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Tired of tedious accrual accounting? In a recent live demo, FinOptimal's Tom Zehentner and CPA Tyler Otto spiced things up, showing how Accruer simplifies complex accounting tasks while tackling increasingly spicy wings. This recap covers their journey using Accruer to automate prepaid expense rollforward schedules, deferred revenue, and fixed asset depreciation directly within QuickBooks Online. They share practical tips, from initial setup and real-time adjustments to custom reports, transforming your month-end close. See how Accruer can add some heat to your workflow and simplify your hot schedules demo.
Welcome back to the first ever Hot Apps. This is probably a really bad idea, but we want to go live on LinkedIn and show people Accruer. I'm Tom, I do all the marketing, product, and sales stuff here, and I come up with dumb ideas like this. We've got Jesse, who's our CEO – he's on the call really for moral support I think. And he loves the spotlight just as much as I do. Michaela, who is working the chat, is all things account management, keeping people happy. We got Tyler, who doesn't work for FinOptimal. So Tyler, why don't you give a little context on who you are?
Yeah, I would like to say I was just your first fan, you know? Saw Jesse wearing the "for the period" shirt at QuickBooks Connect, got talking about Accruer and FinOptimal. Made besties, and now I use it in my firm and I run a half-ass accounting podcast – so, let's go!
Accruer is a software add-on that automates accrual accounting within QuickBooks Online. It handles common accrual types like prepaid expenses, deferred revenue, fixed assets, and payroll accruals, streamlining these often tedious tasks.
One of Accruer's biggest selling points is its ability to drastically reduce the time spent on manual accounting tasks. Users report significant time savings, with estimates ranging from 10-15 minutes per accrual—that’s hours of work condensed into seconds. This efficiency translates to a rapid return on investment (ROI), making Accruer a cost-effective solution for businesses of all sizes.
Beyond automation, Accruer enhances accuracy and preparedness for audits. The app automatically calculates and posts journal entries, simultaneously creating schedules specifically designed for reconciliations and audits. This ensures your financial data is organized, readily accessible, and audit-ready, simplifying the entire audit process.
Getting started with Accruer is quick and easy. The Accruer knowledge base offers a wealth of resources, including video tutorials, troubleshooting guides, and detailed setup instructions. You can be up and running in minutes, and if you do have questions, FinOptimal's support team is ready to assist.
Accruer is designed exclusively for QuickBooks Online, ensuring a smooth and seamless integration. This dedicated compatibility streamlines the setup process and ensures data flows effortlessly between the two platforms.
Accruer is built specifically for QuickBooks Online. This dedicated integration ensures a seamless experience and eliminates compatibility issues. Learn more about how Accruer works with QuickBooks Online.
Accruer offers flexible pricing based on the number of entries required per QuickBooks file. The three tiers—Lite ($29/month for up to 10 entries), Pro ($99/month for up to 50 entries), and Unlimited ($199/month)—cater to businesses with varying needs and volumes.
Discounts are available for businesses managing multiple QuickBooks files, making Accruer an economical choice for accounting firms and businesses with complex accounting needs. For more information on pricing and discounts for multiple files, visit the Accruer page. Accounting firms interested in partnering with FinOptimal can explore our partnership program.
Beyond Accruer, FinOptimal offers other tools to streamline your accounting processes. Booker simplifies journal entry creation and management, acting as a central hub for debits and credits and syncing directly with QuickBooks.
Wrangler automates report generation, syncing standard QuickBooks reports to Google Sheets and providing a custom "QuickBooks Magic Report" with more detailed information.
Accruer is software that automates accrual accounting within QuickBooks Online. Developed by FinOptimal, Accruer handles prepaid expenses, deferred revenue, fixed assets, and payroll accruals. This tool streamlines accounting, making it easier for businesses to manage their finances. Seamless integration with QuickBooks Online lets users automate complex accounting tasks, reducing manual entries and minimizing errors. This means less time on tedious data entry and more time for strategic financial decisions. Learn more about Accruer and its features.
Accruer eliminates manual processes and spreadsheets for managing prepaid expenses, deferred revenue, and fixed assets. Just write "for the period" in your QuickBooks entry description, and Accruer automates the rest. This automation saves you time—an estimated 10-15 minutes per accrual—and improves the accuracy of financial reporting. Correcting entries is also simple. Edit the original QuickBooks entry, and Accruer automatically updates all related journal entries, even in locked periods. This simplifies reconciliations and ensures your financial records are always current. See how Accruer can transform your month-end close.
Accruer is a software solution designed to simplify and automate accrual accounting within QuickBooks Online. It streamlines the often tedious process of managing prepaid expenses, deferred revenue, fixed assets, and payroll accruals. If you're looking for ways to optimize your accounting workflow and improve accuracy, Accruer might be the perfect tool for you. Learn more about how FinOptimal helps automate accounting processes on our Managed Accounting Services page.
Accruer automates the creation and reversal of accrual entries, eliminating manual data entry and reducing the risk of errors. This automation saves time and ensures consistent and reliable accounting practices.
Generate accurate and up-to-date prepaid expense rollforward schedules with a few clicks. This feature simplifies the audit process and provides a clear overview of your prepaid expenses. For a deeper look at Accruer's automation capabilities, visit our Accruer software page.
See how Accruer handles complex accrual calculations with our interactive "hot schedules" demo. This demo provides a hands-on experience of Accruer's capabilities and shows how it can simplify your accounting workflow. Explore other automation solutions with our resources on QuickBooks automation.
Accruer integrates directly with QuickBooks Online, ensuring data consistency and eliminating manual data transfer. This seamless integration simplifies the accounting process and allows you to work within a familiar environment. Interested in partnering with us? Learn more about our Partnership Program.
Users report saving significant time on accrual accounting tasks, freeing up time for other important activities. This allows you to focus on strategic initiatives and grow your business. We're always looking for talented individuals to join our team. See our open positions on our Careers page.
Automation reduces the risk of human error, leading to more accurate financial reporting. This improved accuracy provides a more reliable view of your financial performance, helping you make better business decisions.
Streamlined workflows and automated processes improve overall accounting efficiency. This increased efficiency allows you to handle more work with fewer resources and improve your bottom line.
Accruer keeps your financial data organized and easily accessible. This simplifies audits and makes it easier to find the information you need.
The time savings and improved accuracy quickly translate into a return on investment. This rapid ROI makes Accruer a smart investment for businesses looking to improve their accounting processes. Have questions or want to learn more? Contact us today!
There we go. So Tyler does not work for FinOptimal, so everything that he's saying that's nice is genuine, okay? He's not here to be a shill. So, Accruer does prepaid expenses, deferred revenue, fixed assets, directly in QuickBooks. No spreadsheets, okay? You do not need outside spreadsheets to use Accruer. So we're going to go through a classic Accruer demo today but with a twist, where we're going to be eating Hot Ones. I think Tyler, should we just like start with the first one now?
Yes.
The basic one?
Dare we say everyone, only 1,800 Scoville. Nice and tasty.
What are you working with, ribs?
Yeah dude, you said it was like afternoon lunch, I'm in. Not even a challenge.
All right, let's start this, I'm going to share my screen and get into it. Alright entire window.
Be a great bait and switch right now.
All right, can you guys see this? How's it look Mich? If anyone has any feedback, meaning like this looks like crap, just slack it in the chat and Mich will figure it out. But we're going to start with the prepaid expense example. So like, Tyler why don't you tell them a little bit about how you used to do prepaids before you used Accruer as I tee this up here.
Yeah so, the issue for us is you always get on the month-end review with the client. You're going through and reviewing the financials and all of a sudden it's like, huh, what's this 20K expense that came in? You're asking them about it. And of course it's always at the 11th hour, they want to get financials out to their investors, their lenders, their stakeholders, their partners, whatever – and it turns out that that's a insurance expense and it's not even for this month, it's for the last 10 months of the of the insurance period. And so now I've got to go in and make an entry to post it in, starting in December and then one tenth of it every month until next September, and that's going to take me time. Versus, now with Accruer I can do it live on the call.
So all you have to do is write "for the period". Okay, that is the magic phrase. So think about like what you're doing with the spreadsheets today – it's gone. You literally just write "for the period" in the description, you click save, and in a matter of seconds it calculates and books every entry, and it creates the schedule. Yes, we are going to show you the schedule. But it does the entire thing based off of the description, okay? So "for the period" magic phrase – remember it. That is the first thing that you must do. The second is, we are booking this directly to an expense account, okay? Accruer uses the reversal method. Means you post it to the P&L, Accruer moves it to the balance sheet for you, and then does everything from there. Okay? Doesn't matter that it's an expense. Could be a bill, it could be a check, you could be using Bill.com, Ramp, Expensify, Divvy, whatever you're used to using – you just got to book it to the P&L. Tyler, do you write your dates like this, or how do you typically write your dates?
Well it depends what personality of me is taking over that day, right? Sometimes I write them as a single character month, double digit day, and four character year. Sometimes I'm lazy and just say December of 24, or 2024. I don't know man, I'm a little bit all over the place, Jekyll and Hyde.
Cool, well because we wrote it with this 9/25 to 12/24, it's going to prorate the first and last month. So if you're prorating stuff, you write it like this. If you're not, we'll show how to do it on the flip side, but let's show you the automated entries. So we've got our P&L here, I'm going to zoom back out, trying to make this look good for everybody. Nothing on it, nothing staged. We run this report, boom, it's done. Every entry posted in a matter of seconds to spread that out for you automatically. Just based on writing "for the period". Not doing anything else besides drinking Miller High Life over here, okay? That's it. Write "for the period".
Accrual accounting records income and expenses when they are earned or incurred, regardless of when cash changes hands. This provides a more accurate picture of a company's financial health than the cash method. For example, you've earned revenue when you complete a service, even if the client hasn't paid yet. Similarly, you've incurred an expense when you receive an invoice, even if you haven't paid it. This gives you a more realistic view of your current financial standing.
Why is this so important? Accrual accounting ensures your financial records are accurate and comply with Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP). GAAP compliance is crucial for businesses seeking loans, attracting investors, or maintaining a clear understanding of their financial performance. Without accrual accounting, your financial statements could be misleading, potentially showing profits when you're actually operating at a loss, or vice versa.
Managing prepaid expenses and deferred revenue can be complex and time-consuming. Automating these tasks helps. Software like Accruer streamlines these processes within QuickBooks Online, reducing manual data entry and the risk of errors. This often leads to a faster return on investment, allowing you to focus on growing your business.
Accruer seamlessly integrates with QuickBooks Online to automate accrual accounting tasks. It syncs data directly with your QuickBooks account, eliminating manual data entry and ensuring data accuracy. This direct integration means no more exporting and importing data between systems, which saves you time and reduces the risk of errors. It also keeps your financial information consistent across both platforms.
One of Accruer's key features is its automation of accrual entries. The software automatically creates and reverses these entries, simplifying a process that's often complex and time-consuming. Think about how much time you currently spend on manual data entry for accruals. Accruer can significantly reduce that time, freeing you to focus on higher-value tasks, like financial analysis and strategic planning. For a deeper dive into how FinOptimal helps automate accounting processes, check out our managed accounting services.
This automation also improves accuracy. Manual data entry is prone to human error, which can lead to inaccuracies in your financial reports. By automating the process, Accruer minimizes the risk of mistakes, giving you more confidence in your financial data. For businesses preparing for audits, this is a game-changer. Accruer generates audit-ready schedules, simplifying the audit process and reducing the associated stress. Instead of scrambling to gather information and prepare reports, you can confidently focus on providing the necessary documentation. Learn more about how Accruer streamlines this process on our Accruer page.
If you're curious to see Accruer in action, schedule a demo with a CPA. They can walk you through the software's features and answer any questions. If you’re interested in exploring partnership opportunities, visit our Partnership Program page. We're also growing! If you're passionate about FinTech, see our open positions on our Careers page. Or, if you're ready to experience the benefits firsthand, contact us to learn more about how Accruer can transform your accrual accounting processes.
Here are the automated entries. I guess, before Tyler we get into this, that was like, not spicy at all and I kind of feel like a baby so I think I should go to the next one. I would just jump a whole tier, but I feel like you guys told me not to do that, so I'm just going to go one up.
36,000 Scoville. Los Calientes. Tom what do you think?
I think I just need to go for Da Bomb, this is like not bad at all.
No, it's quite tasty, it's wonderful. We actually just invited people to watch us have a nice little lunch snack.
There's not nearly enough stuff, this is boring, so all right I'm gonna do the spicy one next. Here are Accruer's entries, okay, posted to the balance sheet $12,000 immediately reversed to the balance sheet. Sorry, posted to the P&L, reversed to the balance sheet. Same exact day, Accruer is going to tell you, that is a reversal entry. One journal entry dated for the last day of the month every month. We Zoom all the way out – if I can type – see the entire thing booked out immediately. You can control that if for any reason you don't want to book every entry, I don't know why you would do that, but you can have it only post month by month if you'd like that. I like to post everything at once, give your clients, give your stakeholders proform of P&L just by writing "for the period". So let's look at an automated entry before we get into, "okay what if I didn't get it right the first time?" This is what an entry looks like okay? I'm going to show you in a second how to customize the description. What matters here is that name, location, class, project, customer – whatever you're putting on that parent entry, that first line is going to show up here, okay? Super easy to track and split things, literally just right "for the period", tag it how you want it to show up in the in the P&L later on, you're good to go.The highlight in my mind is this memo field okay? There is a link right here. This will tie you back to the expense, or the bill, or wherever you wrote "for the period". So if you're reviewing entries and you're, "like why are people posting these entries, what do they look like?" That's also over. You can clearly tell why these things are here, where they came from, alright? That is how Accruer works, day in and day out. You literally just write "for the period", and you're good to go.
Even with the best planning, you might need to adjust accruals. Accruer makes this process easy. Let’s explore some common scenarios.
Imagine you overestimated your annual software subscription cost. Later, you discover the actual cost is lower. Correcting this in QuickBooks is simple. Edit the original entry, and Accruer automatically updates all related journal entries, even in locked periods. This saves you time and ensures accurate financial statements.
Unexpected costs happen. Perhaps a critical piece of equipment needs an urgent repair. With Accruer, you’re covered. Accruer automates the creation and reversal of accrual entries, eliminating manual data entry and reducing errors. This automation lets you quickly account for the expense, ensuring your financial records are up-to-date. This also frees you to handle the issue, rather than getting stuck in manual adjustments.
Tom can I ask a question though?
Please yeah, go ahead.
What if I screwed up up on the original entry, or one of my staff members did? I don't want to go back and fix the nine entries that Accruer just made for me.
You're such a showman, I love it, I can't wait.
I'm here for you, man.
You’re a professional podcaster.
I want to earn that beer you promised me.
Let's talk about adjustments, but Tyler, I'm gonna go for the this, Da Bomb. I'm gonna do it. I'm gonna jump.
10 minutes in, he's going for it.
Jesse be ready to take over for him.
The point of this – wow this is disgusting, holy.
He got ambitious folks.
How many units. Did you already flash how many units?
Uh, 135,000. We went from 30 – oh, one point, yeah 1.5, never mind.
Wow, okay.
Yeah that escalated quickly in the words of Ron Burgundy.
All right, now we're talking, that is disgusting and my mouth is absolutely on fire. This is, that is really really bad. All right, so – um, these books are completely unlocked. So we're going to talk about what Accruer does if you make adjustments. We'll also explain what would happen if – holy f – I said I'm not gonna curse, I might curse.
You need some bread man. That's horrible dude. I'm going to try to rough it. Alright, so if the books were locked, Accruer wouldn't restate a locked period, but let's talk about if the books are open. Wow this is brutal. Okay, so I'm going to change this entirely. I regret this and Jesse said if I didn't do this he was gonna fire me, we don't have an HR department, so everyone who's watching, um you guys are –
You don't get a day off tomorrow for this either, Tom.
If I go to the hospital, um, it's on Jesse.
Whew!
Oh my god dude, that is terrible!
You asked for this.
Should I go for the milk or should I rough it?
We told you wait until later, we told you to wait.
The beer? Alright.
Actually it's just a trap, the beer makes it worse.
Yeah you're, never drink after spicy food. You eat bread.
Yeah this, this is horrible. Alright so the first line I just wrote "for the period September 2024 to December 2024." Because I just changed the way that I wrote it Accruer is now going to do September 1st to December 31st. I'm literally crying. It's going to update all of the existing journal entries, okay?
Who just took a screenshot.
Who did? I, I'm – I can't even like hear right now, I'm just talking. I like feel I could do this in my sleep.
We all want to remember this.
So it's going to update the existing journal entries. Now what if the books were locked? It wouldn't restate a locked period, Tyler what would it do instead? Bail me out while I take a sip.
Yeah because Tom is suffering and can't talk about his own software, if I were doing this and I couldn't mess with a – whew – a closed period that a client had already reported, on – whew – I'm gonna pray to god that I can post it in the most recent open period. So I don't want to affect 2023, I'm gonna post all the changes in 2024. Back to you in the studio.
I'm like, sweating and my heart's racing. Alright, the second one, um second line I put text before "for the period" – hotels for the conference, alright. Hotels for the conference is now going to show up on all of the automated entries downstream. Okay, so you write "for the period" after it, that text is going to show up on the automated entries. If you put text after "for the period" it's going to stay right here. So you can customize the description based on where you write "for the period". Also, one date for the period November 2024, let's say you're going to a conference. This will be a prepaid expense today, fully recognized in November. One date is going to shift it, and two dates is going to spread it. I don't even remember if I clicked save. I hope I did, otherwise I'm going like an idiot when I show these updated entries, but let's do it. Oh my goodness.
Yeah you were a little eager when we got into this.
Well the point of this is Accruer's so easy to use, you can use it when you're suffering. I think now I'm getting to the point. Alright so now we've got these updated entries, great. Four equal periods, one push out to 1,500. Holy – ah god. For anyone who knows me, you know how hard it is for me to not be cursing right now. So points to me again for not cursing. Now Tyler it doesn't just post the entries, it also creates a schedule right? What do you guys use to reconcile the month at your month end – holy.
Well it depends what types of accounts, but you know we use Keeper as our system and we want to be able to post backup. As to what's sitting in every single balance sheet account so we know what's out there because the balance sheet is where things go to die, and come back to haunt you later. So let's make sure we know what's there.
Alright. So we're going to tie out prepaid expenses and I think I skipped this in my moment of delusion, but this also works the exact same way for deferred revenue. We'll cover fixed assets after, but if you have an imagination you can expect how it's going to work for different revenue. And if you don't, please just have me show you at another time what I'm – I can feel my face. So we're not going to do the whole deferred revenue dance tonight.
Accruer simplifies the process of generating accrual reports, providing you with the information you need to make informed financial decisions. As Tyler mentioned, reconciling accounts at month-end is crucial, and often, the balance sheet can be where surprises hide. Accruer helps eliminate those unpleasant surprises.
Beyond just automating entries, Accruer generates audit-ready schedules. This means no more scrambling to compile information for your auditors. The reports are readily available, saving you time and reducing stress during the audit process. This feature alone can be a significant advantage, especially for businesses working with external accounting firms.
Accruer also helps keep your financial data organized and easily accessible. This organized data is the foundation for generating accurate and insightful reports. The platform's ability to handle complex accrual calculations, as demonstrated in the "hot schedules" demo, ensures that your reports reflect the true financial state of your business. And, with customizable descriptions, you can tailor your reports to include specific details, further enhancing the quality of your financial reporting.
Accruer simplifies generating accrual reports, providing the information you need for informed financial decisions. As Tyler mentioned in the Hot Ones demo, reconciling accounts at month-end is crucial, and the balance sheet can often hide surprises. Accruer helps eliminate those unpleasant surprises.
1. Automated Entries: Accruer automates creating and reversing accrual entries, eliminating manual data entry and reducing the risk of errors. This automation saves time and ensures consistent, reliable accounting practices. For a deeper dive into how FinOptimal helps automate accounting processes, check out our managed accounting services.
2. Audit-Ready Schedules: Beyond automating entries, Accruer generates audit-ready schedules. This means no more scrambling to compile information for your auditors. The reports are readily available, saving you time and stress during the audit process. This feature is a significant advantage, especially for businesses working with external accounting firms.
3. Organized Financial Data: Accruer keeps your financial data organized and easily accessible, which is the foundation for generating accurate and insightful reports. This simplifies tasks like creating a prepaid expense rollforward schedule.
4. Customizable Reporting: Accruer’s ability to handle complex accrual calculations, as demonstrated in the “hot schedules” demo, ensures your reports reflect your business's true financial state. Customizable descriptions let you tailor reports with specific details, further enhancing the quality of your financial reporting. For a closer look at how Accruer streamlines reconciliation, check out the Accruer software page and schedule a demo with a CPA.
Alright, so now let's jump into FinOptimal. I don't know this is just terrible TV, and just for no reason, but this is horrible. Alright, here is um, FinOptimal. So this is our app. This is where you would log in to control your settings and review your schedule, alright? One log in for a firm if you're a firm, toggle between all your clients in one place. I'm going to jump to reporting though because honestly once you set up Accruer, you're really just in here for reporting at the end of the month. Alright, so we'll start with our roll forward schedule because this is everybody's favorite new thing. Tyler have you used this yet?
I actually have not, I'm here to learn now at this moment. And eat.
Alright, so people were asking us, they wanted a traditional rollforward schedule. Let me shrink the months a little bit and zoom in so people can see. Holy – this is, I have do – the one after this is gonna be worse. Got two minutes, so better hurry. Everyone wanted a traditional rollforward schedule, so this is what we built. You can see the beginning balance, any additions throughout the month, what's been recognized, and you're ending balance all in one nice and easy report. This updates for you automatically, okay? So you can filter this, you can add information, but this is going to replace your schedule. I really underestimated this. Alright, I also like to use our schedule view. So this is the traditional method, I'm assuming Tyler this is what you're using today as part of this, right?
Yep, log in see my balance by month, by entry, or whatever is making up that balance.
Right, okay, so we can – and Mich, I'm assuming we don't have any any questions, but if we do shout them out.
Do you see the question on the screen?
I hate you so much Patrick, I swear to god. That's a good one.
Great question Patrick, thank you so much.
So you can add additional, yeah this is great. You can add additional information – description, start date, end date, P&L account – these are some things that I might want to add in. The reason I'm showing this is I actually like to use this as part of my balance sheet rec instead of the rollforward. This is what we're used to here at FinOptimal. You also want to filter, I skipped that step because I can't remember anything, so you filter – great, here's our prepaid expense balance, and let's Zoom this out a little bit. God.
You're out of milk before the last one man, that's a bad move.
I have a I have a whole gallon. Alright, you can save views, okay, so you can create unique views for all of your stuff. So, every time you log in this is going to be pre-filtered on prepaid expenses. This is the most milk I've drank in probably 100 years. Um, best practice would be one per balance sheet. Any questions? Tyler, how'd I do?
I think you covered it. I mean, the beauty hit home here is that Tom is not in his normal state of mind. The reconciliation is easier than it appears. But Tom, it's time for the last one, dude.
Can I just take like, a one-minute break or something?
No, man, you signed up for this.
I actually feel like I have, like, a moment of relief right now. Was that the only question we had on that entire demo, was just Patrick?
Yeah, yeah.
Good, must be doing such a good job, or the entire audience left because this is the worst idea I ever had. Alright, we're gonna do fixed assets. What'd you say, Mich?
I said this is the fastest demo I've ever seen you do. Like I've never seen you explain –
What did I miss? Did I miss anything?
No, no, I don't think you missed anything. I would love if anyone has any questions on how reporting works, please throw questions in the chat. We'd be happy to answer.
Accruer uses a straightforward per-QuickBooks file pricing model, offering flexibility with no monthly commitment. You can cancel anytime. This makes it easy to scale your usage as your business grows. There are three tiers designed to accommodate different volumes of accrual entries:
To explore Accruer’s pricing in more detail or discuss which plan best suits your requirements, contact us directly.
Beyond simplifying accruals with Accruer, FinOptimal offers a suite of QuickBooks automation apps designed to streamline your core accounting processes. Our focus is on reducing manual work, saving you valuable time, and improving the overall efficiency of your finance team. We believe automation should be accessible and beneficial to businesses of all sizes. We provide solutions that empower finance professionals to focus on strategic initiatives rather than tedious tasks.
In addition to Accruer, we're developing:
Learn more about our mission to optimize financial processes through automation and explore our managed accounting services. We're passionate about helping businesses leverage technology to achieve greater financial efficiency and control. Whether you're interested in exploring partnership opportunities or joining our growing team, we invite you to connect with us.
Let's assume people joined late. I will show deferred revenue while I have a very brief moment of “I can talk.” Alright, so that was showing – jinxed myself, the beer didn’t help. That was showing prepaid expenses. Actually, I’m not going to show this anymore, my friend doesn’t work there anymore. My friends work here, this is where I’m going to do. Alright, so it works the exact same way for deferred revenue. Again, for those who are joining late or weren’t paying attention, Accruer uses a reversal method. So for expenses, you book it to the expense account. Why is this doing this? And for revenue, you book to the income account. Same concept though. “For the period of October 2024 to December 2024,” click save, and that's it. Accruer is going to move this 15K from the P&L to the balance sheet, and do all of your revenue recognition from there. So it's not just a prepaid expenses tool, it is also a deferred revenue tool. You see this might be small, let's zoom in. At the end of the day it's going to boil down to this magic phrase, "for the period." Okay that is what matters. Tyler, what are you using it for, more prepaids, or more deferred, or more fixed assets?
So I think the two magical uses I absolutely love is if I have a client that has, you know, an invoice they sent out for a wedding event or something. They're sending out the money, the invoice today. They want the client to pay it in the next 30 days for you know, a wedding next July. Well let's write "for the period" in there, it's going to post next July, but we're going to still have the invoice dated today. And the client doesn't think they have until July to pay it. I love it like that on the revenue side, I freakin love it when I do my allocations on my P&L for my own company by client, because when I'm trying to do profitability, I also want a post that it's for this, the payroll period was for this 14-day window that spans both months, Accruer does the work for me and just automatically does my payroll allocations.
That's true, it also does payroll expenses and I'm definitely not doing that today, because I can't do this. Alright, let's show revenue.
I'm gonna interrupt.
Go ahead, please.
I have a question. Weston, thank you so much for chatting in. When backdating will it run through prepaids, and allow the prepaid expense. Oh, will it run through prepaid and allow the prepaid expense balance to be negative from earlier months, or will it use acrrued expense and switch to prepaid after the date of the expense?
I like Weston, Weston, that's a sharp question. So your setup is you're basically going to pick what your asset and liability accounts are. Our recommendation would be to have your asset account be prepaid, your liability account be accrued. And if you do that, it will flip it between accrued and prepaid. Okay, so what Accruer is doing to make that determination, on either side, is it's looking at what we call the "service period." So these dates, and it's comparing it to this date. And based on that relationship, it's determining what entries belong on which side of the balance sheet. Now, there are a handful of users who don't like to do that, they actually want to use one account for both asset and liability. Basically I want prepaids to be negative instead of using an accrued expenses account. So you can have it do that if you'd like, but recommendation is to use prepaids in accrued or unbilled in deferred, and it'll flip automatically. See Patrick? That's how you ask a question. Alright? No more funny business.
Tom you only got eight minutes left.
Alright alright alright alright alright. Alright. I'm gonna do it.
Last one coming up on the screen folks. Two million, what are we at? 2.6 million Scoville. See on the other side.
I feel like I might actually throw up, to be honest but.
He wasted no time.
Jesse you're getting ready, jump in? Weston if you needed any more clarification, please don't hesitate. Happy to provide more.
My mouth is so dry from the milk, that I can't even like, chew it.
So dare I say, one of the beauties here –
It's not as bad.
What was that?
Is it not as bad?
I told you, Da Bomb's the worst man.
Wow. Well hold on, before I speak to soon, but wow. Da Bomb was horrible!
There you go, if you ever want to torture your friends everyone.
Okay, fixed assets – wow god, that's so great. I mean it's still horrible, but it's not as bad as the last one. Alright, so fixed assets. The way that we do fixed assets – what you were seeing us do is work with our different workflows, okay? So now we're in FinOptimal – yeah this is still not good either though, Jesus.
It's a slow burn.
Alright so we got expenses and we got revenue, but we got two fixed asset workflows. Tyler why do we have multiple fixed asset workflows?
Because you need to close your fixed assets over different periods. You know, computers over what, three years? I can't remember dates FF&E over 15 or 7, I don't know numbers anymore.
Yeah I'm just asking you questions because I'm just trying to get more milk. Alright, so the reason we do it this way is for each fixed asset workflow, you set one fixed asset account, and then you pick the useful life for that. Did we lose Tyler? Did he just fall backstage? We lost Tyler,
that's it.
Oh he's back, hold on.
Hit a button.
Alright, say that, run that back, say that again.
Hit a button, go on.
Alright, so for each fixed asset account, you have one fixed asset workflow. Computers and tablets in this case, I've set it to 36 months. You could set it to whatever you'd like it to be, okay? Pick a number, any number. Fixed end date, fixed start date, lease hold improvement, cav software, we thought of all of it. There's also a disposal module, but let's talk about how easy it is to do fixed assets. You book it to this account in QBO, it's going to depreciate it over that period of time. Again, bank feed, bill, check – we don't care. Yeah that one's like a, that's a sneaky one, Tyler. Like it was wasn't bad at first, but now it is really creeping up big time.
It's okay, power though, you got this homie.
And release.
Um, I literally just booked something to this account, I don't write anything in the description, $26,000 over 36 months, you're done. That's it. You do not need to write "for the period". But Tyler, why would you write "for the period"?
I was just going to ask a plant question, what if I have a client who is putting this as a leasehold improvement at a certain property, and they only got four years left on the lease? Well that would be a different, that's a different answer actually. So if it is that, what I would do is I would actually come in here and I create a new workflow.
That's a fair point.
And I would set a fixed end date, and I would pick the "lease end date," look at that. You set me up without even realizing it.
That's what I'm here for man.
Here's a different question. Like let's say, um, I spilled milk all over my laptop and then Jesse fired me. And then he sold this laptop to somebody else, and they wanted to depreciate it but it's not worth three years anymore, it's worth two years because someone who got fired spilled milk on it. Okay, so then you're gonna write "for the period October 2024 to September 2026" and it'll now do two years starting in October over that period of time, rather than a default 36 months.
But it will still do it to the right active account, right?
Yes, it'll still do it to the same account, you don't need unique fixed asset accounts for each individual asset. You can deviate on the asset by asset basis. Alright. Anything else? Jesse how'd I do? How'd we do?
You still got to make it through the last minute and a half though.
Tom, I feel like you got to polish it off with one more Da Bomb. No, no shot dude. Literally, literally no shot.
I feel like Tyler has a lot more bottles back there.
I do.
Maybe when we eventually do one of these for Booker, depending on how well this actually went, I'll do more Da Bomb or something else. Um, alright, do we have any banners of like, where to find us and stuff like that, or do we not think that far ahead? Alright, yeah we do. So if anybody who's not using this right now and wants to, you can use that code HOTAPPS and you'll get 50% off for the first three months. Just go to finoptimal.app. It's linked above, or it's attached to any one of our LinkedIn pages. If you can't find it, I don't think you'll actually be able to set up Accruer, so just go figure it out. Um, Tyler where can they find UnAccountable?
Oh yeah, go to unaccountable.co. Search us in any of your favorite podcast apps. We probably have some of the worst five star reviews out there, it's great, feel free to add to them. Uh, yeah!
Nice, if anyone needs any help–
I feel so sick. I feel sick. Like, my stomach feels horrible right now. I just drank like, half a gallon of milk.
You should definitely call an ambulance and have them drive you straight to "you asked for it."
What they don't tell you is that the worst part of this for your body is probably all the milk. Um, but if anybody wants any additional help or support getting started, you know where to find us. You can DM any of us on LinkedIn. Um, and we'll be there to help you out.
Okay, can we stop now?
Yeah we can stop.
Thank you.
Get back to work.
Yeah, get back to work.
If I make a mistake on an initial entry, do I have to correct each individual entry created by Accruer? No. Simply edit the original QuickBooks Online transaction where you added "for the period." Accruer automatically updates all related entries, saving you time and effort.
Does Accruer work with other software besides QuickBooks Online? Currently, Accruer is designed exclusively for QuickBooks Online. It seamlessly integrates with QBO, eliminating manual data transfer and ensuring data consistency. While it's compatible with various payment and expense management platforms used with QBO (like Bill.com, Ramp, Expensify, and Divvy), it doesn't directly integrate with them.
How does Accruer handle accruals if a period is already locked? If you're working with locked periods, Accruer won't modify the closed entries. Instead, it intelligently adjusts the accruals in the most recent open period, ensuring your financial records remain accurate and compliant.
What's the difference between using "prepaid expenses" and "unbilled expenses," or "deferred revenue" and "unearned revenue"? While the terminology can be confusing, Accruer simplifies this by using the service period dates you provide in the description. We recommend setting up your chart of accounts with distinct accounts for prepaid expenses and unbilled expenses (or deferred and unearned revenue). Accruer automatically determines the correct placement based on the service period, flipping entries between the asset and liability accounts as needed. However, you can configure Accruer to use a single account and allow negative balances if that aligns with your preferred accounting method.
Beyond accruals, what other accounting tasks can FinOptimal automate? FinOptimal is developing additional automation tools like Booker and Wrangler to streamline other core accounting processes. While details are still emerging, we're committed to expanding our offerings to help businesses achieve greater financial efficiency. Follow our LinkedIn page for the latest updates.
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