PBooks User Manual

From PBooks Open Source Accounting Wiki

Contents 1 Introduction 1.1 Installation 1.2 Import Bank Transaction CSVs 2 Overview 2.1 General Ledger 2.2 Chart of Accounts 2.3 General Journal 2.4 Reports 2.5 What is Matching? 3 User Roles 4 Glossary

[edit] Introduction

[edit] Installation

Usage Instructions

The first thing you will want to do is create all your accounts. You can continue to work on your accounts over time.

You can enter transactions one at a time in the journal, however, you can probably make your life a lot easier by downloading statements from your online bank accounts.

[edit] Import Bank Transaction CSVs

By importing bank transaction csvs, you will only have one side of the double-entry equation. However, pbooks makes your life easier by linking from your general ledger to a new journal entry form. Once you’ve entered a new journal entry, the loop still needs to be completed by posting the other half of the journal entry to the general ledger. To reiterate, you may end up following these steps:

# Import bank / credit card transactions
# Create double-sided journal entry with one side from each bank transaction
# Post newly accounted for journal entry to the matching account ledger.

This gives you a very robust and reliable accounting methodology convenient to the online banking and accounting systems available today, as well as a system true to the original concepts of accounting.

[edit] Overview

[edit] General Ledger

The general ledger is made up of single transactions. It is useful for generating summaries and / or tracking account balances.

[edit] Chart of Accounts

[edit] General Journal

Q. What are the little plus signs next to my journal entries?

A. They are a quick way to post those entries to the general ledger!

[edit] Reports

[edit] What is Matching?

Matching is like reverse posting in a sense. It is the process of taking a ledger transaction and bringing it back to the general journal, so that it can be matched with another account transaction, and thus it becomes a double-entry accounting of the financial transaction!

[edit] User Roles

• Corporate Officer - Signatory Authority
• Accountant
• Bookkeeper
• Clerk

[edit] Glossary

• Bookset - a set of books, usually one per company. Certain companies may have more than one for separate divisions or other reasons I’m not aware.
• Journal Entry