Accounting in Columbus handles money after operations: customer sales invoices, supplier purchase invoices, payments, the general ledger, and financial reports. Open it from the admin sidebar under Accounting.
All accounting data is scoped to your active company. Switch companies from the header if you work across multiple entities.
How accounting is organised
The Accounting sidebar matches how finance teams work - documents first, then the ledger, then reports.
Documents
Day-to-day vouchers you create, submit, and sometimes cancel.
| Page | What it is |
|---|---|
| Sales Invoices | Money customers owe you |
| Purchase Invoices | Money you owe suppliers |
| Payment Entries | Customer receipts, supplier payments, transfers |
| Journal Entries | Manual GL adjustments |
Ledger
Read-only views of what has been posted.
| Page | What it is |
|---|---|
| Accounts | Chart of accounts and balances |
| GL Entries | Raw general ledger lines |
| General Ledger | GL with account names and date filters |
| Payment Ledger Entries | AR/AP sub-ledger transactions |
| Payment Ledger | Who owes you / who you owe |
Reports
Financial statements built from posted entries.
| Page | What it is |
|---|---|
| Reports Hub | Entry point to all reports |
| Trial Balance | Debit and credit totals per account |
| Balance Sheet | Assets, liabilities, and equity |
| Profit & Loss | Income and expenses |
Document lifecycle
Every invoice, payment, and journal entry follows the same pattern:
- Draft - editable, nothing posted yet
- Submit - posts to the general ledger (and payment ledger where relevant)
- Cancelled - reverses a submitted document (invoices can be cancelled when submitted or partially paid; payments and journals when submitted)
Invoices can also become partially paid or paid when payments are allocated against them.
Getting started
- 1
Open Accounting from the admin sidebar.
- 2
On the Overview, seed the default chart of accounts if your company has none yet (admin/finance permission required).
- 3
Create or open sales invoices - manually in Accounting, or from a trip option’s Finance tab.
- 4
Record payments when customers pay or you pay suppliers.
- 5
Use Reports and Payment Ledger to review balances and outstanding amounts.
Permissions
Access depends on your role in the active company:
| Permission | Allows |
|---|---|
accounts.view / accounts.manage | View or edit chart of accounts |
sales_invoices.view / .manage | Sales invoices |
purchase_invoices.view / .manage | Purchase invoices |
payments.view / .manage | Payment entries |
journal_entries.view / .manage | Journal entries |
accounting_reports.view | Reports, GL views, payment ledger |
Tips
- Submit invoices when figures are final - drafts can be edited; submitted documents need cancellation to reverse.
- Link invoices to trips via the Commercial Bridge so operations and finance stay aligned.
- Use Payment Ledger for collections and supplier payment runs.
- For step-by-step flows, see Quote to customer invoice and Payment & ledger.