ZepDesk accounting software
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Cash basis or balance sheet, and how ZepDesk handles both.

Whether you keep cash-basis accounts (Einnahmenüberschussrechnung) or prepare a balance sheet, ZepDesk derives from the legal form and the prior-year figures. Either way, postings go into the same journal, with SKR03 or SKR04; whatever follows from invoices, receipts and bank transactions, ZepDesk posts itself.

Cash basis or balance sheet?

ZepDesk sets the “subject to balance sheet” tick in the company data itself, from the legal form and the prior-year figures. It switches on balance sheet and profit and loss account; cash-basis accounts remain for everyone who does not prepare a balance sheet. Today ZepDesk accepts prior-year revenue and profit only through the API; a form for them is still missing.

Your type of business
ZepDesk keeps
double-entry bookkeeping and balance sheet
Subject to balance sheet

Basis: legal form

Type of businessWhat ZepDesk keepsBasis
UG, GmbH, AG, SE, KGaA, eGdouble-entry bookkeeping and balance sheetlegal form
OHG, KG, GmbH & Co. KGdouble-entry bookkeeping and balance sheetlegal form
e.K.double-entry bookkeeping and balance sheet, unless you confirm the exemption under section 241a HGB; today this is only possible through the APIlegal form, your confirmation
Commercial sole proprietorship, GbRcash-basis accounts, until prior-year revenue exceeds €800,000 or profit exceeds €80,000section 141 AO
Freelancerscash-basis accounts, regardless of sizesection 4 (3) EStG

What this means for annual accounts and disclosure is explained under annual accounts; which figures result from it, under reports.

What the accounting module offers

Source
Journal in ZepDesk: entries from bank transactions, receipts, the depreciation run and an invoice, all posted

Real view from ZepDesk: every entry names its source.

  • Journal

    All entries with search, status and period. Nothing is deleted; corrections are made with a reversal.

  • Trial balance

    Totals and balances per account: opening value, debit and credit for the period and the year, balance; as CSV.

  • Fixed assets and depreciation (AfA)

    Straight-line, declining balance or with special depreciation under section 7g EStG, low-value assets up to €800 net written off at once, pool items for €250 to €1,000; depreciation runs month by month from acquisition.

  • Provisions

    Recognise, release and discount, each movement as its own posting, plus accruals and deferrals.

  • Period-end close

    A closed period is locked: amounts, dates and accounts of its postings, receipts and invoices no longer change.

  • EÜR

    Anlage EÜR with its lines, straight from the postings, on a cash basis.

Every entry has two sides. ZepDesk knows both.

Example: a customer invoice for €3,427.20 gross with 19% VAT. When the invoice is finalised, ZepDesk posts the receivable against revenue and VAT; the incoming payment later posts bank against receivable, see bank reconciliation.

Debit€3,427.20
1400Receivables€3,427.20
Credit€3,427.20
8400Revenue 19%€2,880.00
1776VAT 19%€547.20
Balance€0.00

Account numbers follow SKR03. Under SKR04 they differ; ZepDesk assembles the journal entry itself in either chart of accounts.

The chart of accounts fits the legal form

SKR03 or SKR04, chosen when you set up the company. Associations, foundations and gGmbH assign every invoice and receipt to one of the four spheres, associations.

Your own accounts you create, and accounts you do not need you switch off; the accounts ZepDesk posts to itself follow the chart.
Automatic account assignment from invoices, receipts and bank transactions, the same for balance sheet and cash basis.
DATEV export as a posting batch for a period, for your tax firm.
View reports
SKR04 chart of accounts in ZepDesk with account number, class, balance and category

What ZepDesk does not take on

Switching without the tax office's notice. Under section 141 AO the bookkeeping obligation only begins after the tax office's notification; ZepDesk switches as soon as the prior-year figures exceed the thresholds. You set the timing with the prior-year figures, which today can only be entered through the API.
No freelance GbR. ZepDesk does not yet recognise a GbR of freelancers as such; the thresholds apply to it as to a commercial GbR.
No discount rate for the day. ZepDesk discounts provisions at a fixed rate in the order of the official one, not at the Bundesbank rate for the balance sheet date.

Bring your bookkeeping over.

Create the company, choose the chart of accounts, take over starting values. How a switch from other software works is explained under switching.

Secure early access View annual accounts