How to automate accrued cost journals

Add, review, release, and post cost accruals; accrue unbilled expenses and missing supplier bills.

Table of Contents

Part 1 — Add cost accruals 1. Review suggestions 2. Add additional accruals Part 2 — Check and update accrual releases Part 3 — Review and post your cost accrual journal Section 1 - Suggested Journal (post journal) Section 2 - Comprehensive Journal (for reference) Section 3 - Journals Already Posted (for reference) Section 4 - Accrued Cost by Account (for reference) Section 5 - Accrued Cost Balance Sheet (for reference) Section 6 - Accrued Cost by Supplier (for reference) Download the journal Related articles

This article explains how to add cost accruals in ScaleXP, review and release them, and post your accrued cost journal to your accounting system. For the full expense recognition flow (prepayments through to accrual posting) — and to review all expenses before adding accruals — see How to automate expense recognition journals in ScaleXP.

If you are using accruals for the first time, see Getting started with accruals for setup help.

To automate accruals each month end, go to Journals (top tab) > Add Accruals.

Part 1 — Add cost accruals

Open the Add Accruals page. ScaleXP uses pattern recognition to identify missing supplier bills and suggest accruals, and you can also add your own.

Filters at the top of the page control:

month for suggested accruals;
expense date range;
As Spent vs IFRS/GAAP view;
accounts;
included data (issued bills, bank transactions, draft bills (Xero only), manual accruals).

1. Review suggestions

Suggested accruals are highlighted in orange and, in the month selected for accrual suggestions, appear in a white box for your review. They will not be included in journals unless accepted (in which case the row turns from orange to blue).

To confirm a suggested accrual, click on the amount and confirm.
To change the amount, edit it and click Change Amount.
To delete an unwanted suggestion, click the x; to edit it, click the suggestion box.

2. Add additional accruals

To add your own accrual, click the three dots at the top right, then select Add Accrued Expense.

To accrue an existing draft bill (Xero only), ensure Draft Bills is selected in the included data and click Add below the draft bill.
For an existing supplier, you can also click on the supplier name to reveal the Add Cost Accrual button.

Note: Accruals release automatically once an associated bill arrives, a draft bill is converted to an issued bill, or a pre-set release date is reached. You can also release accruals manually if they are no longer required.

Part 2 — Check and update accrual releases

Go to Release Accruals on the sidebar or Journals tab.

Manual accruals without a release date specified must be released here. Accruals based on bills — or where a release date has been set in the accrual — are released automatically on the bill issue date.

Click the Release button on the accrual.

Change the release date to the month in which you want to set the release.

Click Release to save, then click Done.

Part 3 — Review and post your cost accrual journal

Go to Journal Accruals on the sidebar or Journals tab. Use this page to automatically create and release cost accruals by account.

Section 1 - Suggested Journal (post journal)

Use Section 1 to review and post your journal. This is the only action that is required on this page.

This is based on calculations from the sections below less any accruals already made as per Section 3.

Click to see further levels of detail such as tracking code, class or location.

When posting, download the detail and attach it to the journal in your accounting system.

Section 2 - Comprehensive Journal (for reference)

This section summarizes the net accruals by expense account and the suggested total accrual-related debits and credits for the month. This is based entirely on the cost accruals you have identified in ScaleXP in the previous steps.