Accounting Set Up Guide

This guide will walk you through how to get Accounting set up in Firefly. This article will cover Cash Accounting, Hybrid Accounting, and Accrual Accounting

Table of Contents

• Getting Started
• Setting Up Your Chart of Accounts
• General Settings
• Available Accounting Methods
  • Cash Basis Accounting
  • Hybrid (Cash/Accrual) Accouting
  • Accrual Accounting
• Linking Financial Accounts

Getting Started

To get started with the accounting module in Firefly, you must first ensure users who will be setting up and doing the End of Day procedures have the appropriate permissions enabled.

Enable accounting settings and procedures by going to Settings > Users, clicking on the user you want to give permissions to, and checkmarking "Accounting Settings" and "Accounting Procedures". Click Save User at the bottom.

Accounting Settings: allows the user to set up the accounting, and link charges to their appropriate account codes

Accounting Procedures: allows the user to do the End of Day update procedure, but does not give access to setup options

Setting Up your Chart of Accounts

• For the account module to work, you will need your chart of accounts. If you use an accounting software (like QuickBooks), be sure that your account breakdowns and numbers match between the two systems.
  • If you don't have account numbers displayed in QuickBooks, you will need to have it enabled. To do that, in QuickBooks go to Settings > Account and Settings. Select the Advanced tab, and click "Edit" in the Chart of Accounts section. Switch on "Enable account numbers", and "Show account numbers". Click Save and Done.
• If you do not have a chart of accounts, that's okay - you can create one just for Firefly! The most important part is to decide how you want your revenue to show on your End of Day reports.
• Below is an example Chart of Accounts. Click to Enlarge.
  
  

• Once you have your Chart of Accounts, go to Settings > Accounting > Chart of Accounts.
• Click "New Account" to add a new account into the system. Every account must have a unique name and number.

General Settings

Next, head over to Settings > Accounting, and on the "General Settings" tab, customize the following options: 

• Accounting Method: Choose from Cash Basis, Hybrid, or Accrual
• End of Day Batch Mode: For Cash Basis accounting, you can select a Simpe 1-Step or Advanced 2-Step batch mode. Hyrbid and Accrual are 2-Step only.
• Financial Account for Other Charges: The income account that you want any miscellaneous charges (created from the "New Charge" button on a reservation, and classified as "Other") to fall under.
• Financial Account for Write-Offs: If on a 2-Step Batch Out Mode, an expense account to write off the difference between what Firefly thinks was collected, and what was actually collected. This does not have to be set up if you don't want to do write-offs.

Available Accounting Methods

Firefly is capable of three different account methods: cash, cash/accrual hybrid, and accrual. Once your accounting method has been selected, you must contact support to change it. 

 

Cash Basis Accounting

• Reveune/taxes are recognized when payment is made.
  • A guest makes a reservation on January 15th to stay from June 1st - 3rd. The cost is $150, and they pay $25 on January 15th to hold their spot. That $25 will be counted towards revenue on January 15th. The remaining $125 will be revenue when they pay the remainder on (or prior to) arrival. 
  • When setting up Cash Basis accounting you have the option to choose a Simple 1 Step Method or and Advanced 2 Step Method. 
    • Simple 1 Step Method: Does not require reconcilation of payments. Posts payments and revenue enrties in one step.
    • Advanced 2 Step Method: The first step requires a payment reconciliation to post payment journal entries, and the second step requires the posting of transactions to create the revenue entries.

Don't know which one to choose? If you take a lot of cash, and want clerks or managers to be forced to reconcile before updating, choose the Advanced 2 Step Method. 

 

How Money and Revenue Flow in Cash Basis Accounting

Cash/Accrual Hybrid Accounting

• Revenue/taxes are recognized on arrival date based on payments made. Any payments made after the arrival date are recognized on payment date.
  • A guest makes a reservation on January 15th to stay from June 1st - 3rd. The cost is $150, and they pay $25 on January 15th to hold their spot. That $50 will go into the "Deposits" account, and remain there until they arrive on June 1st.
     
    On June 1st, $25 will come out of "Deposits" and go into the appropriate revenue accounts. If they pay the remaining $125 on June 1st, that too will go into revenue. If they don't pay the remaining $125 until June 3rd, it would be recognized on June 3rd.
    
    

How Money and Revenue Flow in Cash Basis Accounting

Accrual Accounting

• Revenue/taxes are recognized throughout the duration of the reservation at a daily pro-rated amount. Payment has no bearing on whether revenue is recognized. Instead, unpaid portions are recorded in "Accounts Receviable" until payment is made. 
  • A guest makes a resevration on January 15th to stay from June 1st - 3rd. The cost is $150, and they pay $25 on January 15th to hold their spot. On January 15th, $150 will be posted to Deferred Revenue, and $125 will be posted to Accounts Receivable. 
    
    On June 1st, $50 will be automatically recognized as revenuem, and the Deferred Revenue will decrease by $50. On June 2nd, the next $50 will be recognized and Deferred Revenue decreased, and on June 3rd the remaining $50 will be recognized leaving the Deferrenced Revenue for their account at $0.00. Whenever they pay their remaining amounting , the Accounts Receviable will be updated to reflect $0 outstanding (or the difference in between what is paid/owed).
• When setting up accrual accounting, the Revenue Realization and Accounting Start Date options must be set before you are able to begin your End of Day postings.
  • Revenue Realization on Transaction Date: All revenue for the charge will be recognized on the date the charge is created. This setting is ideal for Reservation Fees as they are generally collected at the time of booking, and expensed that same month.
  • Revenue Realization on Reservation Date: Revenue for the charge will be recognized on a prorated rate for the duration of the reservation stay dates. This would be the same way that daily/weekly/monthly site fees are recognized. 
  • Accounting Start Date: Mostly for migration purposes. The start date of when revenue should begin to accrue. 

How Money and Revenue Flow in Cash Basis Accounting

Linking Financial Accounts

Each payment method and charge item will need to be linked to its own financial account. On the General Settings in the previous step, select an account for "Other Charges" which are charges made on the fly under the Charges tab.

These following areas will need to be linked to a financial account if in use:

• Payment Methods
• Taxes
• Units
• Reservation and Processing Fees
• Add-ons
• Coupons
• POS Categories / POS Items
• Utilities

 

Payment Methods

Each payment method that you will be using must have a financial account attached. You can choose to have all payment methods go into the same GL account or you can separate payment methods by different account numbers if desired.

To link a financial account to a payment method go to Settings > Payment Methods. Click the three dots next to the payment method you wish to work with, and choose Edit.

 

Note: You can also link different financial accounts to each credit card type. If done, this will override the default account selected for Credit/Debit.

 

 

Taxes

Taxes can be assigned to the same GL account code or be separated into different accounts. If you would prefer to have a breakdown of how much of each tax has been collected, separate accounts are recommended.

To assign a financial account to your tax code, go to Settings > Taxes. Click on the tax, choose accordingly, and click Save.

 

Units

To set a financial account to the units, go to Settings > Units, and click on the unit you wish to start with. At the bottom of the screen, select the appropriate GL code and click save. You are able to Export the financial account to other units by using the Export/Import feature under Options on the top right of the screen.

The financial account associated with the unit under the General tab will collect revenue for all lengths of stay. Revenue for additional guests, pets, and vehicles will also be linked to the financial accounts selected here.

To separate revenue into different GL codes based on daily, weekly, monthly or seasonal rates, click on the Rates tab. Click the three dots next to the rate, and choose Edit. 

Choose the financial account associated with that particular rate from the drop-down on the bottom right and click Save.

 

Reservation and Processing Fees

To link a financial account to your reservation and processing fees, go to Settings > Property > Fees. Click on the three dots next to the fee you want to assign an account to, and select Edit.

Select the GL code that you want to assign, and click Save.

 

Add-ons

Each add-on has the ability to be assigned to the GL code of your choice. To assign an account to an add-on, go to Settings > Add-ons. Click on the add-on for your choice, 

For add-ons that are classified as a "Sale" type have the inventory tracking turned on, you are able to also select an Inventory account (asset for what you have on hand) and a Cost of Goods Sold account (for the expense to wash through when sold).

 

 

Coupons

Coupon codes do not have to be linked to a special financial account. If no expense account is selected, the amount of the discount will come out of the sales account that the charge is associated with. 

To link an expense account to a coupon, go to Settings > Coupons. Click on the coupon code, choose accordingly and click Save. 

 

POS Categories / POS Items

If you are using POS Categories to group your POS items together, set the financial accounts on those first. You can edit individual items afterwards if you want them going into a different account than the category default.

To add your Sales, Inventory, and COS (Cost of Sales/Cost of Goods Sold) account codes to the POS Categories, go to Settings > POS Item Categories. Click on the category, and assign accordingly. 

Note: The COS and Inventory accounts will not be affected if the item does not have a cost (how much the park pays for the item) entered on the POS Item setup screen.

If you don't use categories or would like a specific item to be assigned to a different GL code than the category default, first pull up the item by going to Point of Sale > Point of Sale Items, and clicking on the item.

On the right-hand side, assign the accounts as needed and click Save at the bottom. This will override the category settings.

 

Utilities

To assign a financial account to a utility charge, go to Settings > Utilities. Click on the utility you want to assign, and change the financial account to where you want the revenue to go. Click Save when finished.

 

Accounting Best Practices 

End of Day Procedure

• Due to the online reservation and payment capabilites in Firefly, we reccommend running the End of Day procedure the next morning for the day prior. This is to ensure all payments that you are closing out have the same batch out time as the processor making your reports easier to balance betwen.
  
  

Cancellations

• When cancelling out a reservation or a charge that has been refuned, edit the charge quantity to 0 instead of editing the charge price to 0.