This is essentially a basic accounting question, not so much 'how to do this in GnuCash.'

The exact accounts used are up to you, but generically between an accounts such as:

Dr. Expenses:Professional Services
  Cr. Liabilities:Accrued Expenses

When the invoice is received, draw down the Accrued Expenses account to an Accounts Payable account:

Dr. Liabilities:Accrued Expenses
  Cr. Liabilities:Accounts Payable

(when you pay the invoice, you'll draw down the Accounts Payable account to whatever Asset account you used as a source of funds, e.g., Assets:Checking, as with any other Vendor Bill)

In the case of using the GnuCash features, you can enter the accrued expense manually or via an SX. (Scheduled Transaction)

Then when the accountant's invoice is received, enter a Vendor Bill in GnuCash with the line items posting to the relevant Accrued Expenses account, and posting the entire Bill to the relevant Accounts Payable account.

The date of booking the Accrued Expense should be when the expense was incurred, thus, when you received service from the accountant.

The date of the Bill should be the date of the accountant's invoice.

The date of the payment is the date you effectively paid it. (usually the 'tender' date, such as post-marking if sent by snail mail) There are also 'received' and 'cleared' dates in some cases, but those are not always relevant to when a debt was considered 'paid' but that will depend on your specific jurisdicition and circumstances. (those may be relevant to reconciling your bank/credit account however, if it factors in.)

As always, this isn't accounting advice - ask your accountant!


Regards,
Adrien

On 5/14/24 8:39 AM, Wesley Brooks wrote:
I'm a basic level user of GNUCash, and generally enter transaction details mostly by raising bills/invoices and subsequently processing the payments. The only exceptions to this are how I enter my salary payments, and transfers between my company and private accounts covering director loans and repayments.

My accountant has added their charge for accounting and an accrued expense on their submissions, long before they would raise an invoice.

How do I generate an accrued expense so that it works with a subsequently raised the invoice, and processed payment in the following year?

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