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Glossary

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A

Account accounting term

In bookkeeping, an account is the record kept for one item. Every increase and decrease is entered in it, and its balance is what the item stands at. Accounts are grouped in five kinds: assets, liabilities, equity, revenue and expenses. The statements are built from that grouping.

One of the categories the books sort money into — only one of them, the bank account, is an account at a bank.

Bank holds $500 of cash, and that money sits at the bank. Grants holds $900 the society has earned — a heading in the books, not an account at any bank.

Administrator a word of this app

A power a person can hold on top of their roles — the power to set up people, tokens and settings — and Full access carries it too.

In SocietyBooks

The books must never be left with no administrator. A new one is named before the last one steps down.

One person holds Full books access and is also the administrator. She works the books, adds people and makes tokens.

Approval accounting term, and a word of this app

In bookkeeping, approval is the control step before a payment. A person with authority, who is not the payee, agrees the spend is proper and may be made. The approval is recorded with the transaction, so the control itself can be checked later.

A recorded decision that a payment may be made, made by someone who is not the payee.

In SocietyBooks

An approval names its payee and the most it covers. A payment past that sum needs a fresh approval. The society sets how many approvals a payment needs in Settings, under Approval rules; the standard rule is one, and it needs no touching.

The board approves up to $2,000 for the mural. The $1,800 bill is paid under it.

Approver a word of this app

The role that approves bills and claims, and nothing else — it cannot enter a bill, record money or pay.

A director holds Approver. She approves the hall’s bill; someone with Full books access pays it.

Asset accounting term

In bookkeeping, an asset is a resource the organization controls because of a past event, and from which a future benefit is expected. Assets are recorded at their cost and shown on the statement of financial position, the ones that turn into cash soonest first.

A thing the society owns, or money it is owed.

The society owns a $1,000 camera and is owed a $500 grant. Both are assets.

Assistant’s seat a word of this app

The seat is where a person’s own assistant sits in the app beside them while they are signed in: it sees the screen they are on, and talks with them there.

In SocietyBooks

Sitting is part of having an assistant — there is no separate invitation. The seat exists only while its person is signed in, and the pane says in plain words what the assistant can see. A person can switch sitting off on Your login; the society can stop sitting for everyone at once in Access.

At the board meeting, the treasurer asks about one grant. The assistant answers with a link to the fund’s page, set to the right dates — the $5,000 grant, not the whole year.

At rest accounting term, and a word of this app

Data sitting in its store, not on the move over a network.

The society’s laptop is stolen. Its disk is encrypted, so the books on it — $18,240 in the bank, every entry — stay unreadable at rest.

B

Bank statement accounting term

The bank’s own record of the money that moved in an account, for one stretch of time.

The March statement lists 12 lines and closes at $600. The books must reach the same $600.

Bill accounting term, and a word of this app

In bookkeeping, a bill received is the supplier’s statement of what is owed for goods or services already supplied. It is the evidence a payable stands on: the books record the cost and the debt from the bill, before any money moves.

A written ask for payment for goods or work already received.

The hall sends a bill for $400 of rent. The society owes the $400 until the day it pays.

Budget accounting term

In bookkeeping, a budget is the financial plan for a coming period, stated in the same accounts as the books themselves. Through the year, the board compares the real figures with it, line by line. The differences are called variances, and they are what the board questions.

The board’s approved plan for a fiscal year: amounts by account and by fund.

In SocietyBooks

A budget is a decision, kept as versions. An approved version stands unedited — a change is a new version — and the label may cite only the adoption record: the meeting date, the approving directors and the minute reference.

The FY2027 budget is approved on January 20, version 1: insurance $1,500 for the year. In May the board raises it — that is version 2, and version 1 stays readable.

C

Capacity accounting term, and a word of this app

In bookkeeping and payroll, the capacity a person is paid in decides how the pay is taxed and reported. Wages stand in employment, fees under a contract for services, and a board fee stands for being a director. One person’s year is reported capacity by capacity. The kinds are never merged.

The role a person is paid in for one payment — contractor, director, employee, or volunteer.

A director is paid $800 as a contractor for design work, apart from her seat on the board.

Capital asset accounting term

In bookkeeping, a capital asset is a lasting thing bought for use over more than one period. It is recorded at its cost, not charged as an expense at once. Its cost is then spread over its useful life, a share each year, under the name amortization.

A lasting thing the society owns and uses for more than a year.

A $2,000 camera used for five years is a capital asset, not a one month cost.

Chart of accounts accounting term

The full list of the accounts in the books — the chart, for short.

A small society might list ten accounts. One holds $500 of bank cash, one holds $900 of grants, and the rest track costs.

Claim a word of this app

A person’s ask to be paid back for a society cost they carried.

A member claims $60 for paper she bought. The claim waits, then the society pays her the $60.

Claim back accounting term

In bookkeeping, tax paid on purchases that the organization can recover is recorded as an amount owed back by the tax authority. It is not counted as part of the cost of the thing bought. The claim stands on the return for the period and rests on the receipt that shows the tax.

Tax the society paid on its buys that it can get back from the tax office.

The society pays $50 of federal tax on gear for its shop. The $50 can be claimed back.

Clearing account accounting term

In bookkeeping, a clearing account is a temporary account. It holds an amount between two steps of one movement, such as a sale taken one day and banked the next. It works as a control: its balance should return to zero, and anything left standing in it is unexplained.

A short term holding account for money on its way from one place to the next.

The shop takes $300 on Monday and pays it to the bank on Friday. For four days the $300 sits in clearing.

Commitment accounting term, and a word of this app

In bookkeeping, a commitment is an obligation taken on under a contract for a future period. A lease and a service agreement are commitments of this kind. It is not yet a liability, because the goods or services have not been received. Material commitments are disclosed in the notes to the statements.

A future cost or income the society has tied itself to, or decided on, recorded ahead of time.

In SocietyBooks

A commitment feeds the forward picture. Under a signed agreement it feeds the schedule in the accountant pack too. It posts nothing. The spend enters the books when it happens, and a person links it back.

Hall insurance at $125 a month, under a signed policy, is a commitment. Its year figure is the sum of the twelve monthly dates, $1,500.

Contact a word of this app

A person or organization the society deals with, recorded once under their legal name.

In SocietyBooks

Each payment and each bill names its contact, so what a person was paid in a year can be added up at year end.

The hall is a contact. The society pays it $400 a month, and the year adds to $4,800.

Credit accounting term

In bookkeeping, a credit is an entry on the right side of an account. Credits increase liability, equity and revenue accounts, and decrease asset and expense accounts. Every transaction is recorded with credits equal to its debits.

The right side of a journal entry line.

In SocietyBooks

Debits and credits match in each entry, to the cent. An entry that does not match cannot be saved.

In a $200 rent entry, the bank line is a credit of $200 and the rent line is a debit of $200.

Credit balance accounting term

In bookkeeping, a credit balance is a balance on the credit side of an account, where its credits stand larger than its debits. Debts normally carry credit balances. Where a payment exceeds the bill it met, the extra counts as a credit balance.

It is money held for the payer against their next bill, or owed back to them.

Money the society holds for a contact because a payment was more than the bill it met.

A $500 payment meets a $450 bill. The last $50 is the supplier’s credit balance.

D

Debit accounting term

In bookkeeping, a debit is an entry on the left side of an account. Debits increase asset and expense accounts, and decrease liability, equity and revenue accounts. Whether a debit raises or lowers a balance depends on the kind of account it lands in.

The left side of a journal entry line.

In SocietyBooks

You meet debit and credit on the raw entry screen only. The rest of the app does this part for you.

In a $200 rent entry, the rent line is a debit of $200 and the bank line is a credit of $200.

Deferred capital contributions accounting term

In bookkeeping, a deferred capital contribution is a grant given to buy a capital asset. It is held as a liability and brought into revenue over the asset’s life. Each year the share brought in matches the share of the asset’s cost charged that year.

Grants given for a lasting thing, counted as revenue bit by bit as the thing is used up.

A $10,000 grant buys gear that lasts ten years. Each year $1,000 is counted as revenue.

Deferred grant revenue accounting term

In bookkeeping, deferred grant revenue is a liability: grant money received for a purpose not yet carried out. As the society spends on the purpose, the amount moves out of the liability and into revenue. The revenue lands in the same period as the spending it funds.

Grant money that has arrived but has not yet been spent on its purpose.

A $5,000 grant arrives in June. By June 30, $1,000 is spent on the purpose. The rest, $4,000, is still held.

Donation accounting term

In bookkeeping, a donation is a voluntary transfer with no goods or services given in return. It is revenue when it is received. A gift tied to a purpose is held in that purpose’s own fund. Tax collected on a sale is never a donation — it was never the society’s money.

Money given to the society, with nothing asked back.

In SocietyBooks

A gift is recorded on Receive money at once. The society’s thank-you is not a tax receipt unless the society is a registered charity.

A neighbour gives the society $100 for its work. The $100 is a donation, recorded the day it arrives.

E

Excess accounting term

In bookkeeping, the excess is the non-profit name for a period’s result: revenue less expenses, added to net assets when it is positive. Its opposite is a deficiency. A business calls the same figure profit or loss; a non-profit does not, because the surplus belongs to the purpose, not to owners.

What is left of revenue after expenses, for a stretch of time.

The society took in $3,000 and spent $2,400 in a year. The excess is $600.

Expense accounting term

In bookkeeping, an expense is a cost used up in running the organization during a period: the month’s rent, the week’s wages, supplies consumed. Buying a lasting thing is not an expense at once; its cost is spread over the years it serves.

Money the society spends to do its work.

The society pays $200 of rent and $50 of bank fees. Expenses are $250.

Expense claim accounting term, and a word of this app

In bookkeeping, an expense claim is the form by which a person asks an organization to repay money they laid out for it. Its receipts stand with it. The claim substantiates the cost: what was bought, when, for what purpose and the tax on it.

That is what lets the cost be recorded as the organization’s own.

A person’s own money, spent for the society, asked back with its receipt.

Sam paid $240 for printing and filed a claim with the receipt. A director approved it, and the $240 stood as owed to Sam until it was paid.

Expense submitter a word of this app

The role that starts expense claims and follows their own, and nothing else: no books, no one else’s claims, no money.

A member buys paper for the office. He files his claim under Expense submitter and watches it until it is paid.

F

Financial statements accounting term

In bookkeeping, financial statements are the formal reports drawn from the ledger for a period. They are the statement of financial position, the statement of operations, the statement of changes in net assets and the statement of cash flows. Notes stand with them. In Canada they follow the accounting standards for not-for-profit organizations.

The two reports that sum up the books: what the society owns and owes, and what it took in and spent.

At year end the statements show $10,000 owned, $2,000 owed, and $3,000 taken in over the year.

Fiscal year accounting term

The twelve months the society’s books run in, ending on the society’s year-end date.

In SocietyBooks

The year’s statements and its tax return cover this stretch, not the calendar year, unless the year end is December 31.

A society with a March 31 year end runs its year from April 1 to the next March 31. A $900 grant paid in May sits in that year.

Full access a word of this app

The role that can do everything in the books, including people, logins, roles and settings.

The person who set the books up holds Full access, so they can add people and change settings.

Full books access a word of this app

The role that can do everything inside the books: money received and paid out, bills, claims, journals, reports, tax, closing and packs — and file their own claims.

The treasurer holds Full books access. She records the money, pays the bills and closes the month.

Fund accounting term

In bookkeeping, a fund is a self-balancing set of accounts kept for one purpose, with its own assets, liabilities and balance. Fund accounting lets the books prove, for each purpose apart, what was received, what was spent and what is left.

A label that stays with money given for a set purpose, so that money can be tracked on its own.

In SocietyBooks

A fund lets the board prove, at any date, how much of a grant is left and what it was spent on.

A $5,000 grant for a youth mural goes in the mural fund, apart from day to day money.

G

GIFI code accounting term

In bookkeeping for Canadian returns, a GIFI code is the standard line number for an account’s balance or amount. The numbers come from the General Index of Financial Information. The codes let the tax authority read every filer’s statements in one shape, and each account is mapped to its code once.

The number the tax forms use for an account, from the General Index of Financial Information.

In SocietyBooks

The accountant’s statements carry these codes, so the tax return is made from the books with no re-typing. An account with no code still holds postings; the missing code is named on the Tax page as work to do before filing.

The bank account carries code 1001, cash. A $500 balance in it lands on the return in the cash row.

H

Hash accounting term, and a word of this app

A short code made from a text, which changes if any part of the text changes.

A set of notes is saved. If one word is changed later, the hash no longer matches, and the change shows.

I

Input tax credit accounting term

In bookkeeping, an input tax credit is the GST/HST a registrant paid on purchases for its taxable activities. It is claimed on the return against the tax the registrant collected. The net of the two is what is remitted.

Tax paid for exempt activities earns no credit, so how a purchase splits between the two matters.

The GST/HST a registered society claims back on what it buys for its taxable work.

In SocietyBooks

A purchase claims back only the share of its tax that serves taxable work. The supplier’s GST/HST number must stand on the document, or there is no claim.

A $1,000 tool carries $50 of GST, claimed in full for taxable work. The return’s net falls by $50.

J

Journal entry accounting term

In bookkeeping, a journal entry is the formal record of a transaction. It carries the date, the accounts debited and credited, the amounts and a note of what happened. The debits in every entry equal its credits.

Entries are kept in date order, so any figure can be traced back to the day it was made.

One recorded movement of money, with a date, a note, and at least two lines.

The society pays $200 of rent. One entry shows the rent cost up and the bank down by $200.

L

Ledger accounting term

In bookkeeping, the ledger is the book of accounts. Each journal entry is posted into the account it touches. Every balance the statements carry is drawn from it. The journal holds the entries in the order they were made; the ledger holds them sorted by account.

The whole record of journal entries, in the order they were made.

If the board asks how the $750 spent in March was made up, the answer is read from the ledger.

Liability accounting term

In bookkeeping, a liability is a present obligation from a past event, settled by paying money or by providing goods or services. A thing the organization only plans to buy is not a liability until the obligation exists.

Money the society owes to someone else.

A $300 bill sits unpaid at month end. The $300 is a debt until the day it is paid.

Loan accounting term

In bookkeeping, a loan is a liability from the day the money arrives until the day the last payment lands. It is never revenue: nothing was earned and nothing was given. Interest the agreement charges is a cost of its own, standing apart from the amount borrowed.

Money the society has borrowed and must pay back.

In SocietyBooks

A founder’s or member’s loan stands on its own account, so the statements always show what the society owes that person.

A founder lends the society $2,000 to cover a deposit. The books owe the founder $2,000 until it is paid back.

Locked month accounting term, and a word of this app

In bookkeeping, closing a period stops entries from being posted into it, so the figures reported for that period can no longer move. A correction is posted in the period still open, dated there, with its note naming the period it fixes.

A finished month whose figures stand still, locked by the society itself once the month is proven.

March is locked on April 10. A $60 March cost found on April 12 is entered in April, marked as fixing March.

N

Net assets accounting term

In bookkeeping, net assets is the non-profit form of equity. It is total assets less total liabilities, carried in funds. The total is split between amounts restricted by their givers and the unrestricted remainder. It grows by each year’s excess and shrinks by each year’s shortfall.

What is left when all the society owes is taken from all it owns.

In SocietyBooks

Net assets are the whole score of the society to date. They are not cash, and they cannot be spent as cash.

The society owns $10,000 and owes $2,000. Its net assets are $8,000.

O

Outstanding accounting term

In the books but not yet on any statement, named at the end of a reconciliation.

A $150 cheque is written on March 30 and cashed on April 4. At the March proof it stands outstanding.

P

Pack a word of this app

A fixed copy of the books for one stretch, made for the accountant or for the annual meeting.

In SocietyBooks

A pack holds the books exactly as they stood when it was made; later entries belong to the next pack. Its fingerprint names the state it holds, so the accountant and the society can prove they hold the same copy.

The year’s pack is made on January 10. An entry dated December 20 but posted on January 12 is not in it; it stands in the next pack, and the fingerprint shows the difference of $400.

Parked item a word of this app

Money that has moved but is not yet understood, held named and dated until it is placed.

In SocietyBooks

A parked item blocks the month it sits in from being locked. Nothing real is left unplaced for long.

A $900 deposit lands with no note. It is parked until the letter that explains it is found.

Passkey accounting term, and a word of this app

A sign in key held on your own device or in your password app, in place of a typed password.

In SocietyBooks

A passkey belongs to one address. If the books move to a new address, each person makes a fresh passkey there.

You tap your phone to sign in. The phone holds your passkey; no password is typed.

Passphrase accounting term, and a word of this app

The words a sealed file is locked with — whoever holds them can open the file, so the words are long, since a short set can be guessed.

In SocietyBooks

A pack leaves as one sealed file, locked with words the sender picks. The app never keeps the words. The seal hides what is in the file, and a changed file will not open. But the seal does not prove who sealed it.

So send the words and the pack’s fingerprint by a route of their own — a phone call, not the same message. The one who opens the file checks the fingerprint in it against the one sent that way.

The year’s pack holds $48,000 of grants. The treasurer seals it with the words “maple ladder harbour”, sends the file by email, and reads the words to the accountant by phone.

Payable accounting term

In bookkeeping, a payable is an amount owed to a supplier for goods or services received on credit. It is recorded when the bill arrives, not when it is paid. Payables are current liabilities, and the aged list of them, by how long each has waited, is a standing report.

Money the society owes that it has not paid yet.

The hall sends a $400 bill on the 10th, due on the 30th. For 20 days the $400 is a payable.

Prepaid expense accounting term

In bookkeeping, a prepaid expense is an asset: a payment made for a benefit that lies in a later period, such as insurance paid ahead. As each period passes, the share used up moves out of the asset and into expenses.

A cost paid now for a thing the society will use over time to come.

The society pays $1,200 for a year of cover. Each month $100 counts as a cost.

Projection a word of this app

The app’s running picture of the coming months, drawn from confirmed commitments, awards and guesses.

In SocietyBooks

A projection is an estimate, never approved, and never shown inside a financial statement. Its heading always says which it is; the word budget is never used for it.

A projection made on February 10 shows March with $900 of must-pay costs and $2,000 coming in. Both are the picture only; neither is in the books.

Proposal a word of this app

Work an assistant drafts for the books, which waits for a person to approve or send back.

In SocietyBooks

A proposal changes nothing on its own. What is approved is what goes in the books, in the form it was approved.

The assistant drafts the rent entry as a proposal. The treasurer reads it and approves it. Then it is in the books.

R

Read only a word of this app

The role that reads everything and writes nothing, anywhere — no exceptions, and no claims.

The accountant is invited as a person and given Read only. She reads the whole year and changes nothing.

Receivable accounting term

In bookkeeping, a receivable is an amount owed to the organization, recorded when the right to be paid arises rather than when the cash lands. Receivables are assets, and the aged list of them shows how long each amount has been waiting.

Money owed to the society that has not arrived yet.

A $2,000 grant is won in March and paid in May. In March and April it is a receivable.

Recognised accounting term

In bookkeeping, an item is recognised when it is brought into the statements. It is recorded as an asset, a liability, revenue or an expense. The event must have happened, and the amount must be measurable with reasonable confidence. What is only expected is not recognised.

Counted as revenue in the books.

A $5,000 grant arrives in June. In June $1,000 is spent on the purpose, so $1,000 is recognised.

Reconciliation accounting term

In bookkeeping, a bank reconciliation starts from the bank’s balance and the books’ balance. It lists every difference between them: deposits in transit, cheques outstanding, bank charges and errors. When the two adjusted balances agree, the books are proved against the bank.

A difference left over is an error to find, not a figure to force.

The proof that the books and the bank agree, line by line, for one stretch of time.

The March statement shows $900 in and $300 out. Each line is matched, and the closing $600 agrees.

Reimbursement accounting term, and a word of this app

In bookkeeping, a reimbursement repays a person who laid out their own money for the organization. The books record the underlying cost in its own kind. The repayment is not income to the person repaid. It returns their money rather than paying them.

Money paid back to a person who spent their own money on the society.

A member buys $60 of paper for the society. The society owes her $60 until it pays her back.

Restricted fund accounting term

In bookkeeping, a restricted fund holds resources whose use an outside giver has limited to a set purpose. The restriction binds the organization until the purpose is met or the giver releases it, and the fund’s balance is reported apart from unrestricted money.

A fund whose money may be spent only on the purpose the giver set.

In SocietyBooks

The rule comes from the giver, not the board. The board cannot vote to spend this money on other work.

A $5,000 grant given for roof repairs sits in a restricted fund. It cannot pay for a party.

Retired account accounting term, and a word of this app

In bookkeeping, an account closed to new postings stays in the ledger with its history, so earlier periods still read as they were reported. Its balance is moved into a live account or stands at zero; the account itself is never deleted.

An account the society has closed to new entries, kept so old entries still read true.

A bank account is closed once its last $40 is moved out. Its account in the books is retired, and new entries use the new one.

Revenue accounting term

In bookkeeping, revenue is what the organization earns or is given in its ordinary activities: sales, fees, grants it has earned and gifts. Money held for someone else is not revenue, and neither is tax collected for the government.

Money the society earns or is given for its work.

The society sells $100 of prints and is given a $900 grant. Revenue is $1,000.

Reversing entry accounting term

In bookkeeping, a reversing entry is made at the start of a new period. It undoes an adjusting entry from the period before, so the new period’s ordinary entries can be recorded whole. The same name is used for the entry that cancels a wrong entry in full, line for line.

A new entry that cancels an old one, line for line, in mirror image.

In SocietyBooks

A mistake is fixed by a reversing entry and a fresh, right entry. The old entry is never rubbed out.

Rent was put in at $200 but the bill was $220. A reversing entry takes the $200 out, and a new entry puts $220 in.

Role a word of this app

A named set of powers in the books — new books start with five: Full access, Full books access, Approver, Expense submitter and Read only.

In SocietyBooks

A role is about the books, not the board. Standing as a director is a separate fact, kept on the People page, and no role makes a person a director.

A small society gives one person Full access, one person Full books access, and everyone else Read only. Each person sees and does exactly what their role allows.

S

Scenario a word of this app

A named possible spend the board is only considering, with a price on it.

“Hire a cleaner” is a scenario at $45 a week, price checked. The comparison shows it costs $540 more this quarter and the floor crossing does not move.

Scope a word of this app

One named power a token holds, such as the power to read reports.

In SocietyBooks

A token starts with just the scopes its person picks — and only powers that person holds themselves. An assistant can hold nothing beyond its person. New scopes are added one by one, on the record.

A token with the read scope can fetch reports. It cannot put up a proposal until that scope is added.

Second home a word of this app

A place outside the place the books live, where a copy of the books is kept.

In SocietyBooks

If the place the books live is lost, the copy at the second home is how they come back. A home counts once a copy from it has been restored and proven in the app.

The monthly copy of books showing $18,240 in the bank sits on a drive at another director’s house. That drive is the books’ second home.

Small supplier accounting term

A seller whose taxable sales stay under the line for its kind — $30,000 for most sellers, $50,000 for a non-profit or a charity — who need not register for GST/HST yet.

In SocietyBooks

Two clocks run on the line: the line’s amount inside one quarter, or over four quarters. The app counts this society’s sales against its own line — $50,000, the non-profit line — and names the test that trips.

Sales reach $51,000 in one quarter. Standing ends on the sale that crossed $50,000, and that sale carries tax.

Snapshot a word of this app

A frozen copy of a projection, kept so what the picture said can be proven later.

In SocietyBooks

A snapshot is taken at every month lock, at every budget adoption, and on demand. Projected-versus-actual reads only a snapshot: a difference is not an error, it is what changed after the snapshot’s date.

The January snapshot said insurance would cost $300 in February. It cost $310. The difference of $10 is read against that snapshot, named on the report’s face.

Stale a word of this app

Out of date, because something it rested on has changed.

In SocietyBooks

A finished reconciliation goes stale when an entry it matched is cancelled. It is proven again before its month can lock.

A $300 entry matched in the March statement is cancelled. The March proof goes stale, and March is proven again without it.

T

Token accounting term, and a word of this app

A secret value that lets your assistant read the books and put work up for approval.

In SocietyBooks

A token belongs to one person and acts as them. It is shown once, when it is made. If it is lost, the token is revoked and a new one is made.

A director makes a token for her own assistant and gives it the read scope. Her assistant can read, and can do no more.

Trial balance accounting term

A list of each account and its balance at one date, used as a check on the books.

In SocietyBooks

If the two sides of the list do not net to zero, a part of the books is broken, and Home says so.

At month end the list shows $5,000 in the bank and $5,000 of grants and costs. The sides match.

W

Wizard a word of this app

A walk through one job in the books, step by step, in the pane on the left of the page.

A new treasurer opens the Pay a director task in the Wizard. Its first steps stand ticked already, because a past payment stands recorded in the books.