The Accountant & Taxes reports are the working papers of the books. They show every account and every posting, prove that debits equal credits, record who changed what and when, and run the checks an accountant does before trusting any other report: is every document in the books, for the right amount, and do the control accounts agree with the lists behind them?
Most of these reports read the ledger, the debits and credits that make up your books. A few (Transaction List by Date and the checks) read the documents themselves, which is how they can find a document that never reached the ledger.
Where to find them
Reports ▸ Accountant & Taxes has, in order:
| Menu item | What it opens |
|---|---|
| Trial Balance | The Trial Balance screen in Accounting. The report version is described below. |
| Adjusted Trial Balance | The report. |
| General Ledger | The General Ledger screen in Accounting. The report version is described below. |
| Journal | The General Journal Entries screen. The Journal report is described below. |
| Transaction Detail by Account | The report. |
| Transaction List by Date | The report. |
| Audit Trail | The Audit Trail screen in Accounting. |
| Audit Trail Report | The Audit Trail report. |
| Closing Date Exception Report | The report. |
| Voided/Deleted Transactions Summary and Detail | The reports. |
| Possible Duplicates | The report. |
| Invoice Number Gaps and Repeats | The report. |
Also:
- Reports ▸ List ▸ Account Listing opens the Account Listing report.
- Reports ▸ Transaction History… and Reports ▸ Transaction Journal… ask for a document number and open those two reports for it.
- Reports ▸ Report Centre, category Accountant & Taxes, has every report in this article, including Trial Balance, General Ledger, Journal, Documents Not in the Books and Control Account Reconciliation.
None of these reports takes a customer or vendor filter, and only Transaction List by Date follows the location picker. See Running a report for dates and the toolbar.
Checks
Run these before relying on the financial statements, and always before year-end.
Documents Not in the Books
Report Centre only.
What it answers: are all of the period's sales, credit memos, bills, vendor credits, expenses and stock adjustments in the books, for the amounts they say?
Date: a period.
Columns: Date, Type, Number, Customer / supplier, Document amount, In the books and Difference.
Rows: up to two sections:
- Not in the books at all: documents that posted nothing. In the books is 0.00 and Difference is the whole amount.
- In the books for the wrong amount: documents whose posting to the customer's or vendor's account differs from the document.
Each section has a total, and a red alert above the report gives the count and amount. When nothing is wrong the report is empty and its note says Every document in this period is in the books, for the amount it says.
Drill down: click a line to open the document. Saving it again posts it (or re-posts it at its current amount).
Control Account Reconciliation
Report Centre only.
What it answers: do the control accounts in the books agree with the reports that list what they should hold?
Date: as of one day.
The checks:
| Account | Checked against |
|---|---|
| Accounts Receivable | A/R Aging Summary |
| Accounts Payable | A/P Aging Summary |
| Inventory Asset | Inventory Valuation Summary (only when the date is today, because stock value is only known for today) |
Only accounts mapped in Accounting Setup are checked.
Columns: Account, Checked against, In the books, Sub-ledger (the other report's total), Difference and Entries with no document.
Rows: one heading line per account with the figures. Beneath it, every amount written straight to that account without a document or payment behind it (for example by a General Journal Entry), up to 200, each with its date and memo.
Alerts: for each account that is out, a warning gives the difference and suggests the likely cause, with a Documents not in the books button.
Drill down: click an account's line to open Transaction Detail by Account for it; click its Sub-ledger figure to open that report; click an entry with no document to open it.
Possible Duplicates
What it answers: was anything entered twice?
Date: a period.
What it looks for:
- Sales and credit memos: the same customer, on the same day, for the same total and the same items. Sales to the walk-in customer are not checked, and orders that came from Amazon carry their own order numbers and are not compared.
- Bills, vendor credits and expenses: the same vendor and amount within 3 days, or the same vendor invoice number entered twice: the way a bill gets paid twice.
Columns: First (date), Number, Second (date), Number, Customer / supplier, Type, Amount and Why it looks the same (for example same supplier invoice number or same amount, 2 days apart).
Drill down: click either Number to open that document.
Invoice Number Gaps and Repeats
What it answers: are any invoice or credit memo numbers missing, or used twice?
Date: a period.
Each numbering series is checked on its own: invoices and credit memos are separate series, and each prefix (such as INV-) is its own series. A series is checked from the lowest to the highest number used in the period, so a number used by a document dated just outside the period is not reported as missing.
Columns: Series, What (Missing, Numbering jumped for a jump of more than 1,000, or Used more than once), Numbers, How many and Between (the documents either side of a gap, with their dates, or the dates of the repeated documents).
Rows: one section per series with problems, headed with the range checked.
Alerts: a warning when any number was given to more than one document.
Drill down: click the series to open the document before a gap, and Between to open the one after. For a repeated number, the line opens the first document and Between the second.
Closing Date Exception Report
What it answers: what was entered, changed, voided or deleted in the closed period after you set the closing date.
Date: none. It uses your closing date.
Columns: Num, Type, Action (Added, Changed, Voided or Deleted), Entered/Last Modified (when the change was made), Modified By, Date (the transaction's date), Name and Amount.
Rows: every change made since the closing date was set to a transaction dated on or before it, newest first. The subtitle shows the closing date, and a note counts the changes.
When no closing date is set, the report says so and lists nothing. Set one in Company ▸ Set Closing Date and Year-End… (see Set Closing Date and Year-End).
Drill down: click a line to open the transaction, unless it was deleted.
Voided/Deleted Transactions Summary
What it answers: every transaction voided or deleted in the period, when, and by whom.
Date: a period (when the void or deletion happened).
Columns: Num, Action (Voided or Deleted), Entered/Last Modified, Modified By, Type (Invoice, Credit Memo, Bill, Vendor Credit, Purchase Order, Sales Order, Expense, Payment, General Journal and so on), Date, Name and Amount.
Rows: newest first. A note counts how many were voided and how many deleted.
Drill down: a voided transaction is still in the books at zero, so its line opens it. A deleted one cannot be opened.
Voided/Deleted Transactions Detail
What it answers: each voided or deleted transaction as it was, and as it is now.
Date: a period.
Columns: Num, Entered/Last Modified, Modified By, State, Date, Name, Memo, Workstation (the device and address it was done from) and Amount.
Rows: one section per transaction, headed with its type and number, with two lines:
- Before voided or Before deleted: the transaction's amount before the change.
- Voided — kept at 0.00 or Deleted: when, by whom and from where, at 0.00.
For a voided payment, the memo shows the reason given and the document it was on.
Audit Trail
Opened from Reports ▸ Accountant & Taxes ▸ Audit Trail Report.
What it answers: every transaction added, changed, voided or deleted in the period, who did it and from where.
Date: a period (when the change was made).
Columns: Entered/Last Modified, Last modified by, Action (Added, Changed, Voided, Deleted or the kind of event), Type, Num, Date, Name, Amount and Workstation. Sign-ins and sign-outs are not listed.
Rows: newest first, up to the most recent 5,000 changes; the note says when the limit was reached, so narrow the dates for the rest.
Drill down: click a line to open the transaction, unless it was deleted.
Related: the Audit Trail screen in Accounting is described in Audit Trail.
Account Activity
Trial Balance
Report Centre version. Reports ▸ Accountant & Taxes ▸ Trial Balance opens the Trial Balance screen instead.
What it answers: each account's balance as a debit or a credit, and proof that the two sides agree.
Date: as of one day.
Columns: Code, Account, Debit and Credit.
Rows: every account with a balance on that date, in account-code order, then a TOTAL row.
If it does not balance: the report warns that the books do not balance and by how much, and that every other financial report is unreliable until the difference is found.
Drill down: click an account to open Transaction Detail by Account for it.
Adjusted Trial Balance
What it answers: each account's balance before the period's adjusting entries, the adjustments, and the balance after.
Date: a period. Balances are at the end date; adjustments are those dated in the period.
What counts as an adjustment: a General Journal Entry with Adjusting ticked. See Make General Journal Entries.
Columns: Code, Account, Unadjusted Debit, Unadjusted Credit, Adjustments Debit, Adjustments Credit, Adjusted Debit and Adjusted Credit.
Rows: every account with a balance or an adjustment, then a TOTAL row. When no entry in the period is ticked Adjusting, a note says so and the adjusted columns equal the unadjusted ones.
Drill down: click an account to open Transaction Detail by Account for it.
General Ledger
Report Centre version. Reports ▸ Accountant & Taxes ▸ General Ledger opens the General Ledger screen instead.
What it answers: every posting to every account in the period, with a running balance.
Date: a period.
Columns: Date, Type (Invoice, Bill, Expense, General Journal and so on), Num, Name, Memo, Debit, Credit and Balance.
Rows: one section per account that had postings in the period, in account-code order. Each starts with an Opening balance line (the balance the day before the period starts), lists the postings in date order with the running balance, and ends with a Total line showing the period's debits, credits and closing balance.
Drill down: click a posting to open the document behind it, or the journal entry when it was entered by hand.
Journal
Report Centre version. Reports ▸ Accountant & Taxes ▸ Journal opens the General Journal Entries screen instead.
What it answers: every entry in the books, with both sides together, in date order.
Date: a period.
Columns: Date, Type, Num, Name, Account, Memo, Debit and Credit.
Rows: each document's postings are grouped together, with the date, type, number and name on the first line only, followed by a line with the entry's debit and credit totals. An entry whose sides do not agree is marked UNBALANCED by the difference. A TOTAL row closes the report.
Drill down: click a line to open the document or journal entry.
Transaction Detail by Account
What it answers: the postings to each account, grouped under the account. Opened from another report, the postings to one account.
Date: a period.
Columns: Date, Type, Num, Name, Memo, Amount and Balance.
Rows: one section per account, alphabetically, with the postings in date order and a running balance, then a Total per account. When the report is about one account, its heading names the account and its type.
Drill down: click a posting to open the document or journal entry.
Reached from: the Trial Balance, Adjusted Trial Balance, Account Listing, Control Account Reconciliation, and the budget and financial reports all open this report for the account you click.
Transaction List by Date
What it answers: every document the business raised in the period, in date order.
Date: a period. Filters: location.
Columns: Date, Type, Num, Name, Location, Status (the payment status, or the document's status) and Amount. Credit memos and vendor credits are negative.
Which documents: invoices, credit memos, bills that have been received, vendor credits, expenses and stock adjustments. Estimates, held sales and purchase orders not yet received are left out: they have not happened.
Rows: one per document, then one Total line per document type. There is deliberately no grand total, because adding sales to purchases gives a figure that means nothing.
Drill down: click a line to open the document.
One Transaction
Transaction History
What it answers: one document and everything linked to it: its payments, credits and returns, and what is still owed.
How to open it: choose Reports ▸ Transaction History…, type the document's number (invoice, bill, cheque and so on) and click OK.
Columns: Type, Date, Num, Name, Memo and Amount.
Rows: the document itself, then Payments and credits (each payment, refund and linked return), then a Balance line.
See Transaction History and Transaction Journal for the full walkthrough.
Transaction Journal
What it answers: the debits and credits one document and its payments posted.
How to open it: choose Reports ▸ Transaction Journal…, type the document's number and click OK.
Columns: Date, Account, Memo, Debit and Credit.
Rows: the document's postings, then each payment's postings, then a TOTAL row. If debits and credits differ, a note gives the difference.
Listing
Account Listing
Opened from Reports ▸ List ▸ Account Listing.
What it answers: your chart of accounts, with each account's balance.
Date: none. Balances are as of today.
Columns: Code, Account, Type, Detail type, Status (Active or Inactive) and Balance.
Rows: one section per main account type, headed in capitals (for example ASSET or LIABILITY), each with a total.
Drill down: click an account to open Transaction Detail by Account for it.
Other screens on this menu
Trial Balance screen
Reports ▸ Accountant & Taxes ▸ Trial Balance opens the Accounting workspace for the trial balance. See Trial Balance.
General Ledger screen
Reports ▸ Accountant & Taxes ▸ General Ledger opens the Accounting workspace for the ledger. See General Ledger.
General Journal Entries
Reports ▸ Accountant & Taxes ▸ Journal opens the list of General Journal Entries, where you can review, add and correct manual entries. See Make General Journal Entries.
Audit Trail screen
Reports ▸ Accountant & Taxes ▸ Audit Trail opens the Audit Trail workspace. See Audit Trail.
Common problems
The Trial Balance does not balance. Run the Journal report for the period and look for entries marked UNBALANCED. Open each one and correct it.
The Balance Sheet does not agree with A/R or A/P Aging. Run Control Account Reconciliation as of the same date. Entries written straight to the control account are listed under it; documents missing from the books are on Documents Not in the Books.
An invoice number is missing. Run Voided/Deleted Transactions Summary for the period to see whether it was deleted, by whom and when.
The Closing Date Exception Report is empty. Either no closing date is set, or nothing dated in the closed period has been changed since you set it. Both are good news when you expected nothing.