Accountant Guide

As an Accountant, your focus is on income recording, expense approval, invoicing, and financial reporting.

Expense approvals

Drivers and operations staff submit expenses against trips. Your job is to review and approve them.

1. Go to Expenses
2. Filter by Status: Pending
3. Review each expense — check the receipt image if attached
4. Click Approve or Reject

Approved expenses flow into the cost calculation for the job. If the Accounting module is on, approving an expense also posts it to the General Ledger (Dr the expense category's account / Cr Default Bank / Cash), provided its category is mapped in Posting Setup; voiding an approved expense reverses that posting. New submissions also notify whichever roles are configured in Settings → Notifications → Approval Queue Notifications by email and/or SMS — see the notification bell reference → for how to set that up.

The list of expense categories is your company's own — a Tenant Admin edits it in Settings → Invoicing & Tax → Expense Categories.

Creating invoices

Invoices are usually created from jobs (or converted from an accepted quotation or a sales order):

1. Go to Jobs → open the relevant job (or one of its trips)
2. Click 📄 Create Invoice — a Draft invoice opens with the job's customer and your bank details already filled in
3. Enter the line items — click 📦 on a line to pick a catalog item, and set each line's TRA category (A standard, C zero-rated, etc.)
4. Tick Subject to Withholding Tax if the client will deduct WHT
5. Add any notes
6. Move the invoice to Sent with the Document Lifecycle stepper when it's issued — or, if your company has turned on Invoice Approval (Settings → Invoicing & Tax), click ✓ Approve & Post (you hold the Approve Invoices permission by default)

For an invoice that isn't tied to a job or document, click + New Invoice on the Invoices list and pick the customer in Bill To (or + New Customer). Every invoice needs a customer before it leaves Draft, and its customer can't be changed after that — see Invoicing → The customer on an invoice.

VAT Exclusive or Inclusive pricing is a company-wide setting (Settings → Company → Regional & Tax Settings), not a choice per invoice.

New invoices are in your tenant's base currency; an invoice converted from a Quotation or Sales Order keeps that document's currency. There's no currency selector on the invoice itself.

When an invoice leaves Draft it posts to the General Ledger (Dr Accounts Receivable / Cr Revenue / Cr VAT Payable), and when it's marked Paid the payment posts too (Dr Bank / Cr Accounts Receivable, with WHT split out) — see Invoicing → GL posting →.

Use the Unpaid chip on the Invoices list to see everything sent but not yet paid, and Pending Approval for invoices waiting on you.

PDF export: Click 🖨 Print & Send on any invoice, then 🖨 Print / PDF to print it or save it as a PDF, or 📧 Send to email it.

VAT on Tanzania invoices

Tanzania standard VAT rate is 18%. The system applies this automatically based on your tenant settings. Confirm the rate is correct in Settings → Company → Regional & Tax Settings.

Key VAT rules for Tanzania freight:

• International freight (export haulage) is generally zero-rated — set those lines to TRA category C
• Local delivery services are subject to standard 18% VAT (category A)
• Clearing service fees are subject to 18% VAT (category A)

Give catalog items the right default TRA category (Items → TRA VAT Category) so lines pick it up automatically.

There's also a Reduced VAT % field on the same settings screen (defaults to 16%) for TRA category E — B2C transactions paid via bank or an approved electronic payment system, per the Finance Act 2025.

caution

This documentation provides general guidance only. Always consult a qualified tax advisor for your specific VAT obligations.

Multi-currency

Quotations, Requisitions, Purchase Invoices, and Expenses each support a per-document currency. Invoices have no currency selector of their own — they're in your base currency unless converted from a USD quotation or sales order. Currently, the only two currencies offered on any document dropdown are TZS and USD.

Exchange rates aren't entered per transaction — they're managed centrally in Accounting → Currency (Finance → Currency without the Accounting module), either fetched automatically or set manually per currency. The system uses whatever rate is on file there whenever a mixed-currency total (job profit, quotation pipeline value, purchase invoice outstanding, etc.) needs to be added up in your base currency, and when a foreign-currency document posts to the General Ledger. If a currency has no rate configured, the affected totals show an inline warning rather than a silently wrong number. (A USD invoice carries its own Exchange Rate to TZS field instead.)

Clearing declarations (view only)

Accountants have view access to clearing declarations. This lets you see the invoice value, currency, and duty payment status for each declaration — useful for reconciling clearing costs with the related job.

Accounting module

If your tenant has the Accounting module enabled, you also manage the Chart of Accounts and Journal Entries.

Chart of Accounts

Go to Accounting → Chart of Accounts to review and maintain the account structure.

• Seed the Tanzania Standard CoA if not already done — click Set up Tanzania Standard CoA (or + Tanzania Standard CoA) to add 78 pre-configured accounts for Tanzania logistics businesses
• Add any custom accounts your business needs (e.g. specific revenue streams, asset accounts, suspense accounts)
• Block accounts that are no longer used — this preserves history while preventing new postings

Requires accounts.manage, not just accounts.view

The default Accountant role only has accounts.view — enough to see the Chart of Accounts and drill into balances, but not to seed, add, edit, or block accounts. A Tenant Admin needs to grant accounts.manage (via Settings → Users & Access → Roles & Permission Matrix) before an Accountant can do the three actions above.

The Balance column shows the running balance per account from posted GL entries. Click 📒 to drill down into the General Ledger for that account.

Creating and posting journal entries

Go to Accounting → Journal Entries for manual bookkeeping entries such as accruals, adjustments, prepayments, and corrections.

1. Click + New Journal and enter a description and posting date
2. Add lines — each line requires an account, and either a debit or credit amount (not both)
3. The journal must balance (total debits = total credits) before posting — the indicator turns green when balanced
4. Save as Draft to review, then click Post when ready

Posting is permanent

Posted journals generate immutable GL entries and cannot be edited or deleted. Create a reversal journal to correct a posted entry.

General Ledger

Go to Accounting → GL Entries to view the full audit trail of all posted transactions.

Filter by account, document number, document type, or date range. Use this view to:

• Verify that transactions have been correctly posted — sales invoices (when raised and when paid), purchase invoices, approved expenses, and manual journals all post here, as do completed POS sales and payroll runs where those modules are in use
• Trace a specific account's movement over a period
• Prepare supporting schedules for financial reports

If a sales invoice, bill, or expense doesn't show up, check Posting Setup — anything whose accounts aren't mapped there is skipped rather than posted. Accounting → G/L Registers lists every posting batch if you want to review them one journal at a time.

Job Ledger

For logistics businesses, Accounting → Job Ledger lists each job's posted revenue (invoices that have left Draft) and costs (approved expenses, Diesel Yard fuel, spare parts issued) line by line, with job, trip, type and date filters and an Excel export. Its totals match each job page's own profit figures. See Job Ledger →.

Financial Reports

Go to Accounting → Financial Reports to generate period-end financial statements. (Don't confuse this with the separate Reports tab, which covers logistics/operational reporting, not GL-based financial statements.)

Report	What it shows
Profit & Loss	Revenue, COGS, expenses, and net profit/loss for a date range
Balance Sheet	Assets, liabilities, and equity at a point in time
Trial Balance	All account debit/credit totals — verifies the ledger balances
VAT Report	Output and input VAT summary for TRA return preparation

If your tenant has TRA VFD/EFD Fiscalization enabled (opt-in beta — ask your account manager), invoices get a real TRA fiscal receipt on posting, and a Z-Reports link appears on this VAT Report page.

To run a report:

1. Go to Accounting → Financial Reports
2. Select the report type from the tabs at the top
3. Set the date range (for P&L, Trial Balance, and VAT Report)
4. The report generates instantly from posted GL entries

info

Only posted journal entries appear in reports. Draft journals are excluded until posted.

Posting Setup

Go to Accounting → Posting Setup to map GL accounts to transaction types. This is required for automatic journal posting on sales invoices, purchase invoices, and expenses — anything whose accounts aren't mapped is simply not posted.

Configure at minimum:

• Accounts Receivable and Default Revenue — for sales invoices
• Accounts Payable — for purchase invoices
• VAT Payable / VAT Input — for VAT
• Default Bank / Cash — for invoice payments, bill payments, and approved expenses
• WHT Tax Credit Receivable — if your clients withhold tax; without it, payments on WHT invoices aren't posted
• An account for each expense category you use — expenses in an unmapped category aren't posted

The account fields are searchable lookups — type part of the account number or name.

See Posting Setup → for the full account mapping reference.

Items & Product Catalog

Go to Accounting → Items to maintain the shared product and service catalog.

Add items for recurring line entries — freight services, clearing fees, spare parts, fuel types. Each item stores a code, unit of measure, selling and cost prices, TRA VAT category, and optional GL account overrides (an expense account and expense category used on purchase invoices); products can also have a barcode, brand, and item category.

Once items are in the catalog, anyone creating a purchase invoice can pick from the catalog instead of typing descriptions manually — prices, units, VAT, and accounts pre-fill in one click. Sales invoice lines can pick from it too. If an item is missing, + New Item at the bottom of the picker creates it on the spot.

See Items & Product Catalog → for full documentation.

Purchase Invoices (Vendor Bills)

Go to Accounting → Purchasing to record what your business owes suppliers.

Recording a vendor bill

1. Click + New Bill
2. Search for and pick the vendor — if it isn't in the list, click + New Vendor at the bottom to create it on the spot
3. Enter the bill date, due date, currency, and vendor's own reference number
4. Add line items — click 📦 on any line to pick from the Items catalog
5. Tick Subject to WHT if you'll withhold tax from the vendor
6. Click Save Draft

An approved requisition can also be turned into a Draft bill with 📄 Convert to Purchase Invoice on the requisition — you hold that permission by default.

Saving a Draft immediately notifies whichever roles are configured in Settings → Notifications → Approval Queue Notifications by email and/or SMS that a bill needs approval — Draft is this module's "needs approval" state, since there's no separate Submitted step.

Approving and paying

Once the bill is verified:

1. Click ✓ Approve — this posts the expense/payable journal to the GL (and adds any catalog products on the bill to stock, if your company tracks stock)
2. When payment is made, click 💳 Mark Paid — this posts the payment journal

An approved bill that turns out to be wrong can be Voided — its journal is reversed automatically.

caution

Approving a bill generates posted, immutable GL entries. Verify all details in Draft before approving.

AP Aging

The Purchasing list shows summary cards for Outstanding (approved but unpaid) and Overdue (past due date) bills. Use these to prioritise payment runs.

See Purchase Invoices → for the full workflow and GL entry details.

Bank Reconciliation

Go to Accounting → Bank Reconciliation to manage your bank accounts and reconcile statement lines against GL entries. Each bank account is linked to a GL account — any posting account in the Assets category (e.g. 40220 Bank Account — CRDB in the Tanzania Standard CoA). Enter statement lines manually or paste them from a CSV, then match each one to the corresponding GL entry — matching is manual only today, there is no auto-match by amount or date. The default Accountant role has bank.view and bank.reconcile, but not bank.manage (adding/editing bank accounts) — ask a Tenant Admin if you need that too.

Fixed Assets

Go to Accounting → Fixed Assets to manage the company's fixed asset register.

Registering an asset

1. Click + New Asset
2. Select the TRA depreciation class — the system auto-fills the method and rate:
   • Class 1 (37.5%) — computers, automobiles, buses
   • Class 2 (25%) — trucks, trailers, plant & machinery
   • Class 3 (12.5%) — railways, pipelines, industrial buildings
   • Class 4 (5%) — other buildings and structures
3. Enter acquisition cost, date, and residual value
4. Link the Asset GL Account, Depreciation Expense Account, and Accumulated Depreciation Account

Running depreciation

Click Run Depreciation from the asset list:

1. Select the period (YYYY-MM)
2. Review the preview — all active assets with their monthly charge
3. Tick Create Draft Journal (requires GL accounts on each asset)
4. Confirm — a Draft journal DEP-YYYY-MM is created for your review

Review and post the draft in Accounting → Journal Entries.

Asset disposals

When an asset is sold or scrapped, open the asset and click Dispose. The system calculates the gain or loss: a gain on disposal is taxable income under TRA rules.

See Fixed Assets → for full documentation.

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Tips

• Use the Profit & Loss report monthly to track revenue trends and expense control
• Run the Trial Balance before period-end to catch any unbalanced entries early
• The VAT Report date range should match your TRA return period
• Use the Invoices list to track which invoices are Sent, Paid, or Overdue — the Unpaid chip shows everything still owed
• Use the Job Ledger to see each job's posted revenue and costs side by side
• Refer to Accounting Concepts → for a primer on double-entry bookkeeping before setting up the Chart of Accounts