Accrual accounting is enabled per company through a five-task setup checklist on the Accrual Accounting Settings page. You can complete the tasks in any order (where dependencies allow) and across multiple sessions — each task saves as you go, so you don't need to finish setup in one sitting. Once all five tasks are complete, you can enable accrual accounting for the company.

To get to the Accrual Accounting Settings page, go to Settings from the main menu, then under Accounting, click Accounting Settings.

If your company uses trust accounting, make sure trust accounting is fully set up first. The accrual setup flow relies on your trust accounting configuration to create the correct system accounts.

If you manage multiple companies, use the Company dropdown at the top of the page to choose which company you're setting up. Each company is enabled independently.

The checklist shows five tasks with a progress counter at the top right. Some tasks depend on earlier ones — for example, you can't set an Accrual Start Date until you've saved a Financial Year End, and Opening Balances can only be entered once Accounting Periods and System Accounts are done. Locked tasks show a padlock icon with a short explanation of what needs to be completed first.

Tasks with a green tick have been saved. The Enable Accrual Accounting button at the bottom of the page stays greyed out until all five tasks are complete.

Select the month your financial year ends. This determines your accounting period boundaries and reporting dates.

Once saved, the financial year end appears as a badge next to the task. This can't be changed after accrual accounting is enabled, so check with your accountant if you're unsure.

Choose the date from which accrual accounting begins. You can pick any date from today up to six months ahead. Transactions dated before this date remain on cash basis; transactions dated on or after use accrual accounting.

Two things worth knowing before you save:

Accounting periods are generated automatically based on your financial year end and accrual start date. You'll see a preview before confirming.

If your accrual start date falls part-way through a financial year, your first financial year will have fewer than 12 periods. Subsequent financial years will always be created as 12 monthly periods.

All periods are created with Open status. You can lock periods individually later as you complete month-end close.

Accrual accounting needs a handful of system general ledger accounts to record standard transactions. These are pre-populated with suggested account codes and names — you can customise them or keep the defaults.

Standalone accrual companies get five system accounts: Accounts Receivable, Tax Receivable, Accounts Payable, Tax Payable, and Opening Balance Equity. Trust accounting companies get two additional accounts: Bonds Lodged and Tenancy Funds.

You can edit these accounts later from the Chart of Accounts if you need to.

Import your chart of accounts balances as at the accrual start date using an Excel template, or skip this step and start from zero. If you skip, you can still come back and import opening balances any time before you enable accrual accounting — once accrual accounting is enabled, opening balances can no longer be imported.

See Import opening balances for the full walkthrough, including the template format, validation rules, and how skipping works.

Once all five tasks show a green tick, the Enable Accrual Accounting button becomes active. Enabling is a one-way action — accrual accounting can't be turned off once it's on, and your Financial Year End and Accrual Start Date become read-only.

See Enable accrual accounting for the prerequisites, what happens when you enable, and the trust accounting bank reconciliation requirement.

Once accrual accounting is on, the setup checklist is replaced by two summary cards on the Accrual Accounting Settings page:

See Manage accounting periods for the full walkthrough of period management.