Accounting Guide

Owned by IT Support
Last updated: Apr 13, 2021
10 min read

Return to Overview

Commodity trading by default requires constant settlements between parties and the process of recording all the payment details may be tedious and complex. With MAF Cloud, transacting with counterparties are make more convenient and effective as information from the transactions can be easily recorded and with much clarity. From providing an overview of the payment records to settling outstanding payments, it creates a structured system for you to track and be notified of your company's finances (inflows and outflows). This allows you and your team to have better visibility of your company's position which is crucial in planning for the optimal trading strategies and improving the profitability of your business.

Main features and benefits:

  • Keying in your company's bank account details for easier management of data
  • Accessing the outstanding and settled payment records directly in the form of stored invoices.
  • Allocating received/paid bank transaction amount directly to settle each invoice for the closure of the deal

In general, the Operations team will handle the Payment Records section and Accounts/Finance team will handle the Accounting section. When the accounts/finance team has received the actual paid/received amount, they can input in the Accounting section and allocate the amount to each invoice. With that, the team will be able to understand whether the invoices have been fully settled (found in Settled Payment Records table), partially settled or not settled (found in Outstanding Payment Records table) and undertake the necessary actions.


TABLE OF CONTENTS:


1. BANK DETAILS

This section allows you to key in your company's bank account details. Once done, this will be automatically reflected in the 'Payment Details' at the bottom of each of your payment record (invoice).

To create a new bank details record, click on the '+ Add Row' button located above the table. Input the details and click 'Save Details' once done.

To delete a bank details record, tick the checkbox of the row and click on the 'Delete Row' button located above the table. You may also select multiple rows to delete.

Please refer to Accounting List of Definitions for the definitions of the fields.


2. PAYMENT RECORDS

This section is exactly the same as the Payment Records tab in Physical Trades. This tab is included in the Accounting page to allow the Accounts/Finance team to access the outstanding and settled payment records directly in the form of stored invoices, which can be generated in the EXPENSES & INCOMES TAB. Newly created payment records will be displayed in either the Outstanding Payment Records or Settled Payment Records table. 

Several functions are available to assist in the selection of data: 

  • Search bar: Search for keywords in the search bar for relevant data to be displayed
  • Table Headers: 'Sort' and 'Filter'data using the functions in the table headers (Please refer to Table Settings for table functionalities).

To edit the payment record, click on the 'Edit' button (represented by a 'pen and paper'  icon) located on the left of each row. To delete a payment record, tick the checkbox of the row and click on the 'Delete Row' button located above the table. You may also select multiple rows to delete.



Outstanding Payment Records Table

This table displays all the outstanding payment records (invoices) that you have created in EXPENSES & INCOMES TAB. This means that the invoice(s) has not been fully settled (not fully paid or received) or is partially settled by you and/or your counterparties (Outstanding Amount =/= 0; Balance Amount =/= Settled Amount). Scroll to the right in the table to view:

  • 'BALANCE AMOUNT': Total invoice amount to be received/paid from/by counterparties
  • 'SETTLED AMOUNT': Amount received/paid from/by counterparties
  • 'OUTSTANDING AMOUNT': Amount not received/paid from/by counterparties

In this example, it shows that the 'Balance Amount' of USD 1,000 has not been received by the counterparty yet, as 'Settled Amount' is 0 and 'Outstanding Amount' is USD 1,000.

For the 'SETTLED AMOUNT' to be filled, the Accounts/Finance team can input the received/paid amount in 'Bank Transaction' table under the 'Accounting' section and allocate to the invoice. Click here to learn more.


Settled Payment Records Table

This table displays all the settled payment records (invoices) that you have created in EXPENSES & INCOMES TAB. This means that the invoice(s) has been fully settled (fully paid or received) by you and/or your counterparties (Outstanding Amount = 0; Balance Amount = Settled Amount). Scroll to the right in the table to view:

  • 'BALANCE AMOUNT': Total invoice amount to be received/paid from/by counterparties
  • 'SETTLED AMOUNT': Amount received/paid from/by counterparties
  • 'OUTSTANDING AMOUNT': Amount not received/paid from/by counterparties

In this example, it shows that the 'Balance Amount' of USD 1,000 has been received by the counterparty, as 'Settled Amount' is USD 1,000 and 'Outstanding Amount' is 0.

For the 'SETTLED AMOUNT' to be filled, the Accounts/Finance team can input the received/paid amount in 'Bank Transaction' table under the 'Accounting' section and allocate to the invoice. Click here to learn more.


Please refer to Accounting List of Definitions for the definitions of the fields.


3. BANK TRANSACTION

This section allows you to allocate received/paid bank transaction amount (actual amount received or paid by/from your company's bank accounts) directly to settle each invoice for the closure of the deal. This function allows your management and team to know which deals have been fully settled in payment, otherwise, necessary actions can be undertaken.


Unallocated Bank Transaction Table

This section displays all the bank transactions that you have not allocated to each invoice. 

To add a new bank transaction, click on the '+ Add Row' button located above the table. Input the details (only fields highlighted in red are compulsory) and click 'Save Transactions' once done. 

Please note the following when inputting data:

  • If the 'TYPE' is "RECEIVED", 'ACTUAL AMOUNT' + 'OTHER COSTS' = 'INVOICE AMOUNT'
  • If the 'TYPE' is "PAID", 'ACTUAL AMOUNT' - 'OTHER COSTS' = 'INVOICE AMOUNT'

The 'INVOICE AMOUNT' is the final amount that you received/paid and can now be allocated to your invoice:

Allocate Full Amount: You can choose to allocate the full amount to your invoice and the 'UNALLOCATED AMOUNT' will be reflected as "0". In this case, the bank transaction will be deemed as settled and will disappear from the Unallocated Bank Transaction Table and reflected accordingly in the Allocated Bank Transaction Table.

Allocate Partial Amount: You can choose to allocate partial amount to your invoice and the 'UNALLOCATED AMOUNT' will reflect the remaining unallocated amount accordingly. Once you allocate the remaining 'UNALLOCATED AMOUNT' to the invoice, the bank transaction will be deemed as settled and will disappear from the Unallocated Bank Transaction Table and reflected accordingly in the Allocated Bank Transaction Table. 

To delete a bank transaction, tick the checkbox of the row and click on the 'Delete Row' button located above the table. You may also select multiple rows to delete.


To allocate the bank transaction to an invoice, tick the checkbox of the bank transaction and click '+ Allocate Row'. You will be redirected to the 'Allocated Bank Transaction' table below.




Allocated Bank Transaction Table

You will be redirected to this table once you click 'Allocate Row' for a bank transaction in the 'Unallocated Table' section.

In this table, double click the field under 'ALLOCATE TO' column (highlighted in red) and select the invoice that you want to allocate your bank transaction into. Scroll to the right of the table to view the 'ALLOCATED AMOUNT' as well as the details of the invoice that you have selected, which will be reflected automatically. 

Selecting the invoice from the drop-down list will automatically input the 'BT ALLOCATED AMOUNT' column with the paid/received bank transaction amount that you want to allocate to the invoice (from the Unallocated Bank Transaction Table). The 'FT ALLOCATED AMOUNT' will automatically be filled according to the 'BT ALLOCATED AMOUNT' value.

To settle an outstanding payment record, the respective row in the 'Unallocated Bank Transaction' table has to be allocated to the respective invoices. The payment details in the 'Payment Records' tab will appear settled once Outstanding Amount=0 , i.e. Balanced amount = Settled amount.

Note: To unallocate/delete the allocated bank transaction row, tick the checkbox of the row and click on the 'Delete Row' button located above the table. You may also select multiple rows to delete. Once the bank transaction rows have been deleted in the 'Allocated Bank Transaction' table, they will return back to the 'Unallocated Bank Transaction' table for reallocation. On the other hand, deleting the rows in the 'Unallocated Bank Transaction' table will delete the transactions permanently.


There are 4 scenarios to consider:

1. If the bank transaction amount (to be allocated to the invoice) eg USD 1,000 is exactly the same as the invoice amount eg USD 1,000, the 'ALLOCATED AMOUNT' column will be USD 1,000, as this reflects the invoice amount that has yet to be settled, so USD 1,000 from the bank transaction amount will be allocated to settle the invoice of USD 600. You can scroll right to the end of the table to view the 'OUTSTANDING BALANCE' column of the invoice becomes 0, indicating that the invoice will be settled once this bank transaction amount has been allocated successfully.

  • Note: Although all the fields are auto-filled, you are free to edit the 'BT ALLOCATED AMOUNT' column to indicate any amount to allocate to the invoice (allocate partial amount) eg allocate 600 instead of the full 1,000. In this case, you can scroll right to the end of the table to view the 'OUTSTANDING BALANCE' column eg 1000 (invoice amount) - 600 (allocated partial amount) = 400 (outstanding amount), indicating that the invoice still has an outstanding balance of 400 and is not settled as only a partial amount of this bank transaction amount (600) has been allocated successfully. On the other hand, the remaining unallocated partial amount (400) after you have edited the 'BT ALLOCATED AMOUNT' column (allocate partial amount of 600 instead of 1,000) will remain in the 'UNALLOCATED AMOUNT' column in the Unallocated Bank Transaction Table, which will reflect the unallocated bank transaction amount available to be allocated to other invoice to settle the payment fully.



2. If the bank transaction amount (to be allocated to the invoice) eg USD 1,000 is more than the invoice amount eg USD 600, the 'ALLOCATED AMOUNT' column will be USD 600, as this reflects the invoice amount that has yet to be settled, so only USD 600 from the bank transaction amount will be required to settle the invoice of USD 600. You can scroll right to the end of the table to view the 'OUTSTANDING BALANCE' column of the invoice becomes 0, indicating that the invoice will be settled once this bank transaction amount has been allocated successfully.

  • Note: Although all the fields are auto-filled, you are free to edit the 'BT ALLOCATED AMOUNT' column to indicate any amount to allocate to the invoice (allocate partial amount) eg allocate 600 instead of the full 1,000. In this case, you can scroll right to the end of the table to view the 'OUTSTANDING BALANCE' column eg 1000 (invoice amount) - 600 (allocated partial amount) = 400 (outstanding amount), indicating that the invoice still has an outstanding balance of 400 and is not settled as only a partial amount of this bank transaction amount (600) has been allocated successfully. On the other hand, the remaining unallocated partial amount (400) after you have edited the 'BT ALLOCATED AMOUNT' column (allocate partial amount of 600 instead of 1,000) will remain in the 'UNALLOCATED AMOUNT' column in the Unallocated Bank Transaction Table, which will reflect the unallocated bank transaction amount available to be allocated to other invoice to settle the payment fully.


3. If the bank transaction amount (to be allocated to the invoice) eg USD 600 is less than the invoice amount eg USD 1000, the 'ALLOCATED AMOUNT' column will be USD 600, as this reflects the maximum bank transaction amount that can be used to settle the invoice amount. You can scroll right to the end of the table to view the 'OUTSTANDING BALANCE' column of the invoice become USD 400, indicating that the invoice has not been settled yet and will require another bank transaction amount to be allocated to settle it fully.


  • Note: Although all the fields are auto-filled, you are free to edit the 'BT ALLOCATED AMOUNT' column to indicate any amount to allocate to the invoice (allocate partial amount) eg allocate 600 instead of the full 1,000. In this case, you can scroll right to the end of the table to view the 'OUTSTANDING BALANCE' column eg 1000 (invoice amount) - 600 (allocated partial amount) = 400 (outstanding amount), indicating that the invoice still has outstanding balance of 400 and is not settled as only a partial amount of this bank transaction amount (600) has been allocated successfully. On the other hand, the remaining unallocated partial amount (400) after you have edited the 'BT ALLOCATED AMOUNT' column (allocate partial amount of 600 instead of 1,000) will remain in the 'UNALLOCATED AMOUNT' column in the Unallocated Bank Transaction Table, which will reflect the unallocated bank transaction amount available to be allocated to other invoice to settle the payment fully.



4. When you want to allocate net bank transaction amount (received/paid net amount after offsetting 2 invoices eg 1 received and 1 paid) into the invoices, you can allocate the rows as per normal and select the payable/receivable invoice accordingly. You will be required to adjust the 'BT ALLOCATED AMOUNT' accordingly so the 'OUTSTANDING BALANCE' will be reflected as 0.



Please refer to Accounting List of Definitions for the definitions of the fields.


Click to access: