How to set up the deferred revenue journal

Configure, map, and filter accounts to set up your deferred revenue journal

Table of Contents

Step 1. Set your revenue journal preferences Set default deferred revenue account Include Tracking Codes or Classes, if needed Check other settings Step 2. Map your deferred revenue accounts. Step 3: Filter your deferred revenue accounts Step 4: Post your journal Step 5. Make a one-time opening balance sheet adjustment You’re done — your deferred revenue journals are automated Related articles

Step 1. Set your revenue journal preferences

Journal preferences live on the Journals top tab — open the Deferred Revenue page.

Use the three dots at the top right of the page to open Settings.

Set default deferred revenue account

Set the default accounts ScaleXP should use for deferred revenue postings.

If you are using more than one deferred revenue account, open the Deferred Revenue Journal page and configure deferred revenue account mapping per nominal account using the Mapping option as described in Step 2 below.

Include Tracking Codes or Classes, if needed

Tick the option to include Xero Tracking Codes or QuickBooks Classes on journal lines if you want segmentation to carry through to your ledger.

Check other settings

If any settings are locked and you have questions or wish to change them, contact support@scalexp.com for help. For example, if not already set this way for you, you may want to set your revenue recognition preferences to IFRS / US GAAP to avoid back-dated invoicing impacting prior months.

Step 2. Map your deferred revenue accounts.

If you use more than one deferred revenue account, map between revenue and balance sheet accounts using “Mapping” on the Deferred Revenue Journal page.

Step 3: Filter your deferred revenue accounts

Select only the accounts you wish to include in the deferred revenue journal.

However you code your invoices, be sure to include both the revenue and balance sheet accounts (deferred revenue or income in advance) - not just revenue accounts.

Step 4: Post your journal

Review the suggested deferred revenue journal for your first month.

See Deferred revenue journal: how to write deferred revenue journals to Xero or QuickBooks for the posting flow, and How the ScaleXP deferred revenue journal calculates the suggested posting amount for how the suggested figure is built up.

If you ever need to validate the journal against source data, you can download the invoice line detail behind it: How to download invoice line level detail behind the deferred revenue journal. Step 4. Create accrued revenue, if required.

Step 5. Make a one-time opening balance sheet adjustment

If you have a long history of deferring a high volume of invoices, your starting deferred revenue balance sheet is unlikely to match ScaleXP’s calculated position exactly. Small differences in included revenue, or in how revenue is allocated across days and months, accumulate over time.

Best practice is to make a one-time adjusting entry to bring your opening balance sheet into alignment with ScaleXP. From that point onward, every automated journal is clean and audit-friendly, backed by the line-level downloads from Step 4.

See How to adjust the starting balance sheet for deferred revenue for the mechanics.