The first fiscal year

As long as no fiscal year exists, the accounts still have to be set up. The first set-up creates the starting fiscal year, installs the chart of accounts and sets the club's accounting method: it is the most important choice of the module, because it decides what the club enters and what the accounts show it.

The first time you open Accounting, GestiClub opens the New fiscal year wizard. It opens the same way the first time you open Invoicing: once the fiscal year is created, you go back where you were.

1. 1Designationthe name of the fiscal year, suggested from the dates ("Fiscal year 2026-2027").
2. 2Start and Endthe start is greyed out: GestiClub works it out from the club's season start (chapter 12: General settings). The end is suggested one year later, minus a day; you can change it, but a fiscal year cannot exceed 18 months.
3. 3Accounting methodthree choices, explained in the next part.
4. 4Currency and chart of accounts templatethe club's currency and the chart of accounts that will be installed; it depends on the club's country and language, and on the method chosen: cash basis installs a reduced chart.
5. 5Create Fiscal Yearcreates the fiscal year, installs its chart of accounts and shows it.

The wizard has neither a cross nor a Cancel button: the module only opens once the first fiscal year is created. The fiscal year starts with no entry; to bring in the cash and bank balances on the first day, see "The opening balance".

People who do not have the Year-end close right do not see the wizard, but the Accounting not configured message: "Accounting has not been set up yet. Ask an administrator to initialise it before accessing it." The Got it button takes them back to the dashboard.

The method is chosen by clicking one of the three boxes. It decides three things: what the club enters, what the chart of accounts and the reports show, and what Post takes over from invoicing (chapter 10: Posting invoicing to the accounts).

Take a subscription of 270 francs, invoiced in September and paid in November.

• Double-entry with debtors: this is full bookkeeping. In September, the invoice enters the journal: 270 francs in the debtors account, against the revenue accounts. In November, the payment empties the debtors account in favour of the bank. In between, the balance sheet shows what the members still owe: the unpaid amounts can be read in the accounts themselves.
• Double-entry without debtors: the accounts are just as complete (chart of accounts, balance sheet, accruals), but they do not follow the unpaid amounts. In September, nothing is posted. In November, the payment is posted: the bank on one side, the revenue accounts on the other. Income counts when the money arrives.
• Cash basis: the accounts only keep the money that comes in and goes out, the cash and the bank accounts. You enter expenses and income without thinking in debit and credit (see "In cash accounting"). As in double-entry without debtors, the September invoice is not posted, but the November payment is.

In all three methods, the Debtors list of invoicing (chapter 10: The Debtors page) stays available: it follows the unpaid invoices, whether the accounts take them over or not.

1. 1Cash basisthe box chosen: "Entries recorded at payment. Ideal for small clubs."
2. 2The warning"You can switch to double entry in a future fiscal year, but returning to cash basis will no longer be possible." It only appears for cash basis.

Which one to choose?

• If the club invoices with GestiClub (subscriptions, courses, events) and wants to see its unpaid amounts in the accounts, choose Double-entry with debtors. It is the recommended choice: it is the only method in which each invoice issued is posted, and so in which the balance sheet reflects what the club has invoiced and what it has not yet collected.
• If the club wants full accounts, but recorded when money is collected, choose Double-entry without debtors.
• If the club is small, only handles a cash box and one bank account and a list of income and expenses is enough, choose Cash basis.

A club that started on cash basis can switch to double-entry when its accounts grow: it does so by opening the next fiscal year, because the method only changes when a new fiscal year is opened. Click Fiscal years › New fiscal year, then Yes. In the window, when the previous fiscal year is on cash basis, the Accounting method field offers the three methods, with Cash basis already selected.

1. 1The methodsCash basis keeps the current method; Double-entry with debtors or Double-entry without debtors switches the club to double-entry.
2. 2This action is irreversible.the warning that appears as soon as a double-entry method is chosen.

Click Create Fiscal Year: GestiClub asks for a final confirmation, Confirm switch to double-entry accounting?, with Cancel and Confirm. The new fiscal year then receives the full chart of accounts of the club's template, with no budget, instead of the reduced cash-basis chart, and takes over the balance sheet balances and the previous year's result as opening entries. On the invoicing side:

• With debtors: no debtor is taken over, since cash basis keeps none. From the new fiscal year, Post records the invoices sent in the debtors accounts, then their payments.
• Without debtors: nothing changes on the invoicing side: only the payments are posted, as on cash basis.

The cash-basis fiscal year stays open: you finish the season's entries in it, then you close it (see "Closing a fiscal year"). The closing then recalculates the new fiscal year's opening entries. Once the switch is made, the following fiscal years stay on double-entry, with no way back.