The most frequently asked accounting questions and their solutions. How to balance, read the journal entries reports, make changes to accounting settings and more.
Last Updated: June 18th, 2024
Link to Feature: Reports, Accounting Settings, Posting Batches
This article applies to the following:
- Parks using the accounting feature and processing their End of Day
- Users with access to the Accounting Settings and Accounting Procedures
- Users with access to Reports
Quick Links:
- How do I balance to my deposits?
- How do I read the Journal Entries Summary Report?
- How can I see what went into each account code?
- How can I make a journal entry adjustment?
- How do I know what accounting method I'm on?
- How do I change the name or number of a financial account?
- How can I change accounting methods?
- Common End of Day Update Errors (and how to fix them)
How do I balance to my deposits?
You can balance the deposits you recieve from your credit card processor or the physical cash and cheques that you are taking to the bank by using either the Journal Entries Summary report or the Payments report.
Using the JE Summary Report
Ensure that the End of Day update has been done for the date range you are interested in getting data for. Next, go to Reports > Journal Entries Summary, select your date range, and click Run.
Depending on how you have broken your general ledger account numbers up, you may see all payments going into one "Cash" account or you may have separate accounts titled something along the lines of "Cash", "Credit Cards", Cheques".
The Debit column shows the payments made. The Credit column shows the refunds made. The Post Amount is the total amount collected (with refunds subtracted). The Post Amount should match what you have received from the processor/collected in cash and cheques.
Using the Payments Report
The Payments report does not require the End of Day procedure to be done in order to be used. To find this report, go to Reports > Payments.
Set your date range, and be sure to change the Payment Status filter to Paid. Click Run.
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The Payments report will show a breakdown of all payments collected for the date range enterted, with a subtotal at the top by payment method.
If you pass on the credit card processing fee to your customers, be sure to add the "Processing Fees" number to the "Credit Card" total to match what you've collected through your pocessor.
Other Things To Know
- The totals in your Cash/Credit Card/Cheque account codes codes on the Journal Entries Summary should match the numbers on your Payments report.
- Processors are often a day (or two) delayed. For example, if you receive your deposit on April 1st, the data would have been recorded in Firefly on March 31st.
- You should be able to log into your processor for a detailed transaction list if necessary. There is a Transaction ID listed on the Payments report that is the same as what is listed on the processor's side.
- If you have having trouble getting your settlement batches to match your Firefly report, contact your processor to ensure your settlement time is in the same time zone as your park. 11:59pm in Firefly means 11:59pm in the time zone set under Settings > Property > General.
How do I read the Journal Entries Summary report?
The Journal Entries Summary report is great because it can break out your revenue in the way you see fit. But if you're not an accountant, reading the debits and credits can be a bit of a learning curve!
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Total Debits / Total Credits / Post Sum (yellow): the additional of all the debit, credit, and post amount columns. The important thing here is that the total debits and total credits match.
Cash (green): the total amount of money collected. You may also have Cheque and Credit Card accounts. If so, add all of these together to get the total money collected.
Inventory, Inventory Offset, COGS (Cost of Goods Sold) (blue): when you add new POS stock, your Inventory and Inventory Offset accounts will be adjusted (debit to Inventory Offset, credit to Inventory). Inventory tells you how much in funds you have wrapped up in on hand stock based on the cost per item, and number of items. When a POS item is sold, it debits the COGS and credits the Inventory. These numbers do not count towards your end of day cash or revenue earned.
Deposits, Tax and Income Accounts (purple): these numbers will add up to equal the "Cash" amount. For tax and income accounts, Debit means refund, Credit is revenue, and the Post Amount is the total amount of revenue earned (less refunds).
Deposits: a positive post amount amount is unearned revenue, a negative post amount is previously unearned revenue being applied to revenue or refunded.
Sales Tax (orange): the post amount represents the amount of tax collected.
Income Accounts: (excludes Deposts and Sales Tax) revenue earned less the tax.
* When you're looking to report you tax numbers, always look for the Post Amount total.
How can I see what went into each account code?
If you want to see what entries made up the specific numbers (debits and credits) for a specific account code, go to Reports > Journal Entries.
Select the date range you want to look at, and the account code(s) you want to see the entries for. Click Run.
This will show a detailed list of every debit and credit that hit the account codes selected with information on the customer and the charge.
How can I make a journal entry adjustment?
To make an adjusting journal entry, go to Accounting > Posting Batches > and scroll down to the Adjustments section.
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Select the Adjustment Date for what day you want the adjustment to be posted on, the financial account, and the debit and credit amounts. If you only have a debit adjustment or only have a credit adjustment, enter 0.00 on the other side. Click Save, and it will be posted to your Posting Batches and appear on your Journal Entries reports.
How do I change the name or number of a financial account?
To change the name or number of a financial account, go to Settings > Accounting > Chart of Accounts.
Cllick on the account you wish to edit, and make the appropriate change. Click Save.
Changing the name or number will not affect the End of Day process. Anything already linked to that account will remain in tact and the Journal Entries and Journal Entries Summary report will update accordingly.
How do I know what accounting method I'm on?
To find out what accounting method your system is set to, go to Settings > Accounting. Under the General Settings tab, you'll see your Accounting Method selected.
The accounting method listed here is applicable only to the End of Day procedure, the Journal Entries, and Journal Entries Summary reports.
How can I change my accounting method?
Firefly has Cash, Hybrid (also called soft accrual or cash accrual), and full Accrual accounting available. Please contact support if you wish to change your accounting method.
For more information on each of the accounting methods, please view the Accounting Set Up Guide.
How can I get rid of the errors on my End of Day?
For troubleshooting errors on your End of Day procedure, please visit the Common End of Day Errors article here.
🙋♀️ Still need help? Email: support@fireflyreservations.com and one of our technicians can help answer your questions.
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