Accounting

Manage your finances, invoicing, bills, and compliance reporting.

Overview

The Accounting module includes:

• Chart of Accounts
• Customer invoicing
• Supplier bills, and receipts read from a photo or PDF
• Bank reconciliation
• Expense claims
• GST/BAS reporting
• Financial periods, to close off a month or quarter once its books are done
• Budgets and forecasting
• A fixed asset register
• Financial reporting, through the Reports module

The Accounting menu is available to your business's owners and admins. The menu groups its screens under Sales, Purchases, Banking & Ledger and Tax & Reporting. Each part can be switched on or off for your business under Admin > Modules, which follows the menu - each group has a switch, and so does each screen in it. Recurring invoices and bills follow the Invoices and Bills switches.

Accounting Dashboard

Open Accounting > Dashboard to see key financial metrics for the period you choose at the top - this financial year by default, or this or last month, quarter or financial year, the last 12 months, or a custom range. Figures that describe a position, such as aged debt, are shown as at the end of the period - except bank account balances, which are always today's.

• Bank account balances
• Cash flow - cash in against cash out
• Profit and loss, and the monthly revenue trend
• Invoices and bills by status
• Aged receivables and aged payables, and receivables against payables
• Expense claims

A Priorities list above the cards flags overdue invoices and bills, draft invoices to send, bills awaiting approval, and expense claims to review or process. Click Customise to choose which cards show and in what order. Quick Links at the bottom open common tasks, including recurring invoices, the Year-End Close and the No-ABN withholding report.

Chart of Accounts

Understanding Account Types

Starting Your Chart

While your chart is empty, Accounting > Banking & Ledger > Chart of Accounts offers Seed Standard Chart of Accounts, which loads a standard Australian chart - including the bank, receivables, payables and GST accounts that invoices, bills and expense claims post to.

Creating an Account

1. Enter:

• Account code and name
• Account type
• Description
• Tax rate - the GST code the account uses by default

Account Hierarchy

The standard chart groups its accounts under header accounts, and the list shows them as a tree - expand a header to see the accounts beneath it, or use the expand / collapse button beside the filters. Header accounts only group others; the Posting column marks the accounts that take transactions. Accounts you add yourself sit at the top level, so use a consistent numbering convention to keep related accounts together.

To bring in an existing chart, click Import CSV and upload a file with Code, Name, Type, Description and Header columns. Codes already in your chart are skipped, and a missing Type is guessed from the code's first digit.

Use Archive in an account's row menu (or tick several and click Archive Selected) for accounts you no longer use - turn on Show Archived to see and restore them. System accounts can't be edited, archived or deleted, and an account can only be deleted while it has no transactions and no accounts under it. Delete in the row menu acts straight away - there's no confirmation step.

Customers and Invoicing

Adding a Customer

Customers are companies in your contacts:

1. Enter:

• Company name and contact details
• ABN
• Payment terms (days) - leave this blank to use your business default
• Shipping address, customer code and credit limit

You can also add a customer on the spot from the invoice form. A new company starts on your business's default payment terms, set under Accounting > Settings. A company's payment terms, credit limit and bank details are shown only to people who can see invoices - anyone else won't see those fields on the company or its form. The same people see the company's Invoiced and Paid totals on its Payment Details card, and its Orders total if they can also see orders.

Creating an Invoice

1. Add line items:

• Description
• Quantity
• Unit price
• GST code
• Account
• Discount (optional) - a percentage or a fixed amount

Line items can be pulled straight from your Products, Services & Inventory catalogue with the Product picker, so the item's price, income account and GST code fill in automatically. Catalogue prices exclude GST, so leave GST Inclusive off on an invoice that uses them - on a GST-inclusive invoice the price isn't adjusted, and the customer would be charged the GST-exclusive price including GST.

Invoice Status

A sent invoice that passes its due date shows its due date in red on the list and is included in the overdue notice and in Aged Receivables, but its status only changes from Sent to Overdue once a payment or credit is recorded or voided against it, or it's marked sent again with Mark Sent.

Sending Invoices

Click Send to issue an invoice - it's posted to your ledger and marked as sent. Click Email to email it to the customer - it goes to the company's email address, or to the first of its contacts that has one. When your business has an email account connected (see the Email guide), invoices are sent through it, so they arrive from your own address; if none is connected, Mployr still sends them. Each invoice carries a secure view link the customer can open in a browser without an account, to view and download the invoice. Choose the email customers receive under Accounting > Settings. Download PDF saves a copy of the invoice at any stage.

When an invoice becomes overdue, everyone who can view your invoices is notified, so it doesn't slip - and the same goes for an overdue bill and the people who can view bills.

Recording Payments

1. Enter:

• Amount
• Payment date
• Payment method (EFT, cash, credit card, cheque, direct debit or other)
• Reference and notes

There's no confirmation message - the dialog closes and the payment appears in the invoice's Payments list, with the Amount Due reduced. If the dialog stays open, the payment wasn't saved.

Writing Off a Bad Debt

If an issued invoice won't be paid, open it and click Write Off, then enter the write-off date and the reason. The original sale stays in the period it was earned, the loss is booked to bad debts on the write-off date, and on an accruals basis the GST comes back at G7 on that period's BAS. To void an invoice raised in error, use Cancel instead.

Suppliers and Bills

Adding a Supplier

1. Enter supplier details - ABN and supplier code

As with customers, the bank details (and payment terms) are shown only to people who can see invoices. A supplier's payment terms aren't used on bills - a new bill's due date starts from your default bill terms.

Recording a Bill

1. Select supplier
2. Enter:

• Supplier invoice number
• Bill date

• Line items - description, account, GST code, quantity and unit price

To keep the supplier's invoice or receipt with the bill, click Attach file on the bill's Documents card. Only people who can see the bill can open its files.

Bill Workflow

An unpaid bill past its due date counts as overdue in the overdue notice and in Aged Payables. Its status itself only changes to Overdue once a payment or credit is recorded against it - until then it still reads Approved.

Paying Bills

1. Open the approved bill

1. Enter the amount, payment date, method (EFT, cash, credit card, cheque, BPAY, direct debit or other), reference and notes

If the supplier hasn't quoted an ABN, the payment dialog warns that 47% will be withheld: that share goes to the ATO, the rest to the supplier, and the bill is still settled in full. Bills of $75 or less (excluding GST) aren't affected. If an exemption applies, edit the supplier under Contacts > Companies and choose it under No-ABN Withholding.

Receipts

Adding a Receipt

Mployr reads the supplier and ABN, the date (and a bill's due date), the invoice or receipt number, the total including GST, the GST, how it was paid, and the lines - grouped by kind of spend and coded to your own accounts and GST codes. If the supplier has a default expense account, that account is used instead of Mployr's guess. Anything unclear is listed under Worth checking, and a receipt that looks like a second copy of another is flagged. Photos and PDFs can be read - a PDF larger than 15MB can't - up to 300 a day for each business. If a read fails or the day's limit is reached, the receipt shows Needs details: fill it in yourself, or click Read again later.

Matching and Processing

A paid receipt shows Waiting for bank until a withdrawal within $1 of its total comes in, dated from 7 days before the receipt to 45 days after. Then it shows Match found.

The bill is created, approved and paid from that transaction, with the scan attached. The amounts must agree to the cent - if they don't, adjust the receipt first (add a card surcharge or tip as its own line). Processing needs a supplier, a date, a total, and lines that each have an account and add up to the total. A supplier who isn't in your list yet is added at this point. Waiting receipts are also offered on a bank transaction's Suggested tab when you match or reconcile, where Process does the same. For a receipt the bank feed won't show (paid in cash, or on a card you don't reconcile here), click Create a draft bill without a bank match. A bill still to pay (Bill to enter) becomes a draft bill with Create a draft bill - approve and pay it as usual (see Bill Workflow above).

Tabs, Discarding and Access

Anyone who can see bills sees Receipts. Adding receipts needs permission to create bills. Correcting, reading again and restoring need permission to edit bills, and discarding needs permission to delete them. Processing needs permission to create and edit bills, and to reconcile the bank account it pays from. Employees can't use Receipts - their receipts go on an expense claim.

Credit Notes

Issue a credit note to reduce what a customer owes (returns, adjustments, goodwill):

1. Add the line items being credited

A credit note also has a Refund button for paying the remaining credit back to the customer. Choose the bank account it's paid out of under Paid From, the Refund Date and how it was paid. A refund returns the whole remaining credit - to use part of it, apply it to an invoice instead.

Purchase Orders

Raise a purchase order to commit to a supplier before the bill arrives:

Recurring Invoices and Bills

Automate transactions that repeat on a schedule - retainers, subscriptions, rent:

Recurring Invoices

Recurring Bills

1. Bills are generated automatically so nothing is missed

If you set up a recurring item with a start date in the past, Mployr asks what to do about the periods already gone by rather than silently skipping or flooding you with back-dated documents. The next run date is never left in the past.

Price Increases

Under Price Escalation, a recurring invoice or bill can rise automatically, by a percentage or a fixed amount. Choose when the increase applies - each calendar year (1 January), each financial year (1 July), on the anniversary, on renewal, on a fixed date each year, or every invoice or bill period.

A CRM order's billing schedules are recurring invoices too. Once an order's billing is active, its Billing card lists each schedule's price increase and when it next rises, with the new amount per period if you can see invoice amounts.

Bank Accounts

Adding Bank Accounts

1. Enter:

• Account name
• Bank name
• BSB and account number

Getting transactions in

There is no direct bank feed yet. Mployr cannot connect to your bank and

pull transactions on its own. There are two ways in, both real:

flow through with the rest of your accounting data. See Connecting via Xero

below.

1. Choose the file format and upload the file your bank gives you
2. Match the imported transactions to invoices and bills, and reconcile

Connecting via Xero

Mployr can connect to Xero to bring in your bank feeds and keep accounting data in sync:

1. Once connected, bank transactions flow through for matching and reconciliation

Xero's records sync into Mployr's own. A bank transaction you've already matched, reconciled or excluded in Mployr keeps your decision when Xero syncs again, and lines Xero has already reconciled arrive reconciled. An invoice raised in Mployr and pushed to Xero stays as Mployr has it - edits made to it in Xero don't come back, although payments recorded in Xero still do. Bills imported from Xero post to the general ledger, and the control accounts they need are created automatically if they don't exist.

Importing Transactions

If you don't use Xero, you can import a bank statement file:

1. Open the bank account

1. Choose CSV, QIF or BAI2 and upload your statement file. A CSV needs a header row with a date column and either an amount column or separate debit and credit columns - the usual bank export headings are recognised
2. Reconcile the imported transactions

Bank Balances

Each bank account reports two figures: its Current Balance (the opening balance plus every statement line from its balance date) and its Reconciled Balance (the opening balance plus only the lines you've reconciled). The gap between them is your unreconciled work, shown as the number of lines to reconcile. Lines dated before the opening balance's date don't count - the opening balance already includes them - and neither do lines you've excluded or that were voided in Xero.

The account's Transactions tab lists the statement lines that reconciliation works from. The All Cash Movements tab shows everything that moved through the account - bank lines plus the invoice and bill payments recorded against it.

Bank Reconciliation

1. Open bank account

1. Match transactions:

Matching a transaction from inside a reconciliation reconciles it in the same step, so a half-applied match can't leave the account out. Only one reconciliation can be in progress on an account at a time - starting a second is refused rather than silently forking the numbers, and clicking Reconcile takes you back into the one that's open. Imported statements are de-duplicated, so re-importing an overlapping file won't double up transactions. A transaction that should never have been there can be excluded, and it stops counting towards the balances.

Expense Claims

Submitting an Expense

• Description
• GL code
• Date

An item coded to an account with Requires Receipt turned on shows Missing in its Receipt column until its receipt is attached, and the claim can't be submitted until every such item has one. Removing a receipt from the Attachments card takes it off its item again. Receipts can still be added while a claim is waiting for approval.

Approval Workflow

Expense Categories

Claim items are coded to a GL account. Only accounts with Expense Claims switched on in the Chart of Accounts are offered, so set up an account for each kind of expense your people claim. Common categories:

• Travel and transport
• Meals and entertainment
• Office supplies
• Professional development
• Equipment and tools

GST and BAS

GST Codes

Mployr comes with the standard Australian GST codes:

GST codes are classified by their treatment, which is what drives where a line lands on the BAS. GST on imports is treated as a creditable acquisition rather than GST-free. GST on Capital, GST Free Capital and GST on Capital Imports mark a purchase as capital, which puts it at G10 rather than G11.

GST Basis

Your business reports on either a cash or accruals basis, set under Accounting > Settings. Each BAS starts on that basis, and you can change it on the statement at any point up until the BAS is finalised - Mployr recalculates the worksheet on the new basis. A cash-basis BAS reads your payment records, so if a period has invoices but no payments recorded, calculating it warns you rather than showing a silent zero. Businesses that lodge annually rather than quarterly are supported.

PAYG Withholding Cycle

PAYG withholding runs on its own ATO cycle, separate from GST. Set it under Accounting > Settings as the PAYG withholding cycle:

When you create a monthly statement, choose its Form - IAS - PAYG withholding only, or BAS - GST, PAYG withholding and instalments if you also report GST monthly. To set up the whole year at once, click Generate FY (the button names the current financial year, for example Generate FY2027) on BAS Statements - it creates every statement that year needs from your GST and PAYG withholding cycles, and skips any period that already has one.

BAS Preparation

1. Review the worksheet, built from your own Mployr data:

• PAYG instalments and other labels, if they apply to you
• Net GST, and the totals you owe the ATO (8A) or it owes you (8B)

BAS Lodgement

Mployr prepares the statement and keeps the record - it doesn't transmit the BAS to the ATO for you:

1. Review the finalised BAS
2. Lodge it with the ATO the way you usually do - for example through ATO Online services or your tax or BAS agent
3. Keep the ATO's lodgement receipt with your records

A finalised statement has a Lodge button: enter the date you lodged it under Lodged On and, if you like, the Lodgement Reference. This records the lodgement in Mployr - it doesn't lodge the statement for you. A lodged statement has Amend for creating an amendment, with a reason. Until a statement is marked lodged, its ATO payment or refund can't be matched to it when you reconcile (the BAS tab only offers lodged statements).

Marking a statement lodged is a permission of its own, separate from preparing one, so someone can prepare your BAS without being able to mark it lodged.

Budgets and Forecasts

Plan and monitor your finances under Accounting > Tax & Reporting > Budgets & Forecasting:

The Budget Projection shows projected revenue, costs and net position with a confidence score. Revenue is split by how firm it is (contracted against expected), a shaded band shows the range between the downside and upside scenarios, and every driver is listed month by month, net of GST - recurring invoices, orders, pipeline, ad-hoc invoices, recurring bills, bills and expenses, payroll and rostered labour. Scheduled price increases count from the month they take effect, and warnings flag anything worth a look, such as a recurring invoice schedule that closed without ever generating an invoice.

Fixed Asset Register

Track capital assets and their depreciation under Accounting > Asset Register:

Assets run two schedules side by side - a book schedule for your financial statements and an ATO tax schedule, with its own tax method and effective life, for the return - so the two can legitimately differ without keeping a spreadsheet. The tax schedule is for your return only and isn't posted to the ledger. When an asset is sold, traded in, scrapped, written off or donated, click Dispose to record the disposal, and Mployr works out the gain or loss and posts it.

Organise assets into categories to keep the register tidy and reporting meaningful - each category also holds the asset, depreciation expense and accumulated depreciation accounts its assets post to, so set those before you run depreciation or dispose of an asset - an asset without them is skipped when depreciation runs, and can't be disposed of. A disposal's gain or loss goes to Gain on Disposal of Fixed Assets (4-4000) or Loss on Disposal of Fixed Assets (6-1550), which Mployr creates if they don't exist. The Assets & Equipment guide has the details, and covers who is holding each asset and its maintenance.

Financial Reports

Accounting reports are run from the Reports module, under Reports > Reports. Start from one of the Accounting templates - Invoices Paid (YTD) (invoices dated this financial year that are now fully paid), Revenue by Customer, Bills Due Next 30 Days, Spend by Supplier, Recent Bank Transactions, Pending Expense Claims and Chart of Accounts - or build your own report on the Chart of Accounts, Invoices, Bills, Bank Transactions or Expenses data source. Reports can be filtered, exported to Excel, CSV or PDF, and emailed on a schedule. See Reports & Analytics.

The templates list records rather than ledger balances. The financial statements are in the Accounting Reports section of the same page (Accounting > Tax & Reporting > Accounting Reports opens it there), built from the posted ledger: Profit & Loss — Comparative, Profit & Loss by Job or Site, Statement of Cash Flows, Balance Sheet, Trial Balance, General Ledger, Aged Receivables, Aged Payables, GST Summary, the Taxable Payments Annual Report and PAYG Withholding Where No ABN Quoted. Click an account on the Balance Sheet or Trial Balance to open its lines in the General Ledger, where each line opens the invoice, bill or journal behind it. For headline profit and loss, cash flow and aged balances over a period, use the Accounting dashboard (below).

Figures on the Accounting Dashboard

For a quick read of where the business stands, the Accounting dashboard shows these for the period you choose at the top of the page:

Click Customise on the dashboard to choose which cards it shows.

The No-ABN Withholding quick link on the dashboard opens the annual report of PAYG withheld from suppliers who didn't quote an ABN, which is due to the ATO by 31 October.

Journal Entries

Creating a Journal

1. Enter:

• Date
• Reference
• Description
• Debit and credit lines

To take back a posted journal, click Void and give a reason - it stays in the ledger marked as void rather than being deleted.

Common Journals

• Adjusting entries
• Depreciation
• Accruals and prepayments
• Error corrections

Financial Periods

Close a month or quarter once its books are done, and nothing more can be posted into it - an invoice, bill, payment, bank match, pay run or journal dated in a closed period is refused until the period is reopened.

Once you have periods, Mployr won't post anything dated before the end of your latest period that no period covers - so add every year you still post into. Dates after your latest period post as normal. A posted journal in a closed or locked period can't be voided. If you use Xero, an invoice or bill it brings in for a closed period reaches your books on the first sync after the period is reopened.

Accounting Settings

Set how your books behave under Accounting > Settings:

Payment terms are picked from 7, 14, 21, 30, 60 or 90 days, or choose Custom and enter any number of days up to 365. Click Save Settings when you're done.

Year-End Close

Year-End Process

1. Review and adjust accounts
2. Bring book depreciation up to date, and review each asset's tax depreciation for the return

1. Choose the year and review the preview - revenue, cost of goods sold, expenses and the net profit or loss

1. Prepare for next year

Troubleshooting

My bank reconciliation won't balance

The reconciliation only completes once your matched transactions agree with the statement balance you entered. Open the bank account, click Reconcile, and re-check the Statement Ending Balance you typed against your actual bank statement. Then work through each line - Match it to its invoice, bill, expense claim, pay run or BAS - until the Difference is zero. Completing also checks your general ledger: once the bank account's ledger account has postings, the reconciliation won't complete while the ledger balance disagrees with the statement, so post the missing entries (or the bank account's opening balance) first.

A journal entry won't post

Mployr won't save a journal that doesn't balance - total debits must equal total credits - so a saved draft that won't post is usually down to its date. Open it under Accounting > Banking & Ledger > Journal Entries and check the date falls in an open period - nothing posts into a closed or locked period (see Financial Periods above).

I can't edit an invoice

Only a draft invoice can be edited. Once it has been approved or sent, raise a credit note for the difference (see Credit Notes above), or click Cancel on the invoice and raise a new one.

Bank transactions aren't importing from Xero

First confirm the connection is still authorised under Business > Integrations (see the Administration guide) - if the authorisation has lapsed you'll need to reconnect to your Xero organisation - and that Bank Transactions is switched on for import under Sync Configuration. If you don't have a live feed, you can still bring transactions in by opening the bank account and using Import Transactions to upload a CSV, QIF or BAI2 statement file.

A bill can't be paid yet

Bills go from Draft to Awaiting Approval to Approved, and a bill must be approved before you can record a payment against it. Open the bill and move it through Submit for Approval and Approve first. Record Payment also only shows for people whose role allows paying bills.

My BAS figures look wrong

The BAS is calculated from the GST treatment on your transactions. Check that invoices and bills use the correct GST codes (for example GST on Income, GST on Expenses, the GST Free codes, Input Taxed or BAS Excluded), and that capital purchases use a capital code (GST on Capital, GST Free Capital or GST on Capital Imports) so they land in G10 rather than G11. Expense claims only count once they're processed. Also check you're on the right GST basis - cash or accruals - which you can still change until the BAS is finalised, and work through the statement's Period checks for anything not yet counted. If W1 and W2 cover the wrong months, check the PAYG withholding cycle under Accounting > Settings. After correcting anything, open the statement and click Recalculate before you finalise it.

I started a reconciliation and can't start another

Only one reconciliation can be in progress on a bank account at a time. Finish it, or click Cancel Reconciliation, then start again - this stops two people reconciling the same account into different answers.

An expense claim won't submit - it's asking for a receipt

An item on the claim is coded to an account with Requires Receipt turned on in the Chart of Accounts, and each item on that account needs its own receipt. The message names the items still missing one, and they show Missing in the Receipt column. Click Attach on each of them, choose the receipt, then submit again. A file uploaded to the claim's Attachments card doesn't count as an item's receipt.

Frequently asked questions

What's the difference between a credit note and a refund?

A credit note reduces what a customer owes - issued for returns, adjustments, or goodwill under Accounting > Sales > Credit Notes. Once it's approved, you apply the credit against the customer's outstanding invoices with Apply. A refund pays the whole remaining credit back to the customer instead, out of the bank account you choose.

Do I have to use Xero, or can Mployr handle accounting on its own?

You don't have to. Mployr's Accounting module handles invoicing, bills, reconciliation, GST/BAS and reports on its own. Connecting Xero under Business > Integrations is optional - it brings in bank feeds and keeps data in sync if you already use it.

How do recurring invoices and bills work?

Set up the customer or supplier, line items, and a schedule (for example monthly on the 1st) from Accounting > Sales > Recurring Invoices or Accounting > Purchases > Recurring Bills (or the Recurring button on the Invoices or Bills list). Mployr then generates each invoice or bill automatically on schedule so nothing is missed.

Can I bring products and prices into an invoice automatically?

Yes. Items from your Products, Services & Inventory catalogue can be added as line items on invoices, recurring invoices and credit notes, and their price, income account and GST code carry across automatically - keep GST Inclusive off, as catalogue prices exclude GST. On a purchase order, a product fills in your supplier's cost and part number instead. Bills don't take catalogue items.

How do I see who owes me money and what I owe?

The Accounting dashboard shows invoices and bills by status. For aged detail, the Aged Receivables and Aged Payables cards break balances into ageing buckets as at the end of the period you choose. For the detail by customer and invoice, or supplier and bill, as at any date, run the Aged Receivables or Aged Payables report in the Accounting Reports section of Reports & Analytics - drafts and voided documents are left out, and Download CSV saves the listing as a spreadsheet.

Does Mployr lodge my BAS with the ATO?

No. Mployr prepares the statement, flags what the period hasn't counted yet, and keeps the record. Lodge it with the ATO as you normally would - for example through ATO Online services or your tax or BAS agent - and keep the ATO's lodgement receipt. Then record it on the statement with Lodge - see BAS Lodgement above.

Why does my quarterly BAS show only one month of PAYG withholding?

Your PAYG withholding cycle is set to Monthly (medium withholder) under Accounting > Settings. The first two months of each quarter are reported on their own instalment activity statements, so the quarterly BAS carries only the third month's wages and withholding.

When should I run the year-end close?

Once the year's accounts are reconciled and reviewed. The Year-End Close posts a closing journal dated 30 June that rolls the year's profit or loss into retained earnings. If you need to undo it, void that journal.

Tips

• Reconcile bank accounts weekly
• Invoice promptly for better cash flow
• Review aged receivables regularly
• Keep receipts for all expenses

• Export the reports you want to keep before year-end adjustments