Help — Accounting / Books

1 Getting Started

The Books module is a full double-entry accounting system built into the TFACPA staff portal. It supports both standard business accounting and real-estate-specific workflows.

Accessing Books

Log in to the staff portal and open a client engagement.
Click Books in the left navigation sidebar.
The system remembers the active company in your session. To switch companies use the company selector at the top of any Books page.

Accounting Modes

Mode	What It Includes
Standard	Full AR/AP, billing, expenses, banking, and financial statements.
Real Estate	Everything in Standard, plus Properties, Units, Tenants, Leases, automated rent invoicing, late fees, and per-property reporting.

📌 The mode is set by your administrator. Real Estate sections only appear when that mode is active.

2 Dashboard

The dashboard loads automatically when you open Books and shows a real-time snapshot of the company's financial position.

KPI Cards

Card	What It Shows
Total AR	Sum of all unpaid invoice balances.
Total AP	Sum of all unpaid bill balances.
Net Cash	Balance of all bank/cash accounts combined.
YTD Revenue	Income posted to the general ledger year-to-date.
YTD Expenses	Expenses posted to the general ledger year-to-date.
Net Income	YTD Revenue minus YTD Expenses.

📌 Dashboard figures use accrual basis. For cash-basis figures, run the Income Statement or Balance Sheet with the Cash toggle selected.

Recent Activity

Below the KPI cards you will see the most recent invoices, bills, and transactions. Click any row to open the full record.

3 Invoices (Accounts Receivable)

Invoices record amounts owed to the firm or property by clients and tenants. Every invoice posts a debit to Accounts Receivable and a credit to the appropriate revenue account.

Creating an Invoice

Navigate to Books → Invoices → + New Invoice.
Select the Client, set the Issue Date and Due Date.
Add line items: description, quantity, unit price, and the Revenue Account to credit.
Save. Status is set to Draft automatically.

💡 Use recurring invoices (Books → Recurring Invoices) for clients billed on a fixed schedule.

Sending an Invoice

Open the invoice and click Email Invoice.
The system sends a PDF copy to the client's email address and marks status as Sent.
You can also download the PDF directly for printing or manual delivery.

Recording a Payment

Open the invoice and click Record Payment (or go to Books → Receive Payment).
Enter the payment date, amount, and the bank/deposit account to credit.
The payment posts a debit to Undeposited Funds (or directly to the bank) and a credit to AR.
When the payment is partial, the invoice status changes to Partial. When fully paid, it changes to Paid.

📌 Payments initially land in Undeposited Funds. Run Books → Deposit to move them to a bank account (see Section 5.3).

Voiding an Invoice

Open the invoice and click Void Invoice. This reverses all GL entries associated with the invoice and marks it Voided.

Credit Memos

Go to Books → Credit Memos → New Credit Memo.
Select the client and enter the credit amount and revenue account.
Apply the credit to one or more open invoices from the credit memo detail page.

Recurring Invoices

Go to Books → Recurring Invoices → New Recurring Invoice.
Set the frequency (weekly, monthly, quarterly, annually), start date, and end date.
Run Books → Generate Recurring Invoices to create invoices for the current period.

💡 For real estate rent, use the automated rent generation instead (Section 6.4) — it runs on the 1st of each month automatically.

4 Bills (Accounts Payable)

Bills record amounts owed to vendors for goods and services received. Each bill posts a credit to Accounts Payable and a debit to the appropriate expense account.

Creating a Bill

Navigate to Books → Bills → + New Bill.
Select the Vendor, enter the Bill Date and Due Date.
Add line items: description, amount, and the Expense Account to debit.
Save. Status defaults to Unpaid.

Paying a Bill

Open the bill and click Pay Bill.
Select the bank account, enter the payment date and amount.
Partial payments are supported — the bill status changes to Partial.
Alternatively, use Write Check (Section 5.1) and link the check to an open bill.

Bill Status Reference

Status	Meaning
Unpaid	Full balance outstanding.
Partial	Payment(s) received but balance remains.
Paid	Fully paid. No further action needed.
Voided	Cancelled. GL entries reversed.

5 Banking

The Banking section covers all cash-movement transactions: checks, transfers, deposits, and reconciliation.

5.1 Write Checks

Use Write Check to record a payment made by check directly, without first entering a bill.

Go to Books → Write Check.
Select the Vendor — the system auto-fills their default expense account.
Choose the Bank Account to draw from. The check number auto-increments.
Optionally link to an existing bill to clear it at the same time.
Enter the expense account, amount, and memo, then save.

📌 Write Check posts DR Expense / CR Bank directly to the GL (cash basis treatment). If you need accrual AP tracking, enter a Bill first and pay from there.

5.2 Transfers

Use Transfer to move funds between two bank or asset accounts (e.g., checking to savings).

Go to Books → Transfer.
Select the From Account and To Account, enter the date and amount.
Posts DR To-Account / CR From-Account in the GL.

5.3 Deposits

After recording invoice payments, the funds sit in Undeposited Funds until you run a deposit.

Go to Books → Deposit.
Select the bank account and deposit date.
Check all the payments you're depositing — they'll be cleared from Undeposited Funds and moved to the bank account.

💡 Run a deposit whenever you take a batch of checks or ACH receipts to the bank so the GL matches your bank statement.

5.4 Bank Reconciliation

Reconciliation matches your GL entries against your bank statement to confirm accuracy.

Go to Books → Reconciliation → New Reconciliation.
Enter the bank account, statement end date, and ending balance.
Import a bank CSV or use the Plaid integration to pull transactions automatically.
Check off each GL entry that matches a line on your bank statement.
When the difference reaches $0.00, click Finalize Reconciliation.

📌 Plaid requires administrator setup. Once connected, transactions import automatically on a schedule.

6 Real Estate

Real estate features are available when a company is in Real Estate mode. They cover the full property management lifecycle from setup through monthly billing and maintenance.

6.1 Properties & Units

A Property is a physical address. Each property contains one or more Units.

Go to Books → Properties → + New Property.
Enter the property name, address, and set the Default Income Account (used for rent GL entries).
Within a property, add Units: unit number, type, square footage, and market rent.

💡 Set a default income account on the property so it flows to leases automatically. You can override per-lease.

6.2 Tenants

A Tenant is the person or entity occupying a unit. Tenants are linked to an accounting customer for invoicing.

Go to Books → Tenants → + New Tenant.
Enter full name, email, phone, and emergency contact.
Tenants automatically receive a portal login when they are linked to an active lease.

6.3 Leases

A Lease connects a Tenant to a Unit with all financial and legal terms.

Field	Description
Unit	The unit being leased.
Tenant	The occupying tenant.
Lease Start / End	Term dates. Leave End blank for month-to-month.
Rent Amount	Monthly base rent.
Rent Due Day	Day of month rent is due (e.g., 1 for the 1st).
Deposit Held	Security deposit amount currently held.
Grace Period	Days after due date before a late fee can be charged.
Late Fee Type	Flat dollar amount or percentage of rent.
Late Fee Amount	Dollar amount or percentage value.
Income Account	GL revenue account to credit for rent. Defaults to the property's account.

6.4 Generated Rent

Rent invoices are created automatically on the 1st of each month by a scheduled job. You do not need to manually create them.

Go to Books → Generated Rent to view all auto-created rent invoices for the current period.
The job creates one invoice per active lease, including any active recurring lease charges.
It skips leases that already have an invoice for the month (safe to re-run).

📌 If a lease was added mid-month and the job already ran, create a manual invoice for that tenant from Books → Invoices.

6.5 Late Fees

Late fees can be charged to tenants who have not paid by the end of their grace period.

Go to Books → Late Fees.
The page lists all tenants currently past their grace period with outstanding rent.
Check the box next to each tenant you want to charge, then click Charge Selected Late Fees.
Each charge creates a separate late fee invoice (LF-XXXXX) and posts it to the tenant's account.
Already-charged tenants show an Already Charged badge and cannot be double-charged for the same period.

💡 Review late fees on the 5th–7th of each month after the grace period has elapsed.

6.6 Lease Charges

Lease Charges are recurring add-ons that are bundled into the monthly rent invoice automatically.

Access from the lease detail page → Charges tab.
Examples: pet fee, parking, storage unit, utilities reimbursement.
Each charge has a type, amount, and a GL account to credit.
Set a Start Date if the charge begins after the lease start.
Toggle active/inactive without deleting the charge record.

6.7 Maintenance Tickets

Maintenance Tickets track repair and maintenance requests for units and properties.

Go to Books → Maintenance → + New Ticket.
Enter the property, unit, description, priority (Low / Medium / High / Emergency), and assigned vendor.
Update ticket status (Open → In Progress → Completed) as work proceeds.
Tenants can also submit maintenance requests through their portal.

7 Journal Entries

Journal entries allow you to make manual double-entry bookkeeping adjustments directly in the GL.

Go to Books → Journal Entries → + New Journal Entry.
Enter a date, memo/description, and add as many lines as needed.
Each line specifies an account, and either a Debit or Credit amount.
Total Debits must equal Total Credits before you can save.

💡 Common uses: period-end accruals, depreciation entries, reclassifications, opening balance entries, and corrections.

📌 Journal entries always appear in both accrual and cash-basis reports.

8 Chart of Accounts

The Chart of Accounts (COA) is the complete list of GL accounts for the company. Every transaction must be posted to at least one account.

Account Types

Type	Normal Balance	Used For
Asset	Debit	Cash, bank accounts, accounts receivable, fixed assets.
Liability	Credit	Accounts payable, loans, security deposits held.
Equity	Credit	Owner equity, retained earnings, contributions.
Income	Credit	Rent income, service revenue, fee income.
Cost of Goods Sold	Debit	Direct costs tied to revenue.
Expense	Debit	Operating expenses: utilities, repairs, insurance, etc.

Managing Accounts

Go to Books → Chart of Accounts.
Click + New Account to add an account. Assign an account number, name, type, and optional description.
Account numbers help sort reports — use a consistent numbering scheme (e.g., 1000s for Assets, 2000s for Liabilities).

📌 Accounts in use cannot be deleted. Rename or mark inactive instead.

9 Vendors

Vendors are companies or individuals you pay for goods and services.

Adding a Vendor

Go to Books → Vendors → + New Vendor.

Field	Description
Vendor Name	Business or individual name as it appears on bills and checks.
Default Expense Account	Pre-fills the expense account when writing a check to this vendor.
Tax ID (EIN / SSN)	Required for vendors who will receive a 1099. Format: XX-XXXXXXX.
1099 Vendor	Check this box to include the vendor in the annual 1099 report.
Address / Contact	Used on printed checks and for mailing 1099 forms.

💡 Enter the Tax ID and check "1099 Vendor" before the first payment of the year so all payments are captured in the 1099 report.

10 Reports

All reports are accessed from Books → Reports or directly from the sidebar. Most support PDF and Excel export using the buttons in the top toolbar.

📌 On any financial statement, click an account name to drill into the General Ledger detail for that account.

📌 Use the "Show Acct #s" button on any report to toggle account number columns on or off.

10.1 Income Statement

Shows Revenue, Cost of Goods Sold, Gross Profit, Operating Expenses, and Net Income for a period.

Set the date range (From / To) and click Run.
Toggle Accrual / Cash to switch reporting basis.
Accrual: revenue recognized when invoiced; expenses when billed.
Cash: revenue recognized when payment is received; expenses when payment is made.

10.2 Balance Sheet

Shows the company's financial position — Assets on the left, Liabilities and Equity on the right — as of a single date.

Set the As of date and click Run.
Toggle Accrual / Cash. Cash basis excludes Accounts Receivable and Accounts Payable.
Retained Earnings is calculated automatically from the YTD net income.

10.3 Trial Balance

Lists every account with its net closing balance as of a given date. Total Debits must equal Total Credits.

Set the As of date and click Run.
Toggle Accrual / Cash.
Each account shows its balance in the correct column only (Debit-normal accounts in Debit; Credit-normal in Credit).

📌 An "Out of Balance" warning appears if debits and credits don't match — this usually indicates a missing GL entry or a posting error.

10.4 General Ledger

Shows every transaction for a single selected account in date order with a running balance.

Select an Account from the dropdown, set the date range, and click Run.
Accrual — shows all GL postings (invoice creation, bill creation, payments, journal entries).
Cash — Income accounts show payment receipts; Expense accounts show payments made.

💡 Click an account name on any financial statement to open the GL pre-filtered for that account and period.

10.5 AR Aging

Shows all open invoices aged by how many days they are past due.

Bucket	Meaning
Current	Invoice is not yet past its due date.
0–30 Days	1 to 30 days past due.
31–60 Days	31 to 60 days past due.
61–90 Days	61 to 90 days past due.
Over 90	More than 90 days past due — highest collection priority.

10.6 AP Aging

Same layout as AR Aging but for unpaid vendor bills. Use this to prioritize vendor payments and avoid late charges.

10.7 Billing Summary

An aged summary of outstanding balances organized by client/tenant — ideal for collections follow-up.

As of date controls the aging calculation.
Issued From / To filters which invoices are included by their issue date.
Only clients with an outstanding balance are shown.
Amounts are color-coded: ● green (current) → ● amber (0–30) → ● orange (31–60) → ● red (61–90) → ● dark red (over 90).

10.8 AR Detail / AP Detail

Line-by-line listing of all invoices (AR) or bills (AP) within a date range, showing the invoice/bill amount, amount paid, and remaining balance.

10.9 1099 Report

Lists all vendors flagged as 1099-eligible with the total payments made during the calendar year.

Select the tax year and click Run.
Only vendors with the "1099 Vendor" box checked appear.
The Tax ID (EIN/SSN) column must be populated for the 1099 to be complete.

📌 Verify Tax IDs are entered on all 1099 vendors before year-end. See Section 9.

10.10 Cash Flow Statement

Presents cash inflows and outflows grouped into Operating, Investing, and Financing activities. Set the date range and click Run. Derived from GL entries — no separate input required.

10.11 Rent Roll & Property P&L

Rent Roll — lists all units with current tenant, lease dates, monthly rent, market rent, deposit held, and any past-due balance. Highlights vacant units.
Property P&L — income and expenses broken down by property for a selected date range. Compares properties side by side.

10.12 Tenant Ledger

A complete payment history for an individual tenant: all invoices, payments, and outstanding balance in one view. Select a tenant and set the date range. Useful for answering tenant inquiries or preparing a ledger for court proceedings.

11 Tips & Best Practices

Month-End Checklist

Confirm the rent generation ran on the 1st (Books → Generated Rent).
Charge late fees after the grace period expires (Books → Late Fees).
Record any outstanding bills received during the month.
Reconcile all bank accounts to the monthly statement.
Review the AR Aging report — follow up on balances over 30 days.
Run the Income Statement and Balance Sheet and save copies.
Post any period-end adjustments via Journal Entry (depreciation, accruals, etc.).

Year-End Checklist

Verify Tax IDs are entered for all 1099 vendors.
Run the 1099 Report and review for accuracy before filing.
Post any year-end adjustments (depreciation, prepaid amortization).
Run the final Trial Balance and confirm it is balanced.
Export and archive Income Statement, Balance Sheet, and Trial Balance.

General Tips

Use Accrual for GAAP — switch to Cash to understand actual cash flow timing. Both are available on all financial statements.
Match the GL to the bank every month via reconciliation — it catches posting errors early.
Link checks to bills whenever possible so AP aging stays accurate.
Enter lease charges for all recurring tenant add-ons (pet, parking, etc.) so they auto-include in rent invoices.
Keep vendor Tax IDs current — entering them at the start of the relationship avoids scrambling at year-end.
Use account numbers with a consistent scheme (1000 Assets, 2000 Liabilities, 3000 Equity, 4000 Income, 5000 COGS, 6000 Expenses) so reports sort logically.

Accounting / Books — Help Guide