 1000.00 | (reversing entry) | |
Quite a few users find some of the terminology and accounting processes a little confusing at first. Some of the more popular small business accounting packages tend to hide these aspects of book-keeping from users for simplicity, so with the current user interface there is often some new ideas to grasp.
First step is the manual - the LedgerSMB manual is free and highly recommended reading.
If you would like some background on general accounting practices, there is an (unassociated) tutorial So, you want to learn Bookkeeping" which seems a good place to start.
Another excellent resource is second-hand book stores. Lots of MBA studends sell off their textbooks (presumably to finance their first business rather than pay of gambling debts) so second-hand bookstores will often have very good texts on accounting at bargain prices - these can make great reference books.
Finally it would be remiss not to recommend securing the services of an accountant to help you out with the finer points from time to time, should you feel the need or have a legal obligation to do so.
Wikipedia articles:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accounting
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Double-entry_bookkeeping_system
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accountant