Book basis
How the books themselves are recorded. Solo Superstars keeps one double-entry ledger on accrual; cash reports are calculated from it rather than kept as a second set of books.
In Solo Superstars
Invoices, bills, payments and bank categorizations all post to this one ledger. A Cash reporting view reads the same entries with cash timing; it does not keep separate balances.
Because there is only one ledger, there is nothing to keep in sync: fixing a miscategorized expense fixes it on both views at once.
Closing the year and rolling net income into retained earnings always use the book basis, even for a business that files taxes on cash.
Example
Harbor Lane Coffee sends a $3,000 invoice on December 20. The book records it once:
| CoA | Account | Debit | Credit |
|---|---|---|---|
1100 | Accounts Receivable (A/R) | $3,000 | — |
4000 | Sales of Product Income | — | $3,000 |
When the hotel pays on January 10, the book records Checking up and Accounts Receivable down. The Accrual view counts the sale in December from the first entry; the Cash view counts it in January from the payment. No second entry is ever made for the Cash view.
At year-end, a cash-method café closes on book (accrual) net income. The year-end package also shows cash-basis income and the difference between the two, so the accountant can see both.
Codes shown are the defaults a new workspace starts with. Yours may be renamed or renumbered — check Accounting › Chart of accounts. See the full default chart.
Also called
- books basis
- journal basis
Related
- Reporting view — Whether a profit-and-loss report counts revenue and expenses on cash or accrual timing. It changes how the report reads, never what the books contain.
- Accrual basis — Counting revenue when you send the invoice and expense when you receive the bill, whether or not money has moved. The alternative is cash basis.
- Double-entry bookkeeping — The system where every transaction touches at least two accounts, one debited and one credited, so the books check themselves.
- Year-end close — Closing the fiscal year: zeroing revenue and expense accounts into retained earnings, rolling owner draws into equity, and locking the year.