The Accounting module is the ledger beneath the rest of Marbles. It holds the chart of accounts that every transaction is coded to, the journal entries that invoices, bills, payments and bank reconciliation post automatically, and the tools for the adjustments only an accountant makes: manual journals, fixed assets and depreciation, opening balances and lock dates.
Marbles keeps a double-entry general ledger. Every change to your books is a journal entry in which total debits equal total credits. Most entries are posted for you: approving an invoice or bill, recording a payment, reconciling a bank transaction and running depreciation each post an entry and label it with its source. Manual journals are entries you write yourself.
Select Accounting in the main menu. The module has five tabs: Chart of accounts, Fixed asset, Manual journals, History and notes and Bank accounts. Bank accounts are described on the Banking page.
The chart of accounts lists the accounts used to categorise your transactions. Use Account lookup to find an account by code or name. Select an account to view the transactions posted to it, with a search field and a choice of time interval.
Each account has an account type, which determines where it appears in your reports.
| Category | Account types |
|---|---|
| Assets | Bank, Current Asset, Fixed Asset, Inventory, Non-current Asset, Prepayment |
| Liabilities | Liability, Current Liability, Non-current Liability |
| Equity | Equity |
| Revenue | Revenue, Sales, Other Income |
| Expenses | Direct Costs, Expense, Overhead, Depreciation |
Select Add account and enter the Account type, Code, Name, an optional description, and the default Tax rate. The code must be unique. The default tax rate is applied whenever the account is selected on a transaction, and must suit the account type.
To retire an account, open it and select Archive account. Its transactions remain on your reports, but the account is hidden from the chart and cannot be selected on new transactions. Turn on Archived to see archived accounts, and select Restore account to bring one back. An archived account must be restored before it can be edited.
Marbles posts to certain accounts automatically: accounts receivable, accounts payable, unpaid expense claims, GST, rounding, historical adjustment and retained earnings among them. These system accounts can be renamed and recoded, but their account type and tax rate are fixed and they cannot be archived. Bank accounts are edited from the Bank accounts tab.
Use a manual journal for adjustments that no other transaction records, such as accruals, prepayments and corrections. The Manual journals tab lists journals under All, Draft, Posted, Reversed and Voided.
Total debits must equal total credits. Where a line's tax rate carries GST, Marbles adds the GST line when the journal is posted. Select Show journal on cash basis reports if the journal should be included in a cash basis activity statement. A draft journal can be edited or deleted. A posted journal cannot be edited.
Open a posted journal to correct it with one of two actions.
| Action | Effect |
|---|---|
| Void | Cancels the entry at its original date, as though it had never been posted. The date must be in an open period. |
| Reverse | Posts a new entry with the debits and credits swapped, dated in the first open period. Use it when the original entry is in a locked period. |
An entry cannot be voided while it is reconciled to a bank transaction or included in a finalised activity statement. Unreconcile the transaction, or revert the statement to draft, first. An entry can be reversed only once.
Each posted entry records its source: Invoice, Invoice Payment, Credit Note, Bill, Bill Payment, Expense Claim, Expense Claim Payment, Bank Transaction, Depreciation, Fixed Asset Disposal, Conversion Balances or Manual Journal. Entries that belong to a document are corrected from that document. To cancel the entry for a bill, for example, void or reverse the bill itself.
A lock date protects a completed period, such as a lodged BAS quarter or a finished financial year. Set Lock Date (All Users) under Settings > Financial settings. No user can post, void or otherwise change a transaction dated on or before the lock date. Marbles reports that the books are locked on or before that date.
To correct a transaction in a locked period, use Reverse, which posts the correction in the first open period, or move the lock date back temporarily.
The fixed asset register tracks the equipment, vehicles and other assets your business owns, and calculates their depreciation. The Fixed asset tab lists assets under Draft, Registered and Sold/Disposed, with each asset's purchase price and current book value.
Assets are grouped by asset type. Each asset type names the Asset account, Accumulated depreciation account and Depreciation expense account used for its assets. Asset types are managed under Settings > Fixed asset settings, or from the Settings button on the register.
Select New Asset and enter the Asset name, Asset type, Purchase date and Purchase price. The warranty expiry, serial number and description are optional. The asset number is assigned automatically.
Under Book value, set how the asset depreciates.
Select Save as draft, or Register to include the asset in depreciation runs. Registering an asset posts nothing to the ledger. The purchase itself is recorded by the bill or bank transaction that paid for the asset, coded to the fixed asset account.
Select Run depreciation, choose the month under Depreciate to end of month and confirm. Marbles depreciates every registered asset from the last month depreciated up to the month chosen, and posts one journal for each month, dated at the month end. A month in a locked period is refused.
To undo depreciation for a single asset, open it and select Roll back depreciation. Choose All depreciation or Everything after a date. Marbles posts a reversing journal in each period affected. Once depreciation has been posted, an asset's cost and depreciation settings cannot be changed until the depreciation is rolled back.
Open a registered asset and select Dispose. Enter the Disposal date, the Disposal type (Sold, Scrapped or Written off), the Sale proceeds and the Sale proceeds account. Enter 0 for an asset that was scrapped or written off. Under Depreciation for this financial year, choose No depreciation or Depreciate to disposal date.
Marbles removes the asset's cost and accumulated depreciation, records the proceeds, and posts the resulting gain or loss. Proceeds above the original cost are posted as a capital gain. The gain and loss accounts are set under Settings > Fixed asset settings. Select Undo disposal to return the asset to the register. An asset entered in error can be deleted only if it has no depreciation and has not been disposed of.
When you move to Marbles from another system, enter your opening balances under Settings > Conversion balances. Set the Conversion date, then add a line for each account with its debit or credit balance. Any difference between total debits and total credits is posted to the historical adjustment account, so that the ledger remains in balance.
History and notes is the audit trail for your organisation. It lists each action with its date, the user who performed it, the type of record and the detail: for example, a bank transaction reconciled, a bank rule created, a document emailed or a user invited. The pages for individual records, such as a bank transaction, show the history of that record.
| Role | Accounting access |
|---|---|
| Reader | View the chart of accounts, account transactions, posted journal entries and the fixed asset register. |
| Advisor | Everything a Reader can do, plus manage accounts, manual journals, fixed assets, depreciation and conversion balances, and view History and notes. |
| Administrator | Everything an Advisor can do. |