Equipment Finance

Overview

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The purpose of this tool is to generate an amortisation schedule for financed equipment (or any similar finance), and where a cloud accounting package is connected to the applicable client within AccountKit, automatically bring to account the interest (and re-allocation between non-current / current) to reconcile the balance each period.

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The Equipment Finance List Page

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Area		Description
1	Create a new Equipment Finance Schedule	Select this to start the process of creating a brand new equipment finance schedule.
2	Balance at...	This is used to check at a high level where the loan balances are at a specific date. All balances and Status below reflect each schedules as at that selected date.
3	Group By, Filter, View Select,  Actions.	You can see an overview of these items within the shared elements section of the Help Centre. Your options here are Group By, Filter, Views & Overflow menu. What is unique to Equipment Finance is the 3 dot menu that gives you access to a variety of export options. Actions Menu Export List Summary Report Summary Movement Report Cashflow Commitments Report
4	The list...	This is a snapshot of all current Equipment Finances running within your practice and their current status. Checkbox - Enables you to select multiple EF's to delete, archive, unarchive or post bulk journals. Client - This is the client entity that the finance belongs to. Description - This identifies the full description of what was financed, the registration (if present) and the contract number (optional) Date of Agreement - Identifies the date of the original agreement Amount Financed – This is the full amount financed and the financier underneath. Payments – Identifies the amount and frequency of the payments. If the payments are irregular, it will simply say "Irregular". Date of Last Payment - Identifies the date of the final repayment for each schedule. Balance - As at the "Balance at" date: It will show one number if the schedule is in balance; If there are two numbers, the schedule is out of balance with the ledger. The top number is the schedule balance and the bottom number is the ledger balance. If it has TBD, it will usually mean that the schedule hasn't yet been completed or the purchase entry not posted. ie. the schedule hasn't finished being setup. Status – This will show a variety of outcomes as follows Information. This can have a variety of notes; Ultimately, this is just to let you know that we're not checking for balances yet as the schedule may not have been built, the purchase journal not posted or other setup not completed. In Balance - simply means at the "Balance at" date the schedule matches the ledger. (if connected to your accounting software) Out of balance - simply means at the "Balance at" date the schedule does not match the ledger. (if connected to your accounting software) Other - You will have a variety of other statuses related to the Completed status of a schedule. Blank - if blank, it means there it is not connected to your accounting software, so there is nothing to compare against.
5	Actions Column	These are associated with the shared elements throughout AccountKit. Link (for linking to files in your DMS - if connected) Overflow (for archiving, deleting or exporting) Unique icons here include Connected to Xero & Auto-post enabled - This is a visual indicator that AccountKit is posting the entries for you up to current date. If you select this icon, you'll have an option to future post entries manually in bulk. Connected to Xero & Auto-post NOT enabled - This is a visual indicator that while connected to Xero, it is not set to auto-post. If you select this icon, you have an option to post entries up to current date or a specific time period (eg. end of last quarter). Blank - Connection to Xero isn't enabled for this schedule.

 

General Variables & Input Fields

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Variable Name		Description
1	Asset Details	This area identifies the core elements of equipment finance: Client – This is where you’d select which client the Equipment Finance relates to. Sync with Xero - This gives you the option as to whether you want this schedule to post and reconcile with Xero. There will be instances (such as where it's connected to a Xero ledger) that you won't want to do monthly postings to Xero, but instead, do a manual one-off entry at year-end. Irregular Repayments - Selecting this alters the layout and method for creating a finance schedule with Irregular Repayments as opposed to the standard regular repayments. Existing Agreement – You’d select this if you were bringing to account a pre-existing loan agreement in AccountKit, for instance perhaps the loan was established 2 years ago and was last reconciled at the end of the previous financial year. It's only made available where the selected client is connected to Xero and "Sync with Xero" is enabled. Activating this disables the asset purchase section and enables the "Conversion Date" field. See below. ​Description – This is just a short description of the equipment that’s being financed so that it can be easily identified. It’s used within the purchase memo description. Registration No - This is an optional field in the event that the asset being financed has a registration number you would like to include. Appears with the description on the list page. Contract No - This is also an optional field should you wish to record the unique contract number for the finance schedule. Appears with the description on the list page. Conversion Date -  Appears where "Existing Agreement" is selected. It enables you to enter a date that your equipment finance was last reconciled thereby letting AccountKit know when you want to start posting interest journals.
2	Purchase and Deposit Details	This area will only appear if “Existing Agreement” is not ticked. It enables the original purchase and finance entry to be created within the accounting software. Amounts Include Tax – Pretty self-explanatory, you’d want to tick this if you’re creating a new Equipment Finance and the amounts include tax. This can be changed anytime during the setup process. Description – Identify details about the asset being purchased and the different elements thereof. Eg. Base purchase, Registration; Deposit reversal; Amount – This represents the cost of the asset – Note that totals and GST will depend on whether or not “Amounts Include Tax” has been ticked in the last step. Account Name – Select the default asset purchase/deposits account, if you have a deposit to account for.  Icon - Use this to set up a new account in Xero without leaving AccountKit  Icon - Select this to refresh your accounts from Xero Tax Type – Select the applicable tax code for each line item Tax Rate – This will auto-populate based on the selected tax type. Actions – Use this to edit, save or delete a line.
3	Finance Details	Here you define the details associated with the finance and where relevant, identify the accounts that the interest and liability are to be posted. Amount Financed – This is the full amount financed. Financier – Identify the name of the institution that is financing the purchase. Contract Date – Enter the date of the contract here. Date of First Payment – Enter the date of the first payment here. Payment Frequency – This represents the timing of payments. Number of Payments – This is the total number of payments over the duration of the finance. Payment Per Period – Enter the payment amount per period here Residual Balance – If there’s a residual balance to be paid out or refinanced at the end of the contract, enter it here. Date of Residual Payment - Where there's a residual, you need to specify the date of the residual payment. Results – These will calculate automatically once the Variables have been completed Date of the last repayment – Represents the final loan repayment at the end of the contract Finance term – Represents the term of the finance in years Interest rate – This is the calculated interest rate on the equipment finance Total interest paid – A sum of the total interest paid over the duration of the contract. Accounts – This is where you’d select the relevant accounts in your accounting software for posting journals.  Icon - Use this to set up a new account in Xero without leaving AccountKit  Icon - Select this to refresh your accounts from Xero   NOTE: Which accounts are visible here and in the schedule depends on your default settings, but can be edited under the action menu to show other accounts if you split between Current / Non-Current and Unexpired Interest Charges. Interest account – Identify the interest expense account for posting interest to each period. Liability account (current) – Represents the current liability account for the finance. Unexpired interest account (current) - Represents the current account setup aside for unexpired interest. Liability account (non-current) - Represents the non-current liability account for the finance. Unexpired interest account (non-current) - Represents the non-current account setup aside for unexpired interest. Tracking options – If you have tracking options turned on in Xero, this will appear for you to choose from. i If you can't see the applicable account or tracking category from within Xero, just press the "Refresh Account List" option to the right of the Accounts title.
4	Repayment Schedule	This shows the timing of each payment and the applicable interest component, accumulative interest and balance at any point. The  refresh icon in the header enables you to force a refresh of the Xero data in the event you've made some changes in Xero. Xero Balance – This is the balance within your accounting software. It will show after the relevant journal has been posted. Status – Shows the status of the repayment (ie. Whether the underlying accounts reconcile in AccountKit as compared to your Xero. If you click on a cross when it's out of balance, it'll show you the transactions for the period so you can see why it's out of balance and click through to Xero to correct it. Account - Shows the name of the relevant account. Actions – will show a number of different options, depending on whether the underlying journal has been posted. The potential icons you will see are. The  post journal icon - gives you options to post a single journal or bulk post entries to date or through to the end of the schedule. The  icon enables you to click through to the applicable journal within Xero The one-off event icon enables you to trigger a series of one-off events (payout, refinance) The  void journal icon simply voids the current journal. The  option is only available on a conversion date providing the option to adjust the conversion balance to match the schedule.
5	Annual Summary	This shows an annual summary of the schedule balances for referring to.
6	Workflow, Link Document, Record Tag, Collaboration, Audit History	See the shared elements help for more detail about your options.
7	Save, Save & Close, Cancel	See the shared elements help for more detail about your options.
8	Actions, Minimise, Full Screen, Close	Some of these are associated with the shared elements throughout AccountKit... Three Dot Menu: Save  One-off event / Reverse One-off Event Export to Void all journals Re-Link Posted Journals Settings

 

Variables & Input Fields Specific to Irregular Finance

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Most elements of the equipment finance screen is relatively similar whether you select irregular repayments or not, but there are some key differences to the available fields and your associated workflow, per below.

Variable		Description
1	Ownership, Contact and Asset Details	Select this check box to enable irregular repayments i Note that in the example above, the associated client has NOT been connected to Xero and therefore the applicable options such as "sync to Xero" or "existing agreement" won't show since they're not relevant where you're not posting to Xero or checking against balances.
2	Finance Details	A number of the variables have been removed since things like the payment dates and amounts are all defined in the table below and the interest rate is automatically calculated. The "build schedule" button has been exchanged for a "Calculate Interest" button. Since we'll be building out the schedule manually, all we need to do is calculate the applicable interest and how it's apportioned over the life of the loan.
3	Repayment Schedule	The  icon opens a pop-up that will enable you to define a series of payments to be added to the schedule. See below.
4	Repayment Schedule Actions	Once payments have been added to the schedule, use the following action icons as follows: Selecting the  icon enables you to edit the date or amount of a specific payment. Selecting the  icon deletes the applicable line from the payment schedule.

 

Before you Start

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So you can get through the process of setting up a schedule in one efficient sitting, there are some steps you should do first before commencing the process.

• Setup the applicable interest and expense account within your accounting software.
• If the client has an online accounting package like Xero, first ensure you’ve connected them to AccountKit by going to the applicable client page. Then click on the applicable Integration icon to trigger a process to connect and download the client data into AccountKit;
  • Until this process has finished, you won't be able to initiate any connected tools for that client - you will be notified once complete.
  • See here for more details about connecting and disconnecting from Xero
• Ensure you have on hand the equipment finance details along with the invoice for the purchase of the equipment.
• Where you know there’s been a deposit paid, identify which account this has been posted to within the accounting software.
• If it’s a pre-existing finance arrangement from prior years, identify the date the account was last reconciled; AccountKit will start posting interest from this date.

 

Practice Settings

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Review your practice settings to ensure the default settings for the equipment finance tool are how you like to process the various purchase and interest journals.

1. Automatically post client equipment finance interest journals to Xero each period:
   • As the description would imply, in the event that you don't want AccountKit to automatically post the interest journals each period, simple turn this function off here.
2. Accounting Treatment
   • Account for unexpired interest - for when you need to gross up the liability and separate the unexpired interest charges to a different account. Requires the following accounts
     • Non-current liability account - Gross balance
       • Allocate your payments to this account.
     • Non-current liability account - Unexpired Interest balance
       • Interest journals are journaled from this account.
   • Account for current / non-current entries - enables you to automatically split your liabilities between current and non-current liabilities upon purchase; Each interest journal then re-assigns the next transaction within the 12-month period so that you always have the next 12 months within the current liability accounts. Requires the following accounts
     • Current liability account - Next 12 months Net balance
       • Allocate your payments to this account.
       • Current interest journals post from this account.
       • Next 12 months net balance is journaled to this account
     • Non-current liability account - Net balance over and beyond 12 months
       • Next 12 months net balance is journaled from this account
   • Both above options are toggled on - this facilitates splitting the non-current and current liabilities between the gross liability amount and unexpired interest. Requires the following accounts.
     • Current liability account - Next 12 months Gross balance
       • Allocate your payments to this account.
       • Next 12 months Gross balance is journaled to this account (ie. the payment amount due in 12 months)
     • Current liability account - Next 12 months Unexpired Interest balance
       • Current interest journals post from this account.
       • The next 12 months' interest figure is journaled to this account
     • Non-current liability account - Gross balance over and beyond 12 months
       • Next 12 months Gross balance is journaled from this account
     • Non-current liability account - Unexpired Interest balance for the period beyond 12 months.
       • The next 12 months' interest figure is journaled from this account
3. Show purchase journal on cash basis reports:
   • Enables you to define whether any purchase journals posted from within an equipment finance journal are to show on cash basis reports or not.
4. Show interest journal on cash basis reports
   • Enables you to define whether any interest journals posted from within an equipment finance journal are to show on cash basis reports or not.
5. Utilise account default tax codes for interest journals
   • By default, AccountKit will post interest entries as BAS EXCLUDED. This option enables you to have the journals take on the GST code of the interest account instead.

 

i	Note that the finance tool settings can be overwritten on a per schedule basis under the Actions -> Settings menu option.

Bulk Import of Schedules

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If you would like to bring in a number of schedules in one go, you have the option to import a spreadsheet with the basic details to speed up the process.

To commence the process, simply go to the Action Menu on the Equipment Finance List Page and select "Import from Excel".

i	At this point, we only support the import of regular equipment finance schedules. Irregular schedules will need to be created manually using the normal process identified in this help guide.

   

 

Steps		Description
1	Download the Template	We've prepared a simple Excel (.xlsx) template that you can fill in ready for import. Select the "Download The Template" link and save the template to somewhere you'll easily find afterwards, such as the Downloads folder.
2	Enter the Details into the Template	Fill in the details identified by the column names with each finance schedule on its own line. Make sure to delete Row 2 which is just an example for you to work from and get an idea of what to enter in each field. i Please note per the above, don't change any of the heading names, or the template will not work.
3	Upload the Completed Template	Select the "Choose File" button and browse to where you have saved the import file. Once selected, press "Import" to commence the import process.
4	Review and resolve any errors.	Once uploaded we will do a series of cross-checks to ensure the data is valid. If any errors are found with the data, the import will stop and either one of the following two things will happen. Serious errors will cause the import process to fail with a message from the top of the page; This type of error is where the type of data is mismatched - eg. If you have Characters in the date field or a date in a number field. The not-so-serious errors will form a full list at the bottom of the page with a clear description of what you need to do to fix the issue - Some examples include, missing mandatory information such as the payment start date or loan amount, or perhaps the number of payments isn't enough to cover the total loan. Once you've fixed all of the errors, re-import the file once again where if successful, you'll receive a confirmation that all went well.
5	Review the imported schedules and finalise.	We now recommend that you open up each of the imported equipment finance schedules and carry out the following actions. Where relevant, ensure that Xero based clients are linked up to Xero from their applicable detail or family group page (See here) If you would like the particular schedule to sync with Xero, select the applicable checkbox and where the conversion date hasn't been set, fill in those details (if relevant) Check that the variables are all correct Select the applicable accounts AccountKit is to sync with. Once all of the details are confirmed, press the "Build Schedule" and press "Save". For those with a conversion date, make sure that the AccountKit balances match the Xero balance. This may necessitate: Selecting a different account, if you have selected a wrong account Selecting a different conversion date; OR Preparing a minor adjustment in Xero either at the conversion date or the day after to bring the schedule in line. Return to the list page and repeat until they're all done. That's it - from here we'll take over the heavy lifting and start posting journals each night as the payment date passes. i It's perhaps easier to import a family group at a time, then once completed, you can filter the equipment finance list by family group, then make your way through each of the schedules within the list, rather than having to wade through all the finance schedules in the practice.

 

How to create a finance schedule (with no connected accounting software)

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There are plenty of times where clients aren’t connected to a cloud accounting package, but where you’ll still want to create a schedule for manually preparing journals into your ledger software. In this instance, it's simply a matter of building a schedule and exporting to PDF for reconciling against.

1. Open the Equipment Finance tool and select “Create new Equipment Finance Schedule” from the top.
2. The new equipment finance schedule will open, first of all, prompting you to choose a client.
3. You can now select the applicable client and add in a description of the asset being purchased before selecting the “Continue” button.
4. Complete the variables in the Finance Details section based on the original finance contract. Items which are mandatory are marked with an “*”.
5. The results will then auto-populate based on the variables that you’ve entered which you can check back against the original details to ensure they’re correct.
6. Now complete the “Accounts” section by selecting a loan account and an interest-paid account from the client's chart of accounts in Xero.
7. Once these details have been completed, click on “save” to save the Equipment Finance schedule details to the relevant client.
8. This will then prompt a button labelled “Build Schedule.” Click on this to build the schedule and scroll down to view it.
9. Skip between the “Repayment Schedule” and “Annual Schedule” for a quick comparison of the current balance and end-of-financial year balance if required.
10. Now you can print the schedule to your client file for future reference.

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If you’re using Xero Ledger, you can still connect AccountKit for posting your interest journals for the year; It’s just a matter of coding your client's movements to the applicable ledger account (which will represent all payments made for the year), then AccountKit can post the interest journals and check that they match. This isn't ideal though as you'll end up without off balances every single month, so better at this point to flag it for not reconciling with Xero. Note also, that the build schedule button won't activate until all of the required variables are filled in.

 

How to create an Existing Equipment Finance schedule (Connected to a cloud accounting package)

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Utilise this process when you've previously been reconciling the loan to a previously created schedule.

1. Open the Equipment Finance tool and select “Create new Equipment Finance Schedule” from the top.
2. The new equipment finance schedule will open, first of all, prompting you to choose a client.
   • If the client's accounting software is connected to AccountKit, you will be able to select the “Refresh Account List” button to pull in the account details.
3. Once you’ve selected a client, a tick box will appear labelled “Existing Agreement” – In this instance, ensure “Existing Agreement” is selected.
4. Upon selecting this tick box, a new field labelled “Conversion Date” will appear. Complete this with the date of the last reconciled balance within your client's accounting software that you would like AccountKit to start posting interest journals from.
5. Enter a description for the equipment finance and choose “Continue”.
   • Ensure there’s an adequate description to make it easy to identify for future reference.
   • Optionally fill in the Registration No and Contract No fields if you wish.
6. Complete the variables in the Finance Details section based on the original finance contract. Items that are mandatory are marked with a “*”.
7. The results will then auto-populate based on the variables that you’ve entered which you can check back against the original details to ensure they’re correct.
8. Now complete the “Accounts” section by selecting a loan account and an interest paid to an account from the client's chart of accounts. (see the info section below for more details)
9. Once these details have been completed, click on “save” to save the Equipment Finance schedule details to the relevant client.
10. This will then prompt a button labelled “Build Schedule.” Click on this to build the schedule and scroll down to view it.
11. If the previously reconciled balance in Xero does not match the schedule, the  will appear. Selecting this will give you the ability to post and adjust to correct the balance.
    • Choose the date to post - it defaults to the conversion date. But if you need it to be after this date (eg. conversion at 30/06 but need to adjust on 01/07 if the financials for the year are already complete).
    • It will calculate the adjusting entries for you and allocate the difference to the interest account, which you can then change if you need to.
    • You'll now note a small (i) icon where you can cross-check the date that the adjustment was posted and therefore the balance that AccountKit is showing and why it may differ from Xero.
12. If you scroll down, you will see an icon in the Action Column with the option to “Post Journal”.
    • Note that you’ll only see this from the point that you identified your equipment finance schedule was last reconciled in the initial steps.
    • For example, if you selected that your equipment finance schedule has a conversion balance (ie. last reconciled) was 30/06/2016, you won’t be given the option to post the interest journal until July 2016.
13. Click on the Post Journal icon in the Action column to post the interesting journal into your accounting software.
    • At this point, the repayment schedule will show a comparative balance for you to cross-check against your repayment schedule balance.
    • It will be green if it’s reconciled or red if it’s not.
14. You have an option then, to void the journal at any point by selecting the  icon.
15. You can also jump between the “Repayment Schedule” and “Annual Schedule” for a quick comparison of the current balance and end-of-financial year balance if required.

i	Note that the "Build Schedule" button will not activate until the mandatory variables are entered, including the Xero accounts (required to retrieve the applicable balances).

 

How to create a New Equipment Finance schedule (Connected to a cloud accounting package)

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1. Open the Equipment Finance tool and select “create new Equipment Finance Schedule” from the top.
2. The new equipment finance schedule will open, first of all, prompting you to choose a client.
   • If the client's accounting software is connected to AccountKit, you will be able to select the “Refresh Account List” button to pull in the account details.
3. Once you’ve selected a client, a tick box will appear labelled “Existing Agreement” – In this instance, ensure “Existing Agreement” is left unticked.
4. Enter a description for the equipment finance and choose “Continue”.
   • Ensure there’s an adequate description to make it easy to identify for future reference.
   • Optionally fill in the Registration No and Contract No fields if you wish.
5. Within the new “Purchase and Deposit” area, click on “Add new purchase or deposit line” to enter the relevant equipment finance purchase details. You can create as many line items as required until the total matches the amount that has been financed.
   • Check that the Amount Includes Tax is set to the correct setting.
   • Where there’s been a deposit paid, enter it as a negative and select the applicable account to which the deposit was originally allocated.
   • Ensure that you click on the disk icon from the “Actions” column to save each purchase or deposit line.
6. Once completed, scroll down and you’ll note that the “Amount Financed” field is now updated based on the data entered. Cross check that this matches the amount financed.
7. Complete the remaining variables in the Finance Details section based on the original finance contract. Items that are mandatory are marked with a “*”.
   • The results will then auto-populate based on the variables that you’ve entered.
8. Now complete the “Accounts” section by selecting the loan and interest paid account from the client's chart of accounts. (see the info section below for more details)
9. Once these details have been completed, click on “save” to save the details of the Equipment Finance schedule to the relevant client.
10. Once saved, you’ll be able to click on the button “Post Purchase Journal” which will post a journal into your client's accounting software with the purchase, crediting the relevant loan account with the financed amount.
11. You can now select “Build Schedule” to create your equipment finance schedule.
    • You’ll now see an  icon in the status column giving you an option to post your interest journals.
    • Note that you’ll only be given this option after the date of the repayment has occurred.
12. Click on the  icon to post the interest journal into your accounting software (or leave it and if auto posting is enabled in practice settings it will post overnight), at which point the repayment schedule will show the balance in Xero and cross-check against your repayment schedule balance. It will you will be presented with a green if it’s reconciled or a red  if it’s not.
13. You have an option to then void the journal at any point by selecting the  icon.
14. You can also jump between the “Repayment Schedule” and “Annual Schedule” for a quick comparison of the current balance and end-of-financial year balance if required.

i	Note that the "Build Schedule" button will not activate until the mandatory variables are entered, including the Xero accounts (required to retrieve the applicable balances).

 

How to create a NEW Equipment Finance schedule, but without the purchase journal

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Utilise this process when it's a brand new schedule, but you have already completed the establishing of opening balance for the liability accounts and purchase entries yourself. This removes the purchase journal option.

1. Open the Equipment Finance tool and select “Create new Equipment Finance Schedule” from the top.
2. The new equipment finance schedule will open, first of all, prompting you to choose a client.
   • If the client's accounting software is connected to AccountKit, you will be able to select the “Refresh Account List” button to pull in the account details.
3. Once you’ve selected a client, a tick box will appear labelled “Existing Agreement” – Make sure this IS selected.
4. Upon selecting this tick box, a new field labelled “Conversion Date” will appear. Enter a date just prior to the contract date.
5. Now simply follow the same instructions from above at point 6 after you've entered the finance amount.

 

 

How to create an Irregular Equipment Finance schedule

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Creating an irregular repayment schedule is similar to creating an ordinary finance schedule for the initial steps. Here we outline the elements unique to irregular repayments

1. Open the Equipment Finance tool and select “create new Equipment Finance Schedule” from the top.
2. The new equipment finance schedule will open, first of all, prompting you to choose a client.
3. Once you’ve selected a client, two tick boxes will appear – one which is labelled “Existing Agreement” and the other which is labelled “Amounts Include Tax” – In this instance, ensure “Existing Agreement” is left unticked and press “Continue”.
4. Within the new “Purchase and Deposit” area, click on “Add new purchase or deposit line” to enter the relevant equipment finance purchase details. You can create as many line items as required until the total matches the amount that has been financed.
   • Where there’s been a deposit paid, enter it as a negative and select the applicable account to which the deposit was originally allocated to.
   • Ensure that you click on the disk icon from the “Actions” column to save each purchase or deposit line.
5. Once completed, scroll down and you’ll note that the “Amount Financed” field is now updated based on the data entered. Cross check that this matches the amount financed.
6. Enter the other basic details about the finance with respect to the Financier, Contract Date, Date of First Payment and the Residual Balance.
7. Now complete the “Accounts” section by selecting the loan and interest paid account from the client's chart of accounts. (see the info section below for more details)
8. Once these details have been completed, click on “save” to save the details of the Equipment Finance schedule to the selected client.
9. Select the  icon to bring up the "Add Payment" pop-up window and fill in the details according to how often you want a payment to repeat, keep in mind you can edit and delete them afterwards.

10. Repeat the process until a majority of the framework for the payments you want to add to the schedule are in place, then customise them to get exactly what you're after
    • You can edit or delete any particular line by selecting the applicable icon;  This enables you to edit specific payments within a schedule. For example,
      1. Adding a large one-off payment on the second payment for GST
      2. Zero out or delete a particular month or two of payments representing the period after harvest.
    • Some examples of methods for creating complex schedules include
      • 2 Annual payments just in February and March each year - Method: Create two series of annual payments starting in February then, March
      • Large one-off GST payment on second payment - Method: Create a monthly schedule over the required number of periods, then edit the second payment to increase it to the full required figure.
    • Once you've finished editing the applicable line;
      • Select  to save the changes to the line.
      • Select  to cancel the changes.
11. Once the applicable details have been entered, the "Calculate Interest" button will enable. Upon activating:
    • It will work through and calculate the interest to apply to each payment
    • The post journal  and reverse journal  will appear in the Actions column
    • The edit and delete options will be hidden.
    • Note that you’ll only be given the option to post a journal after the date of the repayment has occurred.
12. Click on the icon to post the interest journal into your accounting software (or leave it and if auto posting is enabled in practice settings it will post overnight), at which point the repayment schedule will show the balance in Xero and cross-check against your repayment schedule balance. You will then be presented with a green  if it’s reconciled or a red  if it’s not.
13. You have an option to then void the journal at any point.
14. You can also jump between the “Repayment Schedule” and “Annual Schedule” for a quick comparison of the current balance and end-of-financial year balance if required.

i	Note that if you change any of the variables or payments, the interest entries will be cleared and you'll need to re-calculate the interest; All entries will be locked the moment the first journal has been posted.

 

How to fix an out-of-balance finance schedule.

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• This can happen for any number of reasons, all requiring you to enter the accounting software and review the applicable liability account. Three of the most common causes include.
  • GST has been applied to loan repayment;
  • Loan repayment has been allocated to the wrong account.
  • Some other amount has been posted to the liability account.
• Alternatively, you can select the cross to see a pop-up of the transactions between the payment dates
  • This may give you a clue as to what the issue may be.
  • If you're not sure about a transaction, select the Xero icon to go to that transaction in Xero.

• To fix the issue, it’s simply a matter of fixing the above transactional issues within the accounting software, then within AccountKit, just press the refresh button within the "Repayment Schedule" tab. to refresh the Xero data and balances.   

 

How to handle one-off events.

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One-off events are about adjusting the look and behaviour of schedules based on a change that's occurred such as a payout or refinance. Here are the examples that we currently cover.

Start by heading to anywhere on the schedule where the 3 dot menu will appear on the right

• Mouse over and select the 3 dots context-sensitive menu within the schedule.
• Choose the one-off event option

 

Defer Payment

#1 Simple Deferral - Use this event when a loan has had its payments put on hold for a period of time. This version simply assumes that there is no penalty or capitalised interest, but instead simply pushes payments back by the number of months selected. 

You can elect to do multiple deferrals in a row, for when a financier initially gives you 3 months, but then they give an extension for another 3 months.

• Select Payment Deferral to show the applicable fields.
• Set the Method applied to Simple Deferral
• Identify the date when you would like to commence the deferral (note that the deferral will commence from and including that date)
• Enter the Number of months for the deferral
• Select End of financial year adjustment if you want any adjustment calculated and posted at the end of the financial year instead of the deferral date. This check box only appears in the following circumstances.
  • When it's detected that the deferral period spans a financial year.
  • Where you have current / non-current splits enabled in schedule settings.
• Depending on your account setup, you'll have two outcomes
  • If your schedule DOES NOT use current and non-current splits, you can select continue to kick off the process;
  • If your schedule DOES use current and non-current splits:
    • Press Preview to see a journal preview; This journal is adjusting the current/non-current allocations as of the deferral date.
    • Please Note: We take the view that a deferral is an unexpected event and so should not change prior periods' data. Otherwise, this would result in a voiding and reposting of prior periods of journals to allow for the movements triggered, which may also span a financial year, which is undesirable.
• This will then simply:
  • Post any journals up to the deferral date and void any journals after.
  • As required it'll post any adjustments as at the deferral date
  • Lastly, it will update the timing of the payments on the schedule and where applicable update the current / non-current splits going forward.
• The outcome will look something like this
  • The dashed line is effectively a "line drawn in the sand" prior to the deferral.
  • We also show the amount of adjustment between the current and non-current splits.

 

Undoing a deferral

Sometimes you'll need to undo a deferral event for whatever reason. To undo it, it's super simple:

• Simply press the  Reverse Deferral button to undo the schedule changes and any associated adjustments.
• Note that you have to undo deferrals in the reverse order that you created them; The latest first.

 

Cancel Schedule

Use this event when you simply want to stop posting entries and reporting against a schedule; At this point it's a good idea to simply archive the schedule.

• Select Cancel Schedule to show the applicable fields.
• Identify the date when you would like to cancel the schedule.
• Select Continue
• This will then simply:
  • Mark the schedule as Cancelled - no further journals will be posted.

 

Early Payout of Schedule

Use this event when you have a schedule that has been paid out with a lump sum amount. AccountKit will then process all of the applicable journals and update the schedule accordingly.

• Select Early Payout to show the applicable fields.
• Identify the date and amount of the payout along with the account the payout has been allocated to.
• Select Preview

• Review the content of the proposed journal.
• If all looks to be in order, press the Post button
• This will kick off the process to:
  • Journal out the balances to clear all liability accounts back against the payment account, with the net balance allocated to interest.
  • Update the schedule to show the revised schedule as of the date of payment.
  • Mark the schedule as Paid Out - no further journals will be posted.

 

Refinance of Schedule

Use this event when you have a schedule that has been refinanced to a new loan. AccountKit will then process all of the applicable journals, update the schedule accordingly and prepare a new schedule. This can even be used where you have financed your insurance and the amount increased throughout the year - see below.

• Select Refinance Schedule to show the applicable fields.
• Identify and update as follows
  • The date and amount of the refinance - the date from the contract date for the new schedule while the amount of payout is the refinanced amount to clear the old liability.
  • Optionally include the borrowing expense here IF this has been included in the funding. There is an option in the new schedule also to add further lines if you would prefer to leave this blank.
• Select Preview

• Review the content of the proposed journal.
• If all looks to be in order, press the Post button
• This will kick off the process to:
  • Journal out the balances to clear all liability accounts back against the payment account, with the net balance allocated to interest.
  • Update the schedule to show the revised schedule as at the date of payment.
  • Mark the schedule as Refinanced - no further journals will be posted.
  • The refinanced balance + borrowing expense will then be copied into a new schedule.
• From here it's a matter of treating this new schedule like any other schedule.
  • Update the purchase area to align the amount financed if not correct, it will otherwise be populated with the original refinanced field in a non-editable row (we'll be journaling out of this in a moment)
  • Then go through and enter the other finance details + accounts;
  • Build the schedule;
  • Post the purchase journal to re-allocate the refinanced amount between the various liability accounts.
• The new schedule is now good to go!

i	Where a schedule isn't set to sync with Xero, each of the above events are the same, they just miss the step of posting journals to Xero.

 

 

Refinance of Schedule (Insurance Increase)

Utilise this process for when you've financed your insurance and then needed to increase it throughout the year as a result of an asset purchase/disposal, resulting in an increase in the amount financed.

1. You have two options:
   1. Setup a new account in Xero for the revised loan amount; OR
   2. You can post the refinanced amount back into the same set of accounts.
2. Go to the line after the last payment at the old rate and run a "One-off event - Refinanced" for the balance leftover on the schedule (you can always reverse the one-off event if you choose the wrong period);
   • Allocate to any suspense account you like (This is a temporary location where we place the payout figure - but can be posted to the same account);
   • You don't have to put any borrowing expense here if you don't want - you can do that on the establishment of the new schedule;
   • You'll then get to preview the journal that AK is about to post. Just check that it's doing what you'd expect.
   • Upon accepting this it'll post the journal and market this schedule as refinanced (+ it'll void/post other entries as required).
3. It'll then create a new schedule with the payout figure pre-populating the purchase area;
   • You can then at this point add in the extra additions to the insurance + borrowing expenses etc to bring the total borrowing figure up.
   • Build the schedule then post the establishing entry.
   • Review the figures are all good, then you're good to go.

 

Posting of Journals (manual & automated)

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Bulk Posting of Journals

There is a number of ways and places to go about posting journals. Where you need to post lots of journals, it's way more effective to choose one of the bulk post options below since many journals can be posted to Xero in one API call.

• Go to the equipment schedule and press the post journal icon  for its line on the schedule. Select from one of the options:

• This journal - just posts the journal for the selected line.
• To select the payment date - post all journals from the start date/conversion date / last payment date up to the selected date.
• End of schedule - posts all journals from the start/conversion / last payment dates right through to the end of the schedule. (don't worry, these can be bulk voided). The benefit of this is that you have all journals in place ready for tax planning and other future planning.
• From the equipment finance list page, select the post journal icon button in the action column for each schedule; Select from of the options

• • Current Date - This will post all journals up to and including today's date.
  • Other Date - Here you can choose any other date that you'd like the schedule posted to.

Automating your journals

Within the practice settings for the equipment finance tool, you have the option to turn on auto-posting of entries throughout the year. This will post all available journals at the end of each day.

• Go to your practice settings and turn on the automation option.
• Interest journals only become available to post once the payment date has passed.
• If you're having problems posting interest journals into your accounting software, check to ensure that the period being posted is unlocked.
• This can then be over-written on a per schedule basis by editing the applicable settings within each schedule's action menu.

 

i

Where you select multiple journals to post at once, or AccountKit auto-posts some entries overnight you will receive a notification in the notification strip identifying when the process has been completed and the associated outcomes. From there you can click through to a summary report to identify any schedules that are out of balance so you can click through to fix them. Alternatively, you can access all of the summary reports from the equipment finance list page within the Actions menu.

   

Related Links

Menus & Shared Elements	This support article covers all the menus and shared elements used throughout AccountKit
Document Management System (DMS)	Learn how to connect and manage your DMS
Xero Connection	Head here to understand how the Xero Connection is setup and associated statuses along with troubleshooting issues such as locked periods.