How can I show income the day money was collected?

This article explains what to do if you want to record money as income on the day it was collected, rather than on the day it was banked. This includes (though isn't limited to) churches counting their Sunday offerings, which won't be banked until the bank opens in the week.

This article suggests using a Petty Cash account. To help you better understand the Petty Cash module as a whole, please visit the module overview page here.

Step 1: Set up a new Petty Cash account for your collections

To add a new Petty Cash account, head to your Settings screen and choose Bank & Cash Accounts, then under Petty Cash accounts, choose Add Petty Cash Account. In the pop-up that appears, give your new Petty Cash account a clear and unique name, and add access for any ExpensePlus users who will need it.

Click Submit to create your new Petty Cash account. You'll now see it listed in the Petty Cash module in ExpensePlus.

Step 2: On the day of the collection, record Petty Cash income to your new account

In the Petty Cash screen, select the relevant Petty Cash account, then select Record Petty Cash Income.

There is more information on how to do this in this help guide article.

By recording the income as Petty Cash at this point, you are recording the cash income in ExpensePlus on the day it was collected, even though it won't be banked until later (in Step 3).

Step 3: Deposit your Petty Cash into your bank account

When you then take the cash to the bank, you'll need to record the deposit of petty cash in ExpensePlus. There are two ways of recording this:

Option 1: via a Bank Deposit

If the petty cash is being banked as part of a larger deposit, that includes cash and/or cheques from other sources, then the best way to record it is as a Bank Deposit. In this instance, you are preparing a bank deposit that will later be taken to the bank.

In the Bank Deposits module, select Record New Bank Deposit.

Record your other income as usual then, to add the petty cash, add a line under the option "Plus Cash Added from Petty Cash" (at the bottom of the screen). Select your Petty Cash account and enter the amount you are transferring from the Petty Cash account to the bank account (which may or may not be the same amount as your Sunday collection - that's fine).

This bank deposit will then appear on the bank matching screen ready for bank matching when you upload your bank statement.

Option 2: via the Bank Matching screen

Recording the deposit during bank matching is the quickest way to record the Petty Cash deposit, if all of the cash within the transaction was from petty cash (i.e. there was no cash from other sources). In this instance, where you're matching cash that's been banked and is waiting to be bank matched, you have already deposited a sum of money from your Petty Cash account into your bank account.

When you upload your bank statement, select the income transaction on the bank matching screen and select Deposit of Petty Cash; then, from the second drop-down box, choose your Petty Cash account.

By following these steps, you have recorded the cash income on ExpensePlus on the day it was collected (in Step 2), even though you have taken the money to the bank at a different time (Step 3).