Accounting Settings and Closing Dates

Settings → Accounting is where two behind-the-scenes things live:

• Default GL accountsGL accountGeneral ledger account. One of the named buckets on your books, like Food Sales or Sales Tax Payable, that every dollar is sorted into.: the accounts DishBooks uses automatically every time it builds an entry for you. When you approve a bill, for example, DishBooks knows the other side goes to Accounts Payable because of this page.
• Closing dates: lock a month once your financials are final, so nobody changes them by accident.

Most restaurants set this up once (or have their accountant do it) and rarely touch it again.

Before you start

• Your chart of accounts is in place. See Review your chart of accounts.
• To change default GL accounts, you need GL Accounts set to Manage. To close or reopen books, you need Closing date set to Manage, and access to every location of the entity. By default the Owner, Admin and Accountant roles have both. See Set up roles.

Default GL accounts

Go to Settings → Accounting. The top section lists the accounts DishBooks fills in for you:

• Accounts Payable: what you owe vendors. Every approved bill adds to it; every payment takes it back down.
• Accounts Receivable: what customers owe you, from invoices you send.
• Retained Earnings: where your profit from past years lands when a new year starts.
• Money in Transit: where a transfer between your bank accounts sits while the two sides land on different days. DishBooks uses it when you link a withdrawal and a deposit as a transfer in Bank activity.
• Undeposited Funds: card and cash sales from your Daily Sales Report that haven’t been matched to a bank deposit yet.
• Over/ShortOver/ShortThe account that holds any difference when a day's sales and payments don't match exactly. Aim to keep it at $0.00.: the small difference when a day’s sales don’t balance, or when a bank deposit doesn’t match the sales it covers. DishBooks posts it here so the books still balance.
• Vendor Bill Freight/Delivery: delivery fees and fuel surcharges on your bills.
• Vendor Bill Tax: sales tax charged on your bills.
• Customer Invoice Tax: sales tax you charge on invoices and owe to the state.
• Customer Invoice Freight/Delivery Income: delivery fees you charge customers, like on a catering order.

DishBooks starts you off with sensible defaults from its built-in chart of accounts, so most restaurants never need to change these.

Change a default GL account

Brought your own chart of accounts over from another system? Point these at your accounts instead.

1. Click the pencil at the top right of the page. The Edit Default GL Accounts panel opens.
2. For each one you want to change, click the dropdown and pick the right GL account.
3. Click Save.

Swapping in your own chart of accounts? Update these defaults to your new accounts first. DishBooks won’t let you delete an account that’s still set as a default here.

Closing dates

Once a month’s financials are final (sent to your accountant, your lender or your partners) close it. Closing locks everything on or before that date, so nobody can add or edit transactions in a period that’s done.

The Closing Dates section lists each entity and the date its books are closed through. A dash means nothing’s closed yet. Closing locks everything dated on or before that date: nobody can add, edit, delete, approve or unapprove transactions in it. Instead of the usual buttons, a lock icon shows the closing date.

To close the books:

1. Click the pencil next to the entity.
2. In the Closing date window, pick the last day of the period you’re closing under Books closed through, like September 30.
3. Check the warnings that appear. DishBooks flags bank accounts that aren’t reconciled through that date and bank transactions that aren’t categorized yet. These are warnings, so you can still save.
4. Click Save.

If any transactions in the period are still unapproved, DishBooks shows how many and turns Save off. Approve or delete them first.

To reopen a closed period: click the pencil and move the date back, or clear it. A Reason for reopening box appears and is required. DishBooks saves the reason in the audit log so everyone can see who reopened what, and why.

Make it a monthly habit. Reconcile your bank accounts, review your P&LP&LProfit and loss statement. Shows your sales, costs and profit for a period., then close the month. Your numbers stay put from then on.

Tips and common questions

Should I change the default GL accounts?

Only if you’re using your own chart of accounts, or your accountant asks you to. The defaults work for most restaurants.

Why can’t I delete a GL account?

It might be set as a default here. Pick a different account for that default first, then delete the old one. Accounts with transactions on them can’t be deleted either, but you can disable them. See Review your chart of accounts.

A bill from last month just showed up, but the month is closed. What now?

Post it to the first open day and use the Document date to record the real invoice date. See Bills. Or, if your accountant prefers, reopen the month, add the bill and close it again.

Is closing the same for every entity?

No. Each entity has its own closing date, so you can close one while another’s still being finished.

What’s next

With your defaults set and your months closing on schedule, see where your money’s going.