Accounting glossary

Accrual

An expense incurred but not yet billed, recognised in the period it relates to.

Aged debtors

Outstanding receivables grouped by how long they have been overdue.

Aged creditors

Outstanding payables grouped by how long they have been outstanding.

Apportionment

Splitting a cost across multiple parties according to a defined formula (e.g. by square metres, equal share).

Bank reconciliation

The control of matching every ledger entry against the corresponding bank statement line.

Bill

An invoice from a supplier. Also called a creditor invoice.

Chart of accounts

The list of ledger accounts used by an organisation.

Credit note

A document that reduces or reverses an earlier invoice.

Debit and credit

The two sides of a double-entry bookkeeping entry. Every transaction has equal debits and credits.

Debtor

Someone who owes you money.

Demand

An invoice raised on a leaseholder for service charges or ground rent.

Direct Debit

An automated regular payment under the Bacs scheme. Used in Block Management via GoCardless.

Double-entry bookkeeping

The accounting method PropLink uses where every transaction posts to at least two accounts, keeping the books balanced.

Freeholder payout

The periodic transfer of accumulated freeholder income to the freeholder.

General ledger

The complete record of every accounting transaction in the system.

Journal entry

A manual posting to the ledger, used for adjustments, corrections and year-end entries.

Ledger account

One line in the chart of accounts. Each transaction posts to one or more ledger accounts.

Open Banking

The framework that allows authorised apps to read your bank transactions. PropLink uses Open Banking through GoCardless for automatic bank feeds.

Overpayment

A receipt for more than the outstanding balance, held as available credit.

Period

The accounting period the transaction belongs to. Often the month or quarter.

Period locking

Stopping new entries in a closed accounting period, to protect the integrity of issued accounts.

Receipt

Money received, typically a payment of an invoice.

Reconciliation

The process of matching two records that should agree (bank statement vs ledger, control account vs subledger).

Refund

Money returned to a payer.

Section 21 (LTA 1985)

The leaseholder's right to a summary of relevant costs.

Trial balance

The list of every ledger account with its balance, demonstrating that the books balance.

Voiding (an invoice or receipt)

Reversing it by posting a compensating entry, keeping the original on the audit trail.

Write-off

Recognising that a debt is uncollectable and posting it to bad debt expense.