The accounting integration feature provides the capability to assign financial transactions to a batch, or to use batches created from batch data entry, then export the batch to be imported into accounting software.
Financial Types need to be set-up before you begin using CiviCRM for financial transactions. (In old versions of CiviCRM, financial types were known as contribution types. Each financial type will have financial accounts associated with it.
From Administer > CiviContribute > Financial Types, you can set up the different financial accounts that are associated with each type. As you create a Financial Type of a specific name, CiviCRM creates a similarly named Revenue Financial Account and assigns it and the default accounts for Accounts Receivable and a few other account types to the new financial type. The aim behind these actions is to simplify the common use case, but provide flexible for more sophisticated setups. The setup of Financial Types determines how CiviCRM transactions relate to them. It needs to be done properly in order to ensure your export from CiviCRM will correctly transfer financial transactions into your accounting database.
Accounting software such as Quickbooks requires specific fields to be included in the import file in order to process external data correctly. From Administer > CiviContribute > Financial Accounts, you can set up specifics of your financial accounts.
It's important that the account codes and names in your organization's Chart of Accounts be used to set up the financial accounts in CiviCRM. A variety of accounts are created by default, and it is often easier to edit these accounts than to delete them all and start from scratch. The initial financial accounts in a new CiviCRM install include a variety of revenue accounts, and other ones that your bookkeeper will recognize, such as accounts receivable. We recommend you configure financial types and financial accounts in coordination with your bookkeeper or accountant.
Many accounting software options require the accounting code to match exactly, so be careful to avoid extra spaces.
From the Accounting Batches main page, you may search for existing batches or create a new batch.
Batches can be created through the batch data entry tool or by grouping existing transactions.
Select Contributions > Batch Data Entry or Memberships > Batch Data Entry. Give the Batch a name, choose either contribution or membership as the type and enter the number of transactions that will appear in the batch and the total amount of all the contributions. You can later return to edit these parameters as long as the batch remains open.
On the next screen you can begin entering your contribution data, if membership was chosen as the type during batch set-up you will be able to add membership information as well. If the contact is new, you can add them during the batch.
After entering your batch through the batch data entry tool, then validate and close, it will appear in the accounting batch listing with a status of Closed.
Select "New Accounting Batch." This opens the batch creation screen. Before you assign transactions to a batch, you will first define the parameters.
Enter the batch name (required). CiviCRM will create a default batch name ("Batch N" + open date), which you can edit. You may optionally enter a description of the batch.
You may also set several Optional Constraint parameters:
If you want this batch to contain only transactions paid by a specific Payment Instrument, select it from the drop down: Credit Card, Debit Card, Check, Cash, or EFT, or any custom Payment Instruments you may have set up.
If you know in advance the number of transactions that will be in the batch, enter it in Number of Transactions. When you close the batch, CiviCRM will verify that you have entered the correct number (you will have the opportunity to override the warning if they do not match).
If you know in advance the total amount of the transactions that will be in the batch, enter it in Total Amount. When you close your batch, CiviCRM will verify the totals entered match this number (you will have the opportunity to override the warning if they do not match).
You can later return to edit these parameters as long as the batch remains open.
From the Accounting Batches screen, select an open batch. Click "Transactions." This opens the transaction assignment screen.
At the top of the screen is displayed the parameters of the batch:
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created by
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status (open, closed, or exported)
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the description entered when the batch was created
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the specified payment instrument (if one was selected when the batch was created)
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the number of entered transactions (if a number of transactions was specified when the batch was created)
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the number of assigned transactions (which will update as you assign transactions to the batch)
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the entered total amount of the transactions (if a total amount was specified when the batch was created)
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the assigned total amount (which will update as you assign transactions to the batch)
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the date the batch was opened.
Below that is a list of transactions assigned to the batch. This will be empty until you assign transactions to the batch. There is also an action dropdown selection that will not be available until transactions are assigned to the batch.
At the bottom of the page is search pane to find transactions to assign to the batch. Click "Edit Search Criteria" to open a search pane. If a Payment Instrument was selected when the batch was created, this option will be selected by default. Search for the contributions you want to add to the batch.
From the search results list, you may assign a single transaction to the batch by clicking "Assign" at the end of the result row. Or you may select multiple transactions and use the action menu above the results to select "Assign to Batch." The transactions will be added to the assigned transaction list, and will be removed from the search results list.
Once you have assigned transactions to the batch, they will appear in the assigned transactions list in the middle of the page. If you need to remove transactions from the batch, select "Remove" at the end of a row of an individual transaction, or select multiple transactions and use the action menu above the list to select "Remove from Batch."
You will also see changes to the parameters table at the top of the page, reflecting the new number and total amount of assigned transactions.
If you want to return and edit the batch later, simply return to the Accounting Batch main page. The batch status will remain "Open."
Once you have completed assigning the transactions, you may close the batch, or close and export it.
If you attempt to close the batch and your assigned number of transactions does not match the entered number of transactions, or if the assigned total transaction amount does not match the entered total amount, a "Mismatch" error message will appear. You may close the error message and return to the batch to correct the mismatch, or you may click "OK" to override the error; the entered transaction number and total amount will update to match the assigned transaction number and total amount, and the batch will be closed.
If you close the batch without exporting it, the batch status will change to Closed. You may re-open the batch later, before exporting it, or you may export the transactions later.
If you close and export the batch, you may choose your export format. CSV will produce a spreadsheet of comma-separated values. IIF will produce a file in Intuit Interchange Format, which is used by Intuit products such as Quickbooks to import transactions. Once the transactions are exported, the batch status changes to Exported. An exported batch cannot be re-opened.
From the Accounting Batch main page, you may filter the list of displayed batches by status (Open, Closed, or Exported); batch name; the user who created it; the Payment Instrument; the entered number of transactions; and the entered total amount.
If a batch has the status Open, select "Transactions" to assign or remove transactions, or select "Edit" to edit the batch parameters. Under "more" you can choose to close, export, or delete the batch.
If a batch has the status Closed, select "Transactions" to view the assigned transactions, or select "Export" to export the assigned transactions to a CSV or IFF export file. Under "more" you can choose to re-open or delete the batch.
If a batch has the status Exported, select "Transactions" to view the transactions assigned to the batch; select "Download" to export the CSV or IIF file of assigned transactions; or select "Delete" to delete the batch. Once a batch is exported it cannot be re-opened.
From the search results page, you may also take action on more than one batch. Select all the batches to be updated, and choose an option from the action dropdown menu: Re-open, Close, Export, or Delete.
From the Advanced Search Contribution pane, or from Find Contributions, you can search by Batch Name. Select a batch and the results will return all transactions stored in the batch.