Cash and accrual reports

What this does

The ledger records revenue when an invoice is issued and cash when a payment is received: accrual. Most small shops file taxes on cash basis, so Profit & Loss and Sales Detail can be viewed either way. The switch is on the report; it changes how the report reads the ledger and writes nothing.

How the cash view is built

A cash-basis period needs two things: the shop has issued at least one invoice through the app (so the revenue pipeline is live), and every live invoice in the period has posted. When both hold, the report shows cash revenue as money received in the period. When they don't, the report shows accrual and says so; it won't show a cash number it can't stand behind.

Payments received against invoices that aren't in the app (a bank feed credit with no invoice) show under Unattributed receipts rather than being dropped.

Undeposited Funds counts as cash: the shop was paid when the payment was recorded, and the deposit that follows is cash moving to cash.

Steps

Set Default reporting basis under Accounting → Settings to what you file on. On the report, toggle between cash and accrual for any period. A period that can't support cash renders accrual with a note.

Common problems

"Cash toggle doesn't work." The period isn't ready: either no invoice has ever posted revenue, or an invoice in that window is still unposted (a draft that was never issued, or one that failed to post). Issue or void it and the period unlocks.

Cash and accrual show the same number. Every invoice in the period was paid in the period. That happens.

A month I already reported on changed. A payment was re-dated or a late invoice was issued into it. Lock the period once it's reported; see Period locking.