Step 4 · Petty expenses (the ones with no invoice)

In one sentence

Stationery, a laptop the boss paid for himself, a renovation balance with no proper invoice — all of it goes on this one page. One screen, and the system does the bookkeeping for you.

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1. When to use this page

Situation	This page?
The boss paid for a laptop out of his own pocket	✅ Yes
Stationery, you only have a till receipt	✅ Yes
Renovation balance, no proper invoice	✅ Yes
Staff paid for a taxi and claims it back	✅ Yes
A supplier issued a proper invoice (letterhead, UEN)	❌ No — use Step 5
Salaries	❌ No — use Step 7

Rule of thumb: proper invoice → Bills. Till receipt or nothing → this page.

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2. The page

Fig. 01-expenses-page

Entry form on top, everything already recorded below.

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3. Filling it in

1

The date you spent it — not today

2

Say what it was — this is what you'll read later

3

Amount in dollars (68.40)

4

Pick the account — laptops go to an asset account

5

Who paid? This drives the double entry

Fig. 02-form-filled

Field	What to enter	Watch out
Date	The date the money was spent	⚠️ Not today. Catching up on a three-month-old receipt? Use that date.
Description	What it was, specifically	You'll be reading this in six months. "Sundry" tells you nothing.
Amount	Dollars, e.g. 68.40	No need for cents fields
Account	See Step 3	⚠️ Laptops / TVs / renovation go to asset accounts (14xx), not expenses
Paid by	Four options, see below	🔴 The critical one
GST code	The Academy isn't GST-registered — pick NG	See below
Note	Optional
Receipt	Photograph the slip and attach it	Strongly recommended — saves pain at audit

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4. 🔴 "Paid by" — this one decides the bookkeeping

The most important field on the page. It tells the system where the money came from:

You pick	Meaning	System records
Company bank	Paid from the company DBS account	Bank balance goes down
Company cash	Taken from the office cash box	Cash goes down
Director advance	The boss paid personally	The company now owes the boss (2600 Due to director)
Staff advance	Staff paid, claiming it back	The company owes the staff member (2610)

Why "director advance" isn't a cash payment

When the boss pays personally, the company's cash and bank are untouched — but the company now owes him.

That debt only becomes a real cash outflow when he takes the money back. Get this wrong and your cash balance stops matching the bank.

This trips up most beginners, and it's the normal case during the Academy's setup period — the company account may not even have existed yet, so almost everything was advanced by the boss.

Picking Company bank reveals an extra Bank account dropdown — choose DBS Current Account.

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5. GST code: pick NG

The Academy is not GST-registered, so:

• GST charged by suppliers cannot be reclaimed — it's simply part of the cost
• Always pick NG (No GST — not registered, input tax absorbed into cost)
• Enter the total you actually paid, GST included

Don't pick TX

TX means "reclaimable input tax". Pick it and the system books 9% input GST that the Academy cannot actually claim — the books go wrong. Use NG.

If the Academy registers for GST later, this rule changes and this manual will be updated.

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6. After you press "Post expense"

The system books it immediately and it appears in the list below.

Example: the boss advances $1,899 for a laptop

What the system books
Dr 1410 Computers & IT equipment	$1,899.00
Cr 2600 Due to director	$1,899.00

In plain words: the company gained a $1,899 laptop and now owes the boss $1,899.

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7. If you get it wrong

Posted entries cannot be deleted or edited

This is a hard rule of accounting systems, not the software being awkward — books that can be quietly edited are books an auditor won't accept.

Press Reverse on that row. The system creates an equal and opposite entry that cancels it out. Then enter the correct one.

You end up with three records (wrong, reversal, right). That is normal and correct — the audit trail is supposed to show what changed.

So: check the amount and the company name before you press Post.

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8. Tag setup-period costs

Costs from before the Academy opened are worth being able to total separately (for tax and for management).

If you see a Phase option, pick Pre-opening for setup-period costs and Operating afterwards.

Not sure which side something falls on: use the first day of classes as the cut-off.