Cashflow and accrual explained
A transaction’s cashflow and accrual values serve different purposes:
- Cashflow date and amount record when money moves and how much was received or paid.
- Accrual date and amount determine when income or an expense belongs in accrual-based reporting and the amount recognized.
For example, an electricity bill paid on 10 October may relate to September. Its cashflow date remains 10 October, while its accrual date can be 30 September. Cashflow reporting shows the payment in October; accrual-based reporting shows the expense in September.
Entering an accrual date alone does not determine the accounting method. Worthic also checks the transaction’s reporting line and the method that applies to its cashflow date.
Choose a reporting line’s accounting method
In Settings → Reporting lines, edit the relevant reporting line and find Accounting method.
1. Choose Cashflow or Accrual.
2. Select when the method should apply:
- Today: From today’s cashflow date onwards.
- From the first record: All dates, including older transactions added later.
- Custom date: From a date you choose.
3. Review the explanation and select Save accounting method.
Use Manage beside Accounting method to review or change the effective date.
When you choose Today or a Custom date, transactions with earlier cashflow dates use the opposite accounting method. For example, choosing Accrual from 1 October means earlier cashflow dates use Cashflow.
Each saved selection replaces the previous method and effective-date setting; it does not create a series of accounting periods.
Changing the method can change historical profit-and-loss reports. Transactions assigned Cashflow accounting have their accrual dates and amounts reset to their cashflow values, including previously entered accrual overrides.
On mobile, open More, choose the applicable reporting-line settings and select the line. Open Accounting method to review or change the method and effective date. Check the impact before saving. Where available, open Accrual rules to review or change the line’s category rules.
Review a transaction’s accrual values
When adding or editing a transaction, select its reporting line and category and check its cashflow date and amount.
If Accrual accounting applies, the editor displays Accrual date and Accrual amount. Review the suggested values and change them if needed before saving.
Without a separate rule or manual value, the accrual date follows the cashflow date and the accrual amount follows the cashflow amount.
Manual accrual edits are preserved against automatic suggestions while the transaction remains under Accrual accounting.
An accrual amount of 0 is an explicit value; it is different from leaving the amount blank to follow the cashflow amount.
On mobile, open the transaction and tap Edit transaction. Review cashflow timing and, for a qualifying accrual reporting line, the accrual date. The original ledger date of an import is protected.
Set automatic accrual rules
Select Set rule beside Accrual date or Accrual amount in the transaction editor. Rules apply to the selected category within the selected reporting line, so choose both before setting a rule.
For accrual dates, you can choose:
- None: Use the cashflow date.
- Extract from attachments: Try to identify the accrual date from selected supporting documents.
- The first or last day of the current month.
- The first or last day of the previous month.
- The first day of the next month.
The month-based options use the transaction’s cashflow date as their starting point.
For accrual amounts, you can choose:
- None: Use the cashflow amount.
- Extract from attachments: Try to identify the accrual amount from selected supporting documents.
- Set amount: Specify an amount and currency.
Select Save rule, review the resulting transaction values, and save the transaction.
Amount-rule changes apply to the current and future transactions; they do not automatically rewrite historical transaction amounts. Update a fixed amount rule when the amount changes.
On mobile, open the reporting line under More and choose Accrual rules where available.
Use supporting documents
Attachment extraction must be selected as the rule; attaching a document alone does not enable it.
When choosing Extract from attachments, also choose a Fallback rule. Worthic uses the fallback when a usable value cannot be extracted.
Always review extracted values before saving, particularly when a document covers several periods or contains multiple amounts.
On mobile, open the transaction and tap Edit transaction. Under attachments choose Scan document, Upload file, or Library. For Library, browse or search and select the document. Check the filename and save the transaction.
Imported and split transactions
Review imported transactions using the same principles: check the reporting line, category, cashflow values, and any applicable accrual values.
For split transactions, each component can have its own reporting line, category, accrual date, and accrual amount. Check each component because its accounting method and rules may differ from those of the other components.
Cashflow reporting continues to use the cashflow dates and amounts. Accrual-based reporting uses the applicable accrual values.
On mobile, expand the applicable component in the transaction editor to review its fields and supporting document.