Non-profit organization | Double-Entry Accounting

Tutorial created based on the information available on the site www.swissaccounting.ch (formerly www.veb.ch). The chart of accounts is structured according to the system developed by Herbert Mattle and Dieter Pfaff.
More information:

• Swissaccounting.ch (German) - PDF document and useful information for efficiently managing finances and accounting, complying with legal and insurance regulations.
• Kmu.admin.ch - Useful information for establishing an association

Set up your file

• Create a new file starting from this template (Template ID  +10940), using one of the methods explained.
• From the File > File properties menu, set the period and the company name.
• From the File > Save As menu, save the file. It's useful to include the association's name and year in the file name. For example, "Association XX-2025.ac2".

See also Organising accounting files locally, on a network, and in the cloud.

Accounts Table

In the Accounts table of this tutorial, you will find the balance sheet and income statement accounts already set up. To get intermediate totals and more detailed views, the main groups are divided into various subgroups. You can fully customize the chart of accounts according to your needs.

The Balance Sheet accounts are divided into groups and subgroups: Current Assets, Fixed Assets, Total Assets; Short-term Liabilities, Long-term Liabilities, Funds, and Equity. The Income Statement is in a stepped format. Cost and profit centers are available to manage members and projects, as well as segments to manage different activity sectors.

Assets

Assets are divided into the following main groups:

• Current Assets
• Fixed Assets

Liabilities

Liabilities are divided into three main groups:

• Short-term liabilities
• Long-term liabilities
• Equity

In the Accounts table, in the Opening column, enter the opening balance for each account.
When moving to the new year, the opening balance is carried over automatically from the menu Actions > Create New Year.

After each entry, the columns of the Accounts table are immediately updated, giving you a clear and immediate view of the financial situation.

Income Statement

The income statement is divided into Revenues and Costs with the following subgroups:

Revenues

• Membership fees
• Revenue from contributions
• Revenue from activities and services
• Other revenue

Costs

• Costs for activities and services
• Personnel costs
• Administrative costs
• Depreciation and value adjustments
• Financial costs and revenues
• Direct taxes

Other Elements of the Chart of Accounts

At the end of the chart of accounts, profit centers are set up to provide detailed information for the following groups:

• List of members, managed with CC3 (;) - Allows you to view details for each member, as well as print subscriptions and donation certificates.
• Projects, managed with CC1 (.) - To view details for each project.
• Activity sectors, managed with Segments - To know which sector was most successful and generated more profit.

Plan Liquidity

Liquidity is the main pillar of the Association: it allows activities to be carried out to achieve the set goals, to forecast in advance how much liquidity will be available while minimizing risks, and to constantly check whether the budget approved by the general meeting is being followed.

Banana Accounting Plus gives you the ability to create both liquidity planning and the economic budget.

Discover the various Forecasting features in our Documentation:

• Budget and Forecasts
• Financial Planning Template

Enter Budget Transactions

You enter the budget in the Budget table, using the double-entry accounting method. You use the same chart of accounts already available for general accounting. You simply start recording the transactions that usually occur each month, entering only one record. You should also include operations that happen once a year or repeat quarterly. The table includes the Repeat column, which, based on the period option you enter, allows the program to automatically calculate the total with all details.

When entering transactions, record the accounts in Debit and Credit as if you were entering actual accounting data. This way, by using all accounts available in the chart of accounts, you will have all movements for liquidity, other balance sheet accounts, and the income statement.

For revenues, it is more difficult to make forecasts. We recommend entering the amounts based on revenues from the same period of the previous year, evaluating upcoming events or focusing on other special events, such as the purchase of new equipment or other investments.

Always record in the Budget table, using the accounts from the income statement and liquidity accounts.

Budget Account Card

If you enter your Budget, you can view all data grouped by each cost or revenue item in the respective cards, just like with actual recorded data.

This way, you can see all details of each account card or group and constantly check whether the budgeted data matches the recorded data, thanks to the graph that provides an immediate visual for comparisons.

To activate one or more Budget account cards, proceed as follows:

• Menu Report > Account cards > activate Budget entries.

Financial Planning Balance Sheet

Once you've completed your forecast entries, by viewing the balance sheet and income statement, you can see the impact on liquidity. You can always go back to the Budget table and change the amounts where necessary.

Cash flow planning is a very effective and successful strategy that allows you to make more prudent decisions regarding the association’s activities.

To view the financial planning balance sheet, click:

Menu Report > Enhanced balance sheet with groups > in the Columns section, activate Budget in the balance sheet.

Forecast of Costs and Revenues

In the income statement, you can assess the impact of your forecast on costs and revenues and understand if the forecasted revenues will be sufficient to cover the costs.

To view the financial planning balance sheet, click:

Menu Report > Enhanced balance sheet with groups > in the Columns section, activate Budget in the Income Statement.

Record Actual Transactions

In the Transactions table, enter all daily movements. If you want to speed up the entry process, we recommend using Banana’s various features:

• The Data entry with autocomplete function automatically recalls previously entered data.
• The Recurring Transactions function (under the Actions menu) lets you save repetitive entries in a dedicated table.
• Importing data from bank statements automatically retrieves all bank transactions.
• You can link each transaction to its related digital document, and with a single click view the document.
  See also Accounting file and digital receipts to better organize your documents.
• Use the Sort rows by date command to sort rows in chronological order.
• Use the Print/Preview command to print or export the journal in PDF format.

 Enhanced Balance Sheet

To view the Balance Sheet, click on the Report menu and then the Enhanced Balance Sheet or Enhanced Balance Sheet with groups command. You can customize the statement with the columns you wish to display, such as also including the budget column or balance sheet by period.

• The Enhanced Balance Sheet shows all accounts without any subgroups.
• The Enhanced Balance Sheet with groups displays all accounts including the subgroups.

Check Balances Against Budget

When the actual data has been recorded, you can view the Balance Sheet and Income Statement and compare them with the budget. Monitoring the comparison is an excellent way to check whether everything is proceeding as planned or if you need to adjust some amounts to better match the accounting values and avoid compromising future forecasts.

To obtain the balance sheet with actual and budgeted comparisons, click:

Menu Report > Enhanced balance sheet with groups > in the Columns section, activate Current, Budget, and Difference for both the Balance Sheet and the Income Statement.