Understand accounting basics in QixCount
Learn how accounts, drafts, posted entries and payments relate to the figures you see.
On this page
QixCount keeps source documents, payments and accounting entries connected. Knowing the difference helps you understand why saving a document does not always change a report.
Understand an account
An account groups a kind of financial activity. The chart of accounts uses five types: asset, liability, equity, revenue and expense. Accounts have names and codes so you can identify the category used on a document or journal line.
A journal entry contains debit and credit lines assigned to accounts. Debit and credit are the two sides of an entry; they do not mean money received and money spent. QixCount requires the debit and credit totals to balance before an ordinary entry can post.
Distinguish a draft from a posted entry
| Journal state | Effect in QixCount |
|---|---|
| Draft | Can be edited. Its lines do not contribute to account balances. |
| Posted | Its lines contribute to account balances. The entry cannot be edited as a draft. |
| Reversed | A separate posted entry swaps the original debits and credits to offset it. The original remains in history. |
Posting can be blocked by a closed or locked fiscal period, a backdating limit, unbalanced lines or incomplete Nonprofit setup and coding. Changing a document date to work around a block can change the financial period it affects; ask the person responsible for the books to review the message.
Distinguish documents from payments
An invoice records what a customer owes. A bill records what is owed to a vendor. A received or made payment records settlement. Marking an invoice sent posts its accounting entry; approving a bill posts its entry. Neither action alone means money moved.
Use Create an invoice to understand the draft and send actions. Review the document's status and balance due after each action.
Read figures with their dates
Account balances use posted journal history. The General dashboard's net income uses revenue less expenses for the selected period, while receivables and payables show outstanding documents across periods. The dashboard guide explains those differences.
Nonprofit adds funds, programs, donor restriction classes and expense functions to the coding. Those are separate choices from the account. Read the glossary for their meanings in QixCount.
Figures follow your viewing permissions. See Read the dashboard for General, or Use your Nonprofit overview for Nonprofit balances, gifts, grants, and follow-up work.