Xero
- Fishbowl integrates with Xero.
- To connect to Xero, open the Integrations market and click the green Connect to Xero button to approve the integration with your Xero account.
- After completing the integration, the Xero module will be added to the Accounting group.
- The Xero module will display the transactions that are ready to export to Xero, as well as a history of previous exports.
- To select the Xero accounts used by Fishbowl Drive, click Account Mapping.
- To export the current transactions, click the blue EXPORT button.
- If the current transactions are Marked as posted, they will not be exported to Xero. This should only be done after consulting with an accountant.
- Fishbowl Drive supports LIFO, FIFO, Average, and Actual costing methods. For more information, see Costing Methods.
Fishbowl Drive can export transactions to Xero. Information from Fishbowl orders is then stored in the accounting system as well in the form of invoices, bills, credit memos, etc. Adjustments are also recorded in the associated accounts, such as Cost of Goods Sold, Sales Retail, Inventory Asset, or Accounts Receivable. This page provides several examples of Fishbowl transactions and how they affect the accounts in the accounting system. If you have mapped Fishbowl to different accounts than the default settings, your journal entries may vary slightly from the examples given below.
Account mapping
As soon as you finish connecting to Xero, you will be asked to map your Fishbowl Drive accounts to your Xero ones. This doesn’t necessarily have to be done immediately, but it’s a good idea not to put it off. You will find that there are several Xero accounts that do not exist by default to match the ones in Fishbowl Drive, so we recommend you create them in Xero before attempting to map them to Fishbowl Drive, according to these criteria.
1. Accounts Receivable should link to the existing AR account (Current Asset account type)
2. Accounts Payable should link to the existing AP account (Current Liability account type)
3. The Holding account should be an Other Current Liability account type
4. Inventory Adjustment should be an Expense account type
5. Labor account is not used to track wage expenses. It is used to track labor recovery costs used in Manufacturing (Direct Cost or Expense account type)
6. Non-Inventory should just be an Expense account type
7. Overhead should be an Expense account type
8. Sales Tax Payable should be linked to the existing Tax Liability account (called GST Payable in AU and NZ)
9. Scrapped inventory can just be an Expense account type
10. Shipping Accrual should be an Other Current Liability account type
11. Shipping Expense should just be an Expense account type
12. Undeposited Funds should be a Bank account type
The following are suggested mappings between Fishbowl Drive and Xero. You can create account names in Xero that match the names in Fishbowl Drive, and we recommend they fall under specific account types. Bear in mind that, at present, Fishbowl Drive does not have manufacturing features. But we plan to add them in the future, so that is why some manufacturing options are mentioned in the descriptions below.
| Fishbowl Drive Account Name | Typical Xero Account Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Accounts Payable | Accounts Payable | This is the account that Fishbowl Drive will post all supplier transactions to, such as a bill. |
| Accounts Receivable | Accounts Receivable | This is the account that Fishbowl Drive will post all customer transactions to, such as an invoice. |
| Cost of Goods Sold | Cost of Goods Sold | When stock is sold from Fishbowl Drive, a journal entry will be posted to this account to record the cost of the stock sold. A typical journal entry will debit this account and credit Inventory Asset by the average cost of the stock sold. |
| Discount Expense | Income/COGS/Expense | Whenever a Discount line item is entered on a sales order, the debit entry will be posted to this account. This account can be set as a negative Income account, COGS, or Expense account, depending on where you want to report discounts given on your Profit and Loss Statement. |
| Discount Income | Income/COGS/Expense | Whenever a negative Discount line item is entered on a credit sales order, the credit entry will be posted to this account. This account can either be set as an Income account, negative COGS, or Expense account, depending on where you want to report discounts given on your Profit and Loss Statement (e.g., for returns or restocking fees). |
| Flat Rate Tax | Other Current Liability | This account is used to record the amounts classified as flat rate taxes. |
| Holding | Other Current Liability | The Holding account (commonly known as “Goods Received Not Invoiced”) is used as a clearing account when receiving inbound stock from a supplier against a purchase order. When the stock is first received, Fishbowl Drive will enter a journal entry that will debit Inventory Asset and credit the Holding account. When the received purchase order is reconciled in Fishbowl Drive (Bill entered), the allocated funds in the Holding account will be moved to Accounts Payable. For an example, see |
| Inventory Adjustment | Expense | This account is used when inventory is adjusted via the Cycle or Add button in the Inventory module of Fishbowl Drive. Fishbowl Drive will either debit or credit this account based on if the adjustment is a stock increase or decrease, with the other side of the journal entry being Inventory Asset. |
| Inventory Asset | Other Current Asset | This is the account that Fishbowl Drive will post all inventory transactions to. |
| Labor | Direct Cost or Expense | If a user creates an item in Fishbowl Drive with the Labor type, when a purchase order for that item is received and reconciled, the debit will go to this account. If that item is subsequently used in a bill of materials, when the work order is finished, there will be a journal entry that will credit this account and debit Inventory Asset based on the quantity consumed in the work order multiplied by the item cost (set in the General tab of the Items module). |
| Miscellaneous Expense | Expense | Fishbowl Drive has the ability to enter a Miscellaneous Expense line item on a purchase order. When a purchase order with a Miscellaneous Expense is received and reconciled, the debit will go to this account. |
| Non-Inventory | Expense | If a user creates an item in Fishbowl Drive with the Non-Inventory type, when a purchase order for that item is received and reconciled, the debit will go to this account. If that item is subsequently used in a bill of materials, when the work order is finished, there will be a journal entry that will credit this account and debit Inventory Asset based on the quantity consumed in the work order multiplied by the item cost (set in the General tab of the Items module). |
| Overhead | Expense | If a user creates an item in Fishbowl Drive with the Overhead type, when a purchase order for that item is received and reconciled, the debit will go to this account. If that item is subsequently used in a bill of materials, when the work order is finished, there will be a journal entry that will credit this account and debit Inventory Asset based on the quantity consumed in the work order multiplied by the item cost (set in the General tab of the Items module). |
| Sales Retail | Income | All sales/income (Credit) will be posted to this account, unless there is a specific Income account set in the Edit Sale Item screen in the Sale Items tab of the Items module. |
| Sales Tax Payable | Tax Liability | This account is used to reserve funds to pay sales taxes from transactions to the appropriate tax agencies. |
| Scrap Inventory | Expense | This account is used when inventory is scrapped via the Remove button on the right of each line item in the Inventory module of Fishbowl Drive (i.e., adjustments down due to damage, theft, spoilage, etc.). Fishbowl Drive will debit this account and credit Inventory Asset. |
| Service | Expense | If a user creates an item in Fishbowl Drive with the Service type, when a purchase order for that item is received and reconciled, the debit will go to this account. If that Service item is subsequently used in a bill of materials, when the work order is finished, there will be a journal entry that will credit this account and debit Inventory Asset based on the quantity consumed in the work order multiplied by the item cost (set in the General tab of the Items module). |
| Shipping Accrual | Other Current Liability | Fishbowl Drive has the ability, as part of the purchase order reconciliation process, to add into the value of stock the third-party freight costs associated with receiving those items. Since the costs are from a third-party supplier, they are not part of the bill for the purchase order. When you enter these costs into Fishbowl Drive, a journal entry will be created, which will credit this account and debit Inventory Asset. This is a clearing account, so when you get the bill from that third party, you will enter the bill directly into your accounting system and allocate the bill to this account, in effect clearing out the earlier journal entry that was accrued from Fishbowl Drive. |
| Shipping Expense | Expense | If a user creates an item in Fishbowl Drive with the Shipping type, when a purchase order for that item is received and reconciled, the debit will go to this account. |
| Shipping Income | Income | When a Shipping type item is added to a sales order, the income (Credit) will be posted to this account, unless there is a specific Income account set in the Edit Sale Item screen in the Sale Items tab of the Items module. |
| Undeposited Funds | Bank | When a payment for a sales order is recorded in Fishbowl, the debit will go to this account with the credit to either Accounts Receivable or to Income, depending on if the sales order is shipped on the same day that the payment is recorded. |
| Unused in Fishbowl Drive | ||
| Prepayments | Other Current Liability | This account is used to record a payment that is processed in Fishbowl Drive against a sales order. When a payment is processed in the Sales Orders module in Fishbowl Drive, a journal entry will be sent to Xero that debits the Undeposited Funds account that the payment is linked to in Fishbowl Drive and credits the Prepayment account. |
| Capital Equipment | Other Current Asset | Currently, there is no Capital Equipment item type that is available in Fishbowl Drive. But that may change in the future. If a user were to create an item in Fishbowl Drive with the Capital Equipment type, when a purchase order for that item was received and reconciled, the debit would go to this account. |
| Internal Use | Expense | Like Capital Equipment, there is currently no Internal Use item type available in Fishbowl Drive. That may change at some point in the future. If a user were to create an item in Fishbowl Drive with the Internal Use type, when a purchase order for that item was received and reconciled, the debit would go to this account. |
| Cost Variance | Other Current Asset | This account is only used if the Standard costing method is used in your database. Since Fishbowl Drive does not offer the Standard costing method, but LIFO, FIFO, Average, and Actual, you can set this mapping to Suspense as it will never be used on your file. |
To create new accounts in Fishbowl Drive, go to the Chart of Accounts module.
You can map each item’s accounts for each kind of transaction it’s in under the General tab of the Items module. As mentioned above, the Income account can be set up in the Sale Items tab of the Items module.
To change what the Account Names are called within Fishbowl Drive, go to the Account Mapping section of the Settings module. Click the EDIT button and select a different option from the dropdown menu next to each Account Name.
Waiting to export
The Waiting to Export section shows how many adjustments, credits, debits, etc. that have not yet been sent over to your Xero file from Fishbowl Drive. They are under the following categories:
- Inventory Adjustments - Increases or decreases in the number of units of items in stock. This can be the result of a cycle count, initial inventory, sale, purchase, return, and/or scrap.
- Purchase Order Fulfillments - Purchase orders that have been received from vendors.
- Sales Order Fulfillments - Sales orders that have been delivered to customers.
- Payments - Money payable to a vendor or other entity in exchange for items, services, and more.
- Credit Memos - Documents that reduce the amount of money owed from buyers with a discount.
- Journal Entries - Records that balance your debits and credits in various accounts in Xero to reflect transactions.
- Vendor Credits - Money payable to your company from a vendor for a credit return purchase order.
- Invoices - Records of transactions between your organization and buyers. If an invoice is unpaid, this will be added to your Accounts Receivable account.
- Item Receipts - Records of incoming items that increase both your Inventory Asset and Accounts Payable accounts.
Click the Mark as posted link to avoid exporting any of the information currently in the categories listed above to Xero. This marks them all as posted without actually posting them.
Click the red DISCONNECT button to remove the integration between your Fishbowl Drive and Xero accounts.
Accounting basics
Accounting transactions are recorded in two columns: Debits on the left and Credits on the right. This is sometimes visualized as a large letter T.
It is important to note that debit/credit is not necessarily the same as positive/negative. Depending on the account type, a debit can increase or decrease the account balance, as can a credit.
With double-entry accounting, the total debits will always equal the total credits. A debit to any account must be offset by one or more credits to another account. The matching totals at the bottom of these charts reflect the sum of debits and credits for the transaction, which is not the same as the order total.
You can see adjustments to various accounts, as well as their balances, in the Chart of Accounts module.
All accounting transactions in Fishbowl Drive can be divided into three main categories:
- Inventory adjustments
- Sales orders
- Purchase orders
Inventory adjustments
Cycle count up
The quantity is manually increased by 1 for an inventory item with a cost of $100.
Cycle count down
The quantity is manually decreased by 1 for an inventory item with a cost of $100.
Scrap inventory
The quantity is manually decreased by 1 by scrapping an inventory item with a cost of $100.
Add initial inventory
During initial setup, existing inventory is manually added (instead of purchased).
Sales orders
Inventory item sold
An inventory item with a cost of $100 is sold for $200.
Customer payment
A customer payment is received for an order.
Received credit return item
A customer returns an item, and it is received back into inventory.
Customer payment refunded
A customer payment is refunded.
Non-inventory item sold
A non-inventory item with a cost of $100 is sold for $200.
Discounted item sold
A $200 inventory item is discounted and sold for $150.
Drop ship item sold
An inventory item is purchased from a vendor for $100, sold for $200, and then drop-shipped directly to the customer.
Shipping expense
An inventory item is shipped, which accrues an expense paid by your company.
Purchase orders
Inventory item received
An inventory item is received for $1,000 but it hasn't been reconciled yet. The holding account sets aside $1,000 in anticipation of paying the vendor.
Previously received inventory item is reconciled
A previously received inventory item is reconciled. First, the Holding transaction shown above is undone.
Then a new transaction records the amount into your inventory asset account and your accounts payable account.
Inventory item fulfilled
An inventory item is purchased for $100, received into inventory, and fulfilled.
Inventory item returned on credit return purchase order
A $100 inventory item is shipped back to the vendor.
Non-inventory item purchased
A non-inventory item is purchased for $100 and fulfilled.
Previous export
The following information is contained in a table about the most-recent export that was attempted in this module:
- Date - The month, day, and year (MM/DD/YYYY) that the most-recent export to Xero was completed.
- Time - The hour, minute, and second (HH:MM:SS AM/PM) that the most-recent export to Xero was completed.
- Details - A brief description of the ledger being exported.
- Type - The category the export falls into, such as Adjustment.
- Results - A brief description of the success or failure of the export.
- Status - The condition of the most-recent export, whether successful or not.
History
The following information is contained in a table about every previous export that was attempted in this module:
- Date - The month, day, and year (MM/DD/YYYY) that a previous export to Xero was completed.
- Time - The hour, minute, and second (HH:MM:SS AM/PM) that a previous export to Xero was completed.
- Status - The condition of a previous export, whether successful or not.