Accrual accounting gives you a full general ledger and professional-grade financial reporting inside Re-Leased, so you no longer need to export data to an external accounting system for period-end work. This article explains what accrual accounting does, how it differs from cash basis, and where to start.
What accrual accounting gives you
When you enable accrual accounting for a company, you get:
A general ledger — every financial transaction is recorded as a double-entry journal against a full chart of accounts
Automatic journal entries — invoices, credit notes, payments, allocations, transfers, and voids are journalled for you as they happen, with each entry linked back to its source document
Financial reports — Profit & Loss, Trial Balance, and Journals reports, filterable by owner, property, tenancy, and ledger
Manual journal entries — post your own journals for adjustments, corrections, or period-end entries
Accounting periods — 12 monthly periods per financial year, with the ability to lock periods after month-end close to prevent changes to finalised data
How trust accounting companies experience accrual
Trust accounting companies keep the familiar Ledger terminology throughout. Every trust ledger continues to work the way it does today, with its own balance, its own reporting slice, and its own reconciliation. Alongside your standard chart of accounts, you'll see additional system accounts for Bonds Lodged and Tenancy Funds, and journal entries are created automatically for trust-specific events like ledger transfers, bond movements, suspense resolution, and tenancy fund application.
If your company uses trust accounting, it must be set up before you enable accrual accounting.
Getting started
Accrual accounting is enabled per company. To turn it on, work through the five-task setup checklist on the Accrual Accounting Settings page. Each task can be completed independently and saved as you go, so you don't need to finish setup in one session.
See Setting up accrual accounting for the full walkthrough.
Once accrual accounting is enabled for a company, it can't be turned off. Take the time to work through setup carefully and check with your accountant if you're unsure about your financial year end, accrual start date, or opening balances.