Recording a sale in AccBooks AI

Ways to record a sale in AccBooks

There are three main ways to record sales income, depending on your business type and invoicing practice:

1. Sales invoice — create and send an invoice; AccBooks records the sale when the invoice is sent.
2. Bank receipt — classify an incoming bank transaction as sales income in the reconciliation queue.
3. Sales journal — post a manual journal for complex or estimated revenue.

Method 1 — Sales invoices

If you invoice customers before receiving payment, the invoice method is the most accurate approach.

1. Go to Invoices → New invoice and complete the invoice.
2. Click Send (or Mark as sent).
3. AccBooks posts: Debit Debtors (1100), Credit Sales (4000).
4. When payment arrives in your bank, AccBooks matches it to the invoice and clears the debtor balance.

This method correctly records revenue at the point of sale (when the invoice is raised), not when cash is received — as required under accruals accounting.

For cash accounting (sole traders or VAT cash accounting): Revenue is recognised when payment is received. AccBooks handles this automatically if you’ve set your accounting basis to Cash under Settings → Company.

Method 2 — Classifying bank receipts

For retail businesses, freelancers or any situation where you receive payment without raising a formal invoice:

1. In the Reconciliation queue, find the incoming bank payment.
2. Click the transaction.
3. Set the nominal code to the appropriate sales account (e.g., 4000 — Sales).
4. Set the VAT treatment (Standard 20%, Zero, Exempt, etc.).
5. Add a description.
6. Click Approve.

AccBooks posts: Debit Bank (1200), Credit Sales (4000) and Credit VAT liability (2200) if applicable.

Method 3 — Manual sales journal

For accruals, deferred income or complex revenue recognition:

1. Go to Journals → New journal.
2. Post the journal lines:
   • Debit Debtors (1100): the gross amount invoiced
   • Credit Sales (4000): the net amount
   • Credit VAT Liability (2200): the VAT element
3. Add a description and date.
4. Click Post.

Use this for:

• Recognising revenue earned but not yet invoiced (accrued income).
• Deferring revenue received in advance (deferred income).
• Correcting mis-posted sales entries.

VAT on sales

When you record a sale with standard VAT (20%):

• AccBooks calculates VAT on the selling price.
• The VAT is posted to your output VAT account (2200).
• It appears in Box 1 and Box 6 of your VAT return.

For zero-rated or exempt sales, select the appropriate VAT treatment — no VAT is posted, but the net amount still appears in Box 6.

Sales by nominal code

AccBooks lets you use multiple sales nominal codes for different income streams:

• 4000 — Main product sales
• 4001 — Service revenue
• 4002 — Delivery income
• 4003 — Other income

Splitting sales by code makes P&L analysis more meaningful — you can see exactly which revenue streams are growing or shrinking.

Refunds and returns

See Credit notes and refunds for how to handle returned goods and sales corrections.