Chart of Accounts

Under Reporting >> Chart of Accounts, you'll find a breakdown of income and expenses by category, including any sales tax you collect.

Each time a payment is recorded on an invoice, Dubsado will evenly split that payment amount across the income categories of the line items on the invoice. Similarly, when you close an invoice, Dubsado will split the uncollectible balance across the affected income categories.

Use the date filters at the top to select a date range to display and click Export Profit and Loss to download a CSV file of your chart of accounts for that date range.

Income categories in 2.0

Assign income categories to your invoice line items so that you can track how much you make in each category.

Updated Aug 15, 2023

Each line item in a package or on an invoice can be assigned to an income category in Dubsado. This allows the chart of accounts to automatically add up your income in each category as clients make payments on your invoices.

Creating income categories

The chart of accounts is the best place to create and manage income categories:

Go to Reporting >> Chart of Accounts.
Click the Income Category + button.
Enter a Name for the category.
Choose a Type.
Click Add.

Income categories can also be created while you are setting up a line item in a package or on an invoice. Just click New Category.

Income category types

When creating income categories, you'll need to choose between Sales, Service, and Non-Operating as the income type. We encourage you to consult your accountant, but here are some basic definitions of the income types:

Sales: Tangible objects you are selling. Albums, products, anything you would hold in your hand. Could extend to digital products depending on the situation.
Service: Work you perform for your clients, instead of selling a product. Examples include consulting, web design, photography, social media management, and branding.
Non-Operating: Income you generate outside of the primary activity of your business, such as gains on investments or the sale of assets. For example, a photographer's primary business activity is providing photography services and selling prints. However, the photographer might sell one of their cameras (a business asset) and the income from the sale would be typed as Non-Operating and manually recorded on the Reporting >> Transactions page.

Assigning income categories to line items

For Dubsado to track how much income you make in each category, you must assign an income category to each line item. Then when a client makes a payment on an invoice, Dubsado will automatically distribute their payment across the categories according to the line item totals. You can see this distribution on the Reporting >> Chart of Accounts page.

To assign an income category to a line item, click Select a category in the Category field and select the appropriate category.

👋 Here's a tip... Although you can assign income categories to line items while creating an invoice, setting categories on your line items while creating package templates will save more time! This way the category is already assigned when you add the package to the invoice.

FAQ

Can I set more than one income category on a line item?

No. Each line item may only be assigned to one income category. If you need to split the cost between two categories, you'll need two separate line items.

What if I don't use income categories?

It's ultimately up to you! However, if you do not use income categories and later decide to start using them, all of your income up to that point would be in the Uncategorized income category. If you did want to categorize past income, it would need to be done manually for each individual transaction.

What happens if I delete an income category?

Deleting an income category will move all of the income in that category to Uncategorized. Recategorizing that income would need to be done manually for each individual transaction.

Expense Categories

You can record your expenses right inside Dubsado so that your bookkeeping is all in one place. Recorded expenses can be categorized and will appear in the chart of accounts so that you can keep track of where you are spending in your business.

Creating expense categories

Before recording your expenses, we recommend setting up some expense categories. The chart of accounts is the best place to create and manage expense categories:

Go to Reporting >> Chart of Accounts.
Click the Expense Category + button.
Enter a Name for the category.
Choose a Type.
Click Add.

Expense category types

When creating expense categories, you'll need to choose between Cost of goods, Operating, and Non-Operating as the expense type. We encourage you to consult your accountant, but here are some basic definitions of the expense types:

Cost of goods: The cost of raw materials, paid labor, and overhead required to produce any tangible products you sell. Overhead is used to account for indirect expenses that you incur while producing the product, such as paying for utilities. For example, a wedding stationer would need to purchase paper supplies to create invitations. The expense of the supplies would be considered the cost of goods.
Operating: Ordinary and necessary business expenses, such as office supplies, software subscriptions for running your business (like Dubsado!), payment processing fees, and rent.
Non-Operating: Used for expenses that are outside normal business operations, such as interest expenses if you take out a business loan.

Recording expense transactions

Under Reporting >> Transactions, you can manually record general business expenses or project-specific expenses using the Expense + button. Dubsado does not have any integrations to record expenses automatically.

General business expenses: Leave the Project dropdown blank.
Project-related expenses: Select the related project from the Project dropdown. Expenses are not visible to clients and will not appear on invoices.

When you select an Expense Category, Dubsado will add this expense to the total for that category in the chart of accounts. Expense categories can be created while you are recording an expense by clicking New Category.

FAQ

Will expenses show up on a client's invoice if I tie them to a project?

No, expenses are not shown on invoices. However, if you go to the Invoices >> Expenses tab within a project, you can see a net profit for that project!

Which expense categories should I create?

Some basic examples include office supplies, payment processing fees, computer software, and marketing. Since categorizing your expenses properly is critical to tax preparation, we recommend consulting your accountant or tax professional.

What if I don't use expense categories?

It's ultimately up to you! However, if you do not use expense categories and later decide to start using them, all of your expenses up to that point would be in the Uncategorized expense category. If you did want to categorize past expenses, it would need to be done manually for each individual transaction.

What happens if I delete an expense category?

Deleting an expense category will move all of the expenses in that category to Uncategorized. Recategorizing those expenses would need to be done manually for each individual transaction.