Bookkeeping & the general ledger

Every transaction in Valix affects at least two accounts, and the debits always equal the credits. This is double-entry bookkeeping — it is what keeps your accounts balanced and makes your reports trustworthy. You rarely post raw debits and credits by hand; instead you record invoices, bills, payments and bank transactions, and Valix posts the correct entries to the general ledger for you.

The chart of accounts (COA) is the list of categories your money is organised into — sales, cost of sales, expenses, assets, liabilities and equity. Valix starts you with a UK chart you can tailor.

• Income — sales and other revenue.
• Cost of sales — what it costs to deliver what you sell.
• Overheads / expenses — rent, software, salaries, and other running costs.
• Assets — bank accounts, equipment, money owed to you (debtors).
• Liabilities — money you owe (creditors), loans, VAT and PAYE owed to HMRC.
• Equity — capital and retained profit.

Connect your bank so transactions flow into Valix automatically, then reconcile — match each bank line to an invoice, bill or category. Reconciling regularly is the single best habit for accurate books: it catches missing transactions and duplicates while they are still fresh.

1. 1Connect your bank account via the secure bank feed, or import a statement.
2. 2Review each incoming transaction and match it to an invoice or bill, or categorise it.
3. 3Confirm the match — Valix posts the ledger entries and marks the line reconciled.
4. 4Check the reconciled balance agrees with your actual bank balance.

Some adjustments do not come from an invoice or a bank line — depreciation, accruals, prepayments, payroll journals and corrections. For these you post a manual journal, entering the debits and credits yourself. Valix checks that the journal balances before it will let you save it.