# Glossary

> Plain-language definitions of the accounting and OneBooks terms used throughout the app and this documentation.

Canonical: https://docs.getonebooks.com/reference/glossary/
Language: en
Documentation index: https://docs.getonebooks.com/llms.txt

Terms are listed alphabetically. Where Simple mode uses a different word, it is shown in brackets.

**Account** — A category in the [chart of accounts](https://docs.getonebooks.com/accounting/chart-of-accounts/) that money is filed under, such as Bank, Sales Revenue or Rent & Utilities. (Simple mode: *Category*.)

**Accounts payable (AP)** — What you owe suppliers for finalized purchases; control account **2000**. (Simple mode: *What I Owe*.)

**Accounts receivable (AR)** — What customers owe you for sent invoices; control account **1100**. (Simple mode: *Who Owes Me*.)

**Accrual basis** — Recognising revenue when an invoice is sent and cost when a purchase is finalized, regardless of when cash moves. OneBooks' profit and loss is accrual-based.

**Aging** — Splitting open balances by how long they have been outstanding. See [Receivables and payables aging](https://docs.getonebooks.com/reports/aging/).

**Balance sheet** — What the business owns (assets), owes (liabilities) and is worth (equity) on a date. (Simple mode: *Financial Position*.)

**Balance due** — The unpaid part of an invoice or purchase.

**Cash flow statement** — Where cash came from and went to in a period. (Simple mode: *Cash Movement*.)

**Chart of accounts** — The full list of accounts, grouped by type and ordered by code.

**Contra** — A transfer between two of your own cash or bank accounts. See [Transfers between cash and bank](https://docs.getonebooks.com/banking/contra/).

**Control account** — An account whose balance summarises many parties: 1100 for all customers, 2000 for all suppliers.

**Credit** — One side of a journal line; increases liabilities, equity and revenue, decreases assets and expenses.

**Credit note** — The printed form of a sales return; reduces what a customer owes. See [Sales returns and credit notes](https://docs.getonebooks.com/sales/sales-returns/).

**Debit** — The other side of a journal line; increases assets and expenses, decreases liabilities, equity and revenue.

**Debit note** — The printed form of a purchase return; reduces what you owe a supplier.

**Double entry** — Every transaction is recorded as debits and credits of equal total, so the books always balance.

**Draft** — A document that has been saved but not posted; editable and invisible to reports.

**Equity** — The owners' stake: capital put in plus retained profits.

**Fiscal year** — Your accounting year, starting in the month set in Business Profile. Can be open, locked or closed.

**Finalize** — Post a purchase (status Received). The purchase equivalent of sending an invoice.

**General ledger** — Every posting on every account. See [General ledger and account ledger](https://docs.getonebooks.com/reports/general-ledger/).

**GST** — Goods and Services Tax (India, and other countries). See [India](https://docs.getonebooks.com/tax/india/).

**Input tax** — Tax you paid on purchases and can usually reclaim; account **1300**.

**Journal entry** — One dated, balanced set of debit and credit lines. Created automatically by documents or manually. (Simple mode: *Activity*.)

**Opening balance** — A balance as of the day before you started using OneBooks. See [Opening balances](https://docs.getonebooks.com/accounting/opening-balances/).

**Output tax** — Tax you charged on sales and owe to the authority; account **2100**.

**Payable** — See accounts payable.

**Period lock** — Blocking postings dated inside a locked or closed fiscal year.

**Place of supply** — India: the state a supply is delivered to, which decides CGST/SGST versus IGST.

**Profit and loss (P&L)** — Revenue minus expenses for a period. (Simple mode: *Financial Performance*.)

**Proposal** — A document the AI assistant has prepared and that a person must confirm. See [Draft documents with proposals](https://docs.getonebooks.com/ai/drafting/).

**Receivable** — See accounts receivable.

**Reconciliation** — Matching your bank statement to the books. See [Bank reconciliation](https://docs.getonebooks.com/banking/reconciliation/).

**Retained earnings** — Profit kept in the business from prior years.

**Reversal** — A new journal entry that cancels an earlier one by swapping its debits and credits. See [Corrections](https://docs.getonebooks.com/accounting/corrections/).

**Reverse charge** — Tax accounted for by the buyer instead of the seller. See [Tax settings](https://docs.getonebooks.com/tax/settings/).

**Tax-inclusive** — Prices that already contain tax. See [Tax settings](https://docs.getonebooks.com/tax/settings/).

**Trial balance** — Every account's balance in debit and credit columns, proving the books add up.

**VAT** — Value Added Tax (UAE, Saudi Arabia, UK, EU and others).

**Void** — Cancel a sent invoice or finalized purchase that should not have existed; posts a reversal.

**Write-off** — Book an unpaid invoice as a bad-debt expense because it will never be collected.

**ZATCA** — The Saudi tax authority whose e-invoicing rules OneBooks implements. See [Saudi Arabia](https://docs.getonebooks.com/tax/saudi-arabia/).