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Cash Basis Reporting in AccountEdge

Revised FAQ draft with clearer ADI/ADE formulas, linked-account timing guidance, sales tax examples, and historical/opening-balance examples.

Troubleshooting Guides · Hub v3.5
Keyword legend ADI = Adjustment for Deferred Income ADE = Adjustment for Deferred Expenses CYE = Current Year Earnings
Revision note: This version keeps the original technical explanation, but restructures the article so support reps and users can more easily understand why ADI and ADE appear, especially in cases involving sales tax, linked accounts, historical invoices, opening balances, and payments on prior-period activity.

What changed in this revised FAQ

Updated
ADI/ADE formulas added
Added practical formulas that explain prior-period payments, unpaid current-period activity, linked-account movement, and non-income/non-expense portions.
New
Sales tax ADE example
Explains why ADE can appear even when there are no Bills or Purchase Journals.
Updated
“Not adjusted” clarification
Clarifies that some transaction types are not adjusted directly, but can still affect ADI/ADE if they change linked-account balances.
New
Historical/conversion section
Adds examples for old invoices, old payables, and opening balances paid or cleared in a later period.

Overview

AccountEdge is an accrual-based program, but certain reports can be displayed on a cash basis. The purpose of Cash Basis reports is to produce cash-based financial reports for the Balance Sheet and the Profit & Loss.

General rule of thumb: Cash Basis reporting attempts to show income when cash was received and expenses when cash was paid or cleared. To do this, AccountEdge uses report-only adjustments. It does not post journal entries or change General Ledger balances.

Cash Basis reports often create two report-only accumulator lines:

AccumulatorFull namePurpose
ADIAdjustment for Deferred IncomeUsed to adjust accrual income and linked asset-account timing into cash-basis income.
ADEAdjustment for Deferred ExpensesUsed to adjust accrual expenses and linked liability/equity-account timing into cash-basis expenses.

How cash basis is accomplished in an accrual-based program

  • AccountEdge backs out balances from Balance Sheet accounts that are linked accrued assets, linked accrued liabilities, and certain linked equity accounts.
  • The backed-out amounts are moved into the Profit & Loss through report-only accumulators.
  • AccountEdge determines whether income and expenses on the Profit & Loss were paid or unpaid during the report period.
  • If income or expenses were paid, they are kept on the cash-basis report.
  • If income or expenses were not paid, they are backed out of the cash-basis report.
Important: Cash Basis reports do not make actual adjustments to General Ledger accounts. Because the adjustments are report-only, ADI and ADE are not normal accounts that can be posted to, reconciled, or drilled into like standard G/L accounts.

What happens on the Balance Sheet

  • Linked accrual accounts such as Accounts Receivable and Accounts Payable are zeroed out for cash-basis presentation.
  • Amounts zeroed out from the current year are adjusted into Current Year Earnings.
  • Amounts zeroed out from previous years are adjusted into Retained Earnings.
  • The Current Year Earnings account on the Balance Sheet should equal the Net Income or Loss on a basic Profit & Loss if both reports are run for the same period.

General Balance Sheet rules

  • Under accrual basis, the Balance Sheet includes accrued asset, accrued liability, and equity balances as of the report date.
  • Under cash basis, AccountEdge zeroes out accrued assets, accrued liabilities, and equity accounts that are also configured as linked accounts.
  • Linked asset accounts used to track receivables are treated as income-related timing on the cash-basis Profit & Loss.
  • Linked liability accounts used to track payables are treated as expense-related timing on the cash-basis Profit & Loss.
  • Amounts backed out from the Balance Sheet are adjusted to Current Year Earnings and/or Retained Earnings depending on whether the activity belongs to the current period or a prior period.

What happens on the Profit & Loss

  • AccountEdge creates accumulators for Adjustment for Deferred Income and Adjustment for Deferred Expenses.
  • These accumulators are report-only lines, not actual General Ledger accounts.
  • The adjusted Current Year Earnings figure from the Balance Sheet is used to adjust deferred income for backed-out accrued assets and deferred expenses for backed-out accrued liabilities and equities.
  • The accumulators are then reduced or increased by reviewing open sales, purchases, payments, discounts, credits, debits, deposits, payroll, and linked-account movement.
  • Each accumulator is displayed only if it has a non-zero amount.
Raw Materials Expense accumulator: This accumulator may be used when backing out an unpaid purchase, or putting back the expense for a paid purchase, for an item that is marked “I Buy” and “I Inventory” but not “I Sell,” because there is no linked Cost of Sales or Expense account for that setup.

New Practical ADI and ADE formulas

The original article explains the concept of deferred income and deferred expenses. This revised version adds working formulas support can use when explaining or troubleshooting the numbers.

ADI formula

ADI = prior-period/historical customer payments received in the report period - current-period income not collected by report end +/- customer-side cash-basis adjustments +/- linked asset-account movement - non-income portions when applicable

In plain English: ADI explains the difference between income recorded because an invoice exists and income that should appear because customer cash was actually received.

ADE formula

ADE = prior-period bills/liabilities paid or cleared in the report period - current-period bills/liabilities/tax/payroll not paid or cleared by report end +/- supplier/tax/payroll/deposit adjustments +/- linked liability/equity-account movement

In plain English: ADE explains the difference between expenses recorded because a bill or liability exists and expenses that should appear because cash was actually paid or a linked liability was cleared.

LinePositive amount usually meansNegative amount usually means
ADICash income is being added, often from prior-period or historical A/R collected during the report period.Cash income is being reduced, often from current-period invoices that were not collected by report end.
ADECash expenses are being added, often from prior-period bills, payroll, tax, or other liabilities paid or cleared during the report period.Cash expenses are being reduced, often from current-period bills, liabilities, tax, or payroll that were not paid or cleared by report end.

Transactions adjusted on the Cash Basis Profit & Loss

When the user runs a cash-basis Profit & Loss, AccountEdge first backs out the Balance Sheet linked accrual accounts for the time frame specified in the report customization window. Then it reviews transaction types that affect the cash-basis Profit & Loss.

Transaction types adjusted on the P&LTransaction types not adjusted directly on the P&L
  • Sales Invoices
  • Purchases / Bills
  • Receive Payment
  • Pay Bills
  • Customer Discounts
  • Supplier Discounts
  • Settled Credits
  • Settled Debits
  • Credit Refund Checks
  • Debit Refund Deposits
  • Customer Deposit Transfers
  • Supplier Deposit Transfers
  • Pay Employees / Write Paychecks
  • Historical Sales
  • Historical Purchases
  • General Journals
  • Spend Money
  • Receive Money
  • Customer Finance Charges
  • Customer Deposits on sales orders
  • Supplier Finance Charges
  • Supplier Deposits on purchase orders
  • Inventory Adjustments
  • Inventory Transfers
  • Bank Deposits
  • Electronic Payments
Updated wording: “Not adjusted directly” does not always mean “cannot affect ADI or ADE.” It means the transaction type is not individually adjusted on the Profit & Loss in the same way as invoices, bills, payments, discounts, credits, debits, or payroll. If the transaction changes a linked account balance that Cash Basis reporting backs out, it can still affect the deferred income or deferred expense accumulator.

Updated Clarification for linked accounts and “not adjusted” transactions

This is the key clarification that should be added to avoid confusing reps and users:

Important linked-account rule: AccountEdge starts the cash-basis process by looking at linked accounts. A transaction may be listed as “not adjusted” as an individual Profit & Loss transaction type, but it can still affect ADI or ADE if it changes the balance of a linked account that AccountEdge backs out during the cash-basis process.

For example, a General Journal entry, Spend Money transaction, or Receive Money transaction may not be adjusted directly as its own transaction type. However, if it changes Sales Tax Payable, Accounts Payable, Accounts Receivable, payroll liabilities, customer deposits, supplier deposits, or another linked account used in the cash-basis back-out process, it can influence the deferred income or deferred expense amount.

The software does not determine whether the linked account is conceptually the correct account for the business. It follows the linked accounts selected in the company file.

New Sales tax example: why ADE can appear with no Bills

A real-world troubleshooting case showed that ADE can appear even when there are no Bills or Purchase Journals. This can happen because a Sales Invoice can credit Sales Tax Payable. Sales Tax Payable is a linked liability account, so timing differences in that account can flow into ADE on a Cash Basis Profit & Loss.

Taxable Sales Invoice: Debit: Accounts Receivable or Bank Credit: Sales Income Credit: Sales Tax Payable Sales tax remittance or clearing: Debit: Sales Tax Payable Credit: Checking or another clearing account
Support explanation: ADE is not limited to Bills. ADE can also include linked liability timing, such as Sales Tax Payable, payroll liabilities, supplier deposits, or converted/opening payable balances. If Sales Tax Payable changes during the report period, the cash-basis report may show part of that timing difference through ADE.

Suggested troubleshooting check

Sales tax ADE check = Sales Tax Payable debits/clearings during the report period - cash-basis sales tax from Tax Detail Cash = possible sales-tax timing portion of ADE

When the user says, “There are no bills, so why do we have deferred expenses?” support should check Sales Tax Payable, payroll liabilities, and other linked liability accounts before assuming the report is wrong.

New Historical, conversion, and opening-balance examples

Historical sales and purchases themselves may not create cash impact inside the report period, but their payments do. That point should be expanded because it is especially important after a conversion from another accounting system or when a company file has opening A/R, opening A/P, tax, or payroll balances.

ScenarioCash-basis effectAccumulator usually involved
A 2025 customer invoice is paid in 2026. The cash was received in 2026, even though the invoice was from a prior period. The income portion may appear through deferred income timing. ADI
An old payable or converted Accounts Payable balance is paid in 2026. The cash was paid in 2026, even though the bill/liability came from a prior period. The expense or liability timing may appear through deferred expense timing. ADE
A converted payroll, tax, or sales tax liability is cleared in the current period. The liability clearing can affect the cash-basis report if the account is a linked liability account. ADE
Conversion wording: If open receivables or payables were brought over from another system, payments after conversion may show through ADI or ADE instead of looking like normal current-period invoice or bill activity.

Linked accounts used by Cash Basis reports

AccountEdge begins the process of producing cash-basis reports by looking at linked accounts. If an account is set up as a linked liability account, it can be zeroed out and moved to deferred expenses. If an account is set up as a linked asset account, it can be zeroed out and moved to deferred income.

Usually feeds ADIUsually feeds ADE
Accounts Receivable / Trade DebtorsAccounts Payable / Trade Creditors
Customer deposits and customer-side clearing accountsSales Tax Payable and other tax liability accounts
Linked accrued asset accountsPayroll liabilities and payroll deduction payable accounts
Vendor deposits paid may affect cash-basis expense treatment depending on setupSupplier deposits and linked accrued liability/equity accounts
Setup warning: AccountEdge does not verify whether a linked account is the “right” account for the business. It uses the linked account selected in the company file. Incorrect linked accounts can therefore create confusing ADI or ADE results.

New Reports needed for ADI/ADE troubleshooting

ReportBasisWhy it helps
Profit & Loss by monthCash and AccrualIdentifies the month creating the largest ADI or ADE movement.
Balance SheetAccrualShows ending balances in linked control accounts before cash-basis conversion.
Trial BalanceAccrualHelps identify linked account movement and ending balances.
Account Transactions / General Ledger DetailAccrual detailShows debits and credits by linked account and source journal.
Customer Ledger / Invoice TransactionsN/AShows customer payments and the invoices they were applied to.
Supplier Ledger / Purchase TransactionsN/AShows supplier payments and the bills they were applied to.
Tax Detail Cash and Tax Detail AccrualBoth, if availableHelps explain sales-tax timing inside ADE.
Linked Accounts and Tax Code ListSetup reviewConfirms which accounts AccountEdge is using for receivables, payables, tax, payroll, and deposits.

Suggested support workflow

  1. Run the Profit & Loss on both Cash and Accrual basis for the same date range.
  2. Break the Cash P&L out by month and find the month with the largest ADI or ADE amount.
  3. For ADI, review Accounts Receivable, customer payments, historical/opening A/R invoices, customer deposits, and linked accrued asset accounts.
  4. For ADE, review Accounts Payable, Sales Tax Payable, payroll liabilities, supplier deposits, converted/opening liabilities, and linked accrued liability/equity accounts.
  5. Do not stop at Bills when troubleshooting ADE. Sales tax, payroll, deposits, and linked liability movement can also create ADE.
  6. Compare Tax Detail Cash to Sales Tax Payable activity if sales tax appears to be part of the issue.
  7. Escalate if the linked accounts are correct but the amount cannot be reconciled after reviewing P&L by month, linked account transactions, tax detail, and payment application reports.

Draft note: This file is a reconstructed internal draft based on the current AccountEdge Cash Basis Reporting article and the ADI/ADE troubleshooting findings from the recent customer case. Highlighted New/Updated callouts identify the proposed additions or revised explanations.