Scope accounting interface - transfer debtors, creditors and financial entries

The Scope accounting interface provides a direct integration between Scope and your accounting software. It supports the transfer of debtors, creditors, sales entries, general journal entries, and purchase invoice entries from Scope to the accounting system, and also enables the import of outstanding items back into Scope.

Depending on your accounting system, the interface can be started manually in Scope or automated as a scheduled batch job. Scope typically generates import files, supports automated file delivery. To some certain external systems it can connect via API.

With the Scope dunning module you can send debtor reminders directly from Scope, including original invoice PDFs. Additionally, Scope can generate detailed account statements for agents, showing both outstanding receivables and payables. To use this module, your accounting software must export outstanding items in a format supported by Scope. See How can I import payments (open balances), and what do I need to know about the import format?

From Scope to the accounting software

Debtors/customers

New and updated debtors are exported during the next interface run, ensuring the accounting software is up to date after import. The debtor account number can be generated by Scope or entered manually, based on your configuration.

Creditors/suppliers

New and updated creditors are transferred during the next interface run, ensuring the accounting software is up to date after import. The creditor account number can be generated by Scope or entered manually, depending on your configuration.

Sales entries

When an invoice is finalized in Scope, an invoice number is assigned and the invoice becomes non-editable. If corrections are necessary, you can cancel the invoice, issue a supplementary invoice, or create a full or partial credit note. Each document will be assigned a new invoice number.

Once invoices are finalized, they are included in the next interface batch for transfer to the accounting software.

The following posting is generated for each invoice:

Debtor
To revenue invoice line 1
To revenue invoice line 2 (etc.)

Scope reviews the assigned charge type for each invoice line. It then uses the General Ledger Filter to determine the correct revenue account for that line item.

General journal entries (cost reservations)

Scope enables you to create transactions for cost reservations of individual shipments directly within the accounting software. This can be managed either as individual cost reservations per shipment or consolidated into a single monthly posting.. See How can estimated costs be transferred to the accounting system?

Cost reservations per shipment

When generating the outgoing invoice for a shipment, Scope prompts you to confirm whether the associated cost reservations should be finalized (fixated). Once confirmed, the cost reservations are queued for transfer in the next interface batch to the accounting software.

Each finalized cost reservation is posted as follows:

Cost account
To total expected costs

In this context, the “cost account” typically refers to a profit & loss account, while the “total expected costs” account is generally a balance sheet account.

The key benefit of these cost reservations is that, when all estimates are accurately recorded, the accounting system reliably presents an up-to-date profit and loss statement. This ensures that the balance of the "total expected costs" account remains correct and up to date.

A specific account for “total expected costs” can be defined in the general ledger filter associated with the relevant charge type. If no specific account is defined in the general ledger filter, the system defaults to the account specified in the accounting settings. An account can be set up for each fiscal year.

Monthly posting

If a consolidated monthly posting is selected instead of individual cost reservations per shipment, a single entry is recorded at the end of the month, with a corresponding reversal at the start of the following month. See How monthly settlement works in Scope

A drawback of this method is that the accounting system lacks transparency into ongoing "expected purchases" during the month, making it difficult to track actual cost developments or manage commitments in a timely manner.

Purchase entries

Purchase invoices for shipments in Scope are associated with the corresponding cost reservations, so that the cost reservation is cleared upon entry of the actual invoice amount.

The following entries are generated for each reservation:

General journal entry (this reverses the original estimate booking):
Total expected costs
To cost account

Purchase entry:
Cost account
To creditor

By fully reversing the original general journal entry, any potential rounding differences in the reservation accounts are avoided.

If the recorded reservation does not match the actual cost, the user can choose to accept or reject the difference. If accepted, the adjustment is posted to the cost account. If rejected, the difference is recorded as a new reservation.

Period determination

For details on how the accounting period is determined for these bookings, refer to the Knowledge Base article What are the most important dates in Scope?

Returning data from the accounting software to Scope

To enable credit control and send debtor reminders via Scope, it is necessary to import outstanding items from the accounting software into Scope. For detailed instructions, refer to the Knowledge Base article: Update open balance in Scope for invoices and/or debtors.

Debtor payments can also be manually recorded in Scope. For more information, see the Knowledge Base article: How can I check invoices and register payments?.

If reminders are not managed in Scope and outstanding items are not required, credit limits can alternatively be monitored by importing a balance list instead of an outstanding items list. For further guidance, refer to the Knowledge Base article: How can I create and send Account Statements and Dunnings?.