Overview
Vendra uses double-entry bookkeeping — every financial event creates at least one debit and one credit of equal value, ensuring the books always balance. The key advantage of Vendra's accounting is that most entries are created automatically. When you sell at the POS, accounting entries are created. When you receive goods on a purchase order, inventory and payables are updated. When you confirm an invoice, revenue is recognized. Your accountant's job becomes reviewing, reconciling, and reporting rather than manually posting transactions.
The accounting dashboard shows the health of each journal at a glance: the outstanding invoices awaiting payment, unpaid vendor bills, and unreconciled bank statements. These are your actionable items each day. The Kenya localization (l10n_ke) pre-configures your chart of accounts, tax rates, and VAT report structure to comply with KRA requirements, so you do not start from scratch.
Chart of Accounts
The chart of accounts is the master list of all financial accounts used to record transactions. Vendra loads a KRA-compliant chart of accounts when Kenya is selected as the company country. Go to Accounting → Configuration → Chart of Accounts to review it.
The default Kenya chart is organized by account code ranges:
- 1xx — Assets: Cash, bank accounts, accounts receivable, inventory, prepayments, fixed assets
- 2xx — Liabilities: Accounts payable, VAT payable, loans, deferred revenue
- 3xx — Equity: Share capital, retained earnings, drawings
- 4xx — Income: Sales revenue, other income, interest income
- 5xx — Cost of Goods Sold: Direct inventory cost, purchase returns
- 6xx — Operating Expenses: Salaries, rent, utilities, marketing, depreciation
To add a new account, click New. Assign a unique code, descriptive name, account type (which determines how it appears on financial statements), and any default tax. Account types control whether an account appears as an asset, liability, equity, income, or expense — getting this right is essential for accurate financial reports.
Vendra includes the Account Financial Reports module which extends the standard reports with a full General Ledger, Trial Balance, VAT Report, and Aged Balance. These are accessed from Accounting → Reporting.
Customer Invoices
Customer invoices record amounts owed to you by customers for goods or services delivered. Go to Accounting → Customers → Invoices and click New to create one manually, or generate invoices directly from confirmed sales orders.
- Select the customer. Their default payment terms and pricelist apply automatically.
- Set the invoice date and due date (or select payment terms and let the due date calculate).
- Click Add a Line and select the product or service, quantity, and unit price. The tax fills in from the product's tax configuration.
- Review the total including tax. Add any notes or terms in the Other Info tab.
- Click Confirm to post the invoice. This creates a journal entry debiting Accounts Receivable and crediting Sales Revenue and VAT Payable.
- Click Send & Print to email the invoice as a PDF to the customer and mark it as sent.
When the customer pays, open the invoice and click Register Payment. Select the journal (Bank, Cash, or M-Pesa), enter the amount and date, and click Pay. The invoice is marked as paid and the journal entry reverses the receivable by debiting the cash or bank account.
Credit Notes
A credit note reverses all or part of a posted invoice — used when goods are returned, an overcharge is corrected, or a discount is applied after invoicing. To create one, open the original posted invoice and click Add Credit Note.
Choose the reason for the credit note (optional, for internal records), the date, and whether to reverse the full amount or a partial amount. For a partial credit, you will edit the quantities or prices on the resulting credit note document. Confirm the credit note to post it. You can then either:
- Offset against future invoices — The credit note stays outstanding and can be reconciled against the customer's next invoice as a partial payment.
- Refund directly — Register a payment on the credit note to send money back to the customer via bank transfer or cash.
Vendor Bills
Vendor bills record amounts you owe to suppliers. The most efficient workflow is to create vendor bills directly from purchase orders — the bill is pre-filled with the ordered products and prices, reducing data entry and risk of errors.
To bill from a purchase order, open the confirmed PO and click Create Bill. The bill populates automatically. Verify the amounts against the physical invoice from the supplier, adjust if there are any discrepancies, and click Confirm to post it. The journal entry credits Accounts Payable and debits the expense or inventory account.
For bills not linked to a purchase order (e.g., utility bills, rent, professional fees), go to Accounting → Vendors → Bills → New and enter the vendor, date, vendor's reference number, and line items manually. When ready to pay, go to Accounting → Vendors → Payments, select the bills to pay, and register the payment.
Bank Reconciliation
Bank reconciliation matches your accounting records against your actual bank statement to verify they agree and to identify any missing transactions. Do this at least monthly — ideally weekly for high-volume businesses.
Go to Accounting → Accounting → Bank Statements. Click Import to upload a CSV or OFX file from your bank's internet banking export, or manually enter transactions line by line.
Vendra automatically suggests matches between statement lines and open accounting items based on amount, date, and partner name. Green matches are high-confidence — review and confirm them.
For statement lines with no match, either find the corresponding Vendra record manually or create a new journal entry directly from the reconciliation screen (e.g., for bank charges or interest earned).
Once all lines are matched, the ending balance should equal your bank statement's closing balance. Mark the statement as validated to complete the reconciliation.
VAT and Tax Configuration
Kenya's standard VAT rate is 16%, and Vendra's l10n_ke localization pre-configures this. Go to Accounting → Configuration → Taxes to review all tax records. Each tax shows its rate, type (sales or purchase), price-inclusive or exclusive setting, and the accounts where collected and paid tax is posted.
Tax Groups control how taxes are consolidated on invoices and VAT reports. The default configuration groups all 16% VAT into a single "VAT 16%" group, which appears as one line on printed invoices. If you have zero-rated or exempt products, they should have their own tax rates assigned to separate tax groups so they appear correctly on VAT returns.
Fiscal Positions automatically remap taxes for specific customers or vendors. A common use case is export customers who are zero-rated. Create a fiscal position called "Export" that maps VAT 16% to VAT 0%, then assign this fiscal position to export customer records. All invoices to those customers will automatically apply the correct zero rate without any manual adjustment.
To file your VAT return, go to Accounting → Reporting → VAT Report. Set the date range, review the output VAT (from sales) and input VAT (from purchases), and export to PDF or Excel for submission to KRA.
Payment Terms
Payment terms define when invoices are due. Go to Accounting → Configuration → Payment Terms to create and manage them. Common terms include:
- Immediate — Payment is due on the invoice date. Used for cash sales invoiced after the fact.
- Net 30 — Full amount due 30 days from invoice date. Standard for many B2B arrangements.
- 2/10 Net 30 — 2% discount if paid within 10 days, otherwise full amount due in 30 days. Used to incentivize early payment.
- Installments — Split the invoice into multiple payments at different dates. Configure each installment as a percentage of the total with its own due date offset.
Assign payment terms to customer records so they apply automatically on all invoices to that customer. You can override the terms on individual invoices when needed. Payment terms also apply to vendor bills — setting supplier terms on vendor records ensures your payables are tracked with the correct due dates for cash flow management.
Financial Reports
Vendra's Account Financial Reports module provides the core financial statements. Access them from Accounting → Reporting.
Profit & Loss
Shows revenue, cost of goods sold, and operating expenses for a period. The bottom line is your net profit or loss. Filter by date range and compare periods side by side.
Balance Sheet
A snapshot of assets, liabilities, and equity at a specific date. Assets must equal liabilities plus equity — any imbalance indicates a configuration error.
Trial Balance
Lists all account balances (debit and credit) for a period. Total debits must equal total credits. Used by accountants to verify the integrity of the general ledger before producing financial statements.
Cash Flow Statement
Tracks actual cash movements — operating, investing, and financing activities. Helps understand why profit does not always equal cash in the bank.
All reports can be exported to PDF or Excel. Use the comparison feature to show the current period alongside the prior period or prior year — this is the most effective way to identify trends and anomalies in your financial performance.
Multi-Currency
If your business transacts in multiple currencies — for example, buying imports in USD while your base currency is KES — enable additional currencies in Accounting → Configuration → Currencies. Activate the currencies you need and set them to update exchange rates automatically (via an online feed) or manually.
When you create an invoice or bill in a foreign currency, Vendra converts the amount to your base currency using the current exchange rate and posts the entry accordingly. If the exchange rate changes between the invoice date and the payment date, Vendra calculates and posts a currency revaluation entry to account for the exchange gain or loss. This is done from Accounting → Accounting → Journal Entries → Currency Revaluation at period close.