Changing, extending or ending a prepaid expense
Plans change: a policy is extended, a contract price is corrected, or a lease ends early with a refund. Fiscal adjusts the remaining months and posts the difference for you.
These buttons are on a running prepaid expense in the register. A draft doesn't need them: edit it directly.
Add value
Use this when you pay more for the same prepaid expense, for example an extra charge on an insurance policy.
- Open the prepaid expense and click Add Value.
- Enter the Date, the Amount to Add and the Credit Account (bank, cash, vendor payable).
- If it also covers more months, turn on Extend the period and enter the Extra Months.
- Click Preview, check it, and click Post Addition.
Fiscal posts Dr Prepaid / Cr the account you chose. Months already posted stay; what remains plus the addition is spread over the months left, plus any extra months.
Change value
Use this when the amount was wrong. Click Change Value, enter the Date and the New Amount, then choose where the difference goes:
| Choice | What happens |
|---|---|
| Modify the source document | For a prepaid expense from a bill, expense or journal voucher. Nothing is posted: the document carries the amount. It must post at least the new amount to the prepaid account, so to increase, edit the document first; to reduce, change the value first, then edit the document. |
| Modify the registered entry | For one entered manually with Post the payment when activated. Its entry is changed to the new amount (Dr Prepaid / Cr the account it was paid from). |
| Offset account | The difference is posted between the prepaid account and an account you choose. |
Under Past Amortisation, choose Re-post past months (posted months get the new amounts and their runs' journals are rebuilt) or Catch up on this date (past runs stay; the difference is posted once). It works the same way as correcting an asset's cost. Then click Preview and Post Change.
End early or refund
Amortisation must be posted up to the month before the date; nothing is charged for that month.
- End Early: what remains is charged now, to the category's loss account or else the expense account. Use it when a contract is cancelled without a refund.
- Refund: enter the Refund Amount and the account it was received in. The prepaid account is cleared; a refund below what remains is charged to expense (or the loss account), one above it goes to the gain account or else the expense account.
The status becomes Ended Early or Refunded. Undo End removes that journal and brings the prepaid expense back to running.
History and undo
Every addition and change is listed under Additions & Changes. Only the latest one can be undone, and only while nothing has been posted with its new value (undo those runs first).
Reports
Open Prepaid Expenses›Prepaid Reports (also under Reports›Prepaid Expenses):
- Prepaid Balances: every prepaid expense with its amount, what is used and what remains on a date. Used counts posted runs only, so it agrees with the ledger.
- Amortisation Schedule: the expense per prepaid for each month of a range, posted and still to post, for planning.
- Prepaid Movement: opening balance, new prepaids and additions, amortisation, early ends and the closing balance per category.