Accounting with Gestan: the main principles

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To go further: General presentation of Gestan's accounting functions.

Gestan comes with a default chart of accounts, list of accounting codes to use. Via the chart of accounts management screen, you can modify all the accounts, or load another chart of accounts, depending on your country. The OHADA chart of accounts is available.

The accounting settings are based on a few simple screens:

• The configuration of classes and accounts, which will allow you to define accounting classes (if different from those by default), journals, and specific accounts to use
• Setting up accounting journals, very simple
• The configuration of VAT rates, and any accounting codes linked to them, by rate
• The accounting imputations, which makes it possible to make a link between a nature of flow (for example “Office rent” or “Market sales”) and the accounting codes used for operations.
• If you want to go deeper into the accounting assignments, you can configure accounting connections

It is recommended to carry out this configuration, in particular the imputations and possible accounting links, with your accountant. If necessary, the Gestan teams are at your disposal to help you with this configuration (see accounting assistance).

Gestan allows you to enter customer invoices and credits, supplier invoices and credits, and record receipts and disbursements linked to these documents, as well as any other receipts or disbursements.

Entry of entries is carried out in three simple steps:

The first step consists of entering receipts/disbursements, for example, I paid €1000 of monthly office rent, or this client paid me this invoice.

It is normally carried out over time (which allows you to see the status of your cash flow in real time), via the list of entries screen in "mode normal".

Imputations (i.e. a plain label to designate the nature of the expense or revenue, for example “EDF”, “Parking”, or “Pro revenues”) allow them to be automatically linked to the appropriate accounting codes.

The entries can be broken down, that is to say taking into account their composite nature with regard to accounting and VAT.

Find out more about entry of entries

Find out more about ventilation des entries

The accounting of entries, or bank reconciliation, is carried out upon receipt of your bank statement.

It consists, via the use of "pointing mode" of the entries list screen, to check that the entries that you have entered are strictly consistent with those recorded by your bank, transmitted in the bank statement.

Learn more about using in "pointing mode" the list of entries screen

Learn more about managing bank account statements

This step consists of verifying that for each receipt/disbursement impacting VAT, whether it is a restaurant expense, transport expense, equipment expense, etc., the company is in possession of the corresponding supporting documentation: note from restaurant, highway ticket, supplier invoice.

The sales part is justified by default: from the moment you have collected an amount with VAT following an invoice recorded in Gestan, the operation is considered justified, since by definition you own the invoice.

Find out more about justification of entries (VAT score)

All the entries, duly noted and justified, are the basis which will allow you to declare VAT in a strictly accurate manner, thanks to the quality of upstream entry.

The VAT declaration program produces:

• a statement detailing the entries taken into account for the calculation
• the pre-filled CA3 declaration (CERFA France).

No more tedious calculations on the 18th of the month in the evening!

Find out more about the VAT calculation program

Find out more about VAT orders

This entry and control process allows you to have reliable accounting data available in real time:

• the accounting journals
• the Grand livre
• the balance
• the third party balance (customer balance)
• the customer outstanding
• the income statement
• the immediate cash flow
• the cash flow forecast, via the ad hoc extension
• the products and charges by imputation
• the detailed breakdown by tax rate

For the edition of the balance sheet, this data can be transmitted to the accounting department in two ways:

• via the export of invoices and entries, via a simple right-click on the corresponding screens, or by using the dedicated extension (in this case, the export is carried out in single part)
• via XIMPORT export, which produces files that can be directly integrated into the software used by the accounting department (in this case, the export is carried out in double entry).

Learn more about accounting code assignment priorities

At the end of the accounting year, you can then generate a closing balance with Gestan.

Furthermore, it is possible to enter management balances, in order to take into account, for example, the balances calculated for the previous financial year by another accounting software, for example.

Learn more about the closing balance

Gestan allows you to work with several currencies: for example, a company can have customers who pay it in euros, and others in dollars, while it pays certain suppliers in euros, and others in dollars.

The principle is that all data will be recorded in the reference currency, the one you have chosen in the general parameterization as being the most common sales currency. And in case it is necessary, the expression currency and exchange rate will be stored in the same record.

When you save your products in your catalog, you enter them in the reference currency (that of the general settings). Thus, you will produce customer invoices in reference currency.

If your customer's currency is not your reference currency, you must express your customer invoice in the customer's currency. To do this, the context menu of the list of invoices contains the item Specific options, which opens the screen below.

You can enter the ISO code of any currency in the Currency code field and use the 1 button to retrieve today's exchange rate (on the ECB website). You can also manually enter the exchange rate. When printed, the invoice will be printed in the reference currency.

At checkout, you will receive a payment in the customer's currency, which will be indicated on the checkout pop-up.

In the event of a significant variation in the exchange rate between issuance of the invoice and receipt of payment, an entry for exchange variation may be necessary.

For suppliers, it's the same principle, in reverse.

Supplier prices will be managed not in the suppliers' usual currency, but in your reference currency.

When you save the supplier's invoice, you save it in your base currency, and convert it according to the exchange rate indicated by the supplier, or the exchange rate at the time of payment, depending on the purchasing agreement .

All accounting documents can be expressed in the currency of your choice.

To do this, simply select the currency via the context menu of the Currency field. Below for example is the accounting journal generation screen.

There are three classic operating modes, from manual to automatic operation:

You only record customer invoices and their payments. You only transmit the list of invoices and their status (collected or not), via a right click on the list (you can also use the TRANSCOMPTA extension for this.

You will also need to send them your supporting documents (supplier invoices, expense reports, etc.) in the form of papers or scans, for inspection.

You record your customer and supplier payments in Gestan, and you tally and justify the documents. You send your accountant the list of customer invoices with a simple right click, and the list of entries with the same right click (you can also use the TRANSCOMPTA extension for this.

You send them the supporting documents in paper form or deferred scan, possibly on the closing date of the financial year.

As in the previous case, you record your customer and supplier payments in Gestan, and you tally and justify the documents, and you automatically export your accounting data in full, in the format of its software. This way, your accountant no longer has to make any entries.

We recommend this mode, after having carried out, in consultation with the accountant, a configuration of Gestan's accounting imputations, according to the desired “granularity”.

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