Journal entries in Close management

What are Tabs Journal Entries?

Journal entries are the accounting lines Tabs generates (or simulates) each period, allowing you review the GL impact of your period activity and, when you’re ready, push it to your ERP general ledger.

Each entry contains balanced debit and credit lines for a contract for a given period.

You don’t create or edit individual lines by hand. Tabs generates journal entries from
contract activity such as invoices, credit memos, and revenue recognition schedules.

Where can I view journal entries?

1. Go to Revenue → Close management.

2. Select the period.

3. Click View journal entries.

A browser window opens showing the journal entries for the selected period and a Last updated timestamp for freshness.

How do I review journal entries?

Journal entry table displays a paginated list of all journal entries for the selected period and lets you sort each column by clicking the column header. Available columns are:

• Status: whether the journal entry line exists in the ERP.

  • ERP Native — Tabs-simulated journal entry impact from billing activities (invoices and credit memos) as they sync to the ERP. These entries are display-only and aren’t pushed because the ERP already records them as transaction journals.

  • Draft — Tabs-generated journal entries, not yet pushed to the ERP.

  • Posted — Tabs-generated journal entries, already pushed to the ERP.

• Date: journal date.

• Contract: the Tabs contract associated with the journal entry.

• Customer: the Tabs customer associated with the journal entry.

• Product: the Tabs product mapped to the activity.

• Integration item: ERP item (often called product/service) mapped to Tabs billing and performance obligation item.

• Integration class: when applicable, ERP class mapped to Tabs billing and performance obligation item.

• Account: ERP GL account for the entry based on your Integrations>Items mapping.

• Debited: amount debited for the entry.

• Credited: amount credited for the entry.

• Type: the activity represented by the journal entry.

  • Invoice sent: when an invoice is sent to ERP. This also covers invoice edits that add or remove line items, since the invoice must be reverted to Draft before you can edit and resend it.

  • Invoice offset: when ERP invoice items are configured with default Deferred (contract liability) and Unbilled (contract asset) accounts for advanced revenue recognition, Tabs will create offset journal entries to reclassify amounts between Deferred and Unbilled when necessary to account for the correct balance.
    Example: If June 2026 usage revenue is recognized as consumed and the invoice is sent in arrears in July 2026, Tabs generates this revenue recognition entry.

    6/30/2026	Debit	Credit
    Unbilled (Contract Asset)	$200
    Revenue		$200

    When the invoice is sent on 7/5/2026, the ERP recorded the default invoice transaction journal based on your Integrations>Items mapping. In most cases, invoices default to the Deferred Revenue account until revenue is earned.

    7/5/2026	Debit	Credit
    Accounts Receivable	$200
    Deferred (Contract Liability)		$200

    But the correct entry should have been Accounts Receivable with Unbilled (Contract Asset), based on how the revenue entry was booked. Tabs generates the proper reclass entry as an “Invoice offset” to correct it. Tabs tracks the remaining Deferred and Unbilled balances to prevent the reclass from overdrawing either balance into the negative.

    7/5/2026	Debit	Credit
    Deferred (Contract Liability)	$200
    Unbilled (Contract Asset)		$200

    So the net effect of this invoice sent and offset entries is correct.

    7/5/2026	Debit	Credit
    Accounts Receivable	$200
    Unbilled (Contract Asset)		$200

  • Invoice void: when a voided invoice is sent to the ERP. The reversal is backdated to the original invoice date.

  • Credit memo sent: when a credit memo was sent to ERP.

  • Credit memo offset: The inverse of the invoice offset journal entry, representing the credit memo’s impact on Accounts Receivable, Deferred (contract liability), and Unbilled (contract asset) accounts.

    Example: If a credit memo is issued on 8/14/2026, ERP records the default credit memo transaction journal based on your Integrations>Items mapping.

    8/14/2026	Debit	Credit
    Deferred (Contract Liability)	$50
    Accounts Receivable		$50

    But this contract currently has a remaining Deferred balance of $30. To avoid overdrawing Deferred into a negative balance, Tabs generates the proper reclass entry as a “Credit memo offset” to correct it.

    8/14/2026	Debit	Credit
    Unbilled (Contract Asset)	$20
    Deferred (Contract Liability)		$20

    So the net effect of this credit memo sent and offset entries is correct.

    8/14/2026	Debit	Credit
    Deferred (Contract Liability)	$30
    Unbilled (Contract Asset)	$20
    Accounts Receivable		$50

  • Credit memo void: when a voided credit memo was sent to ERP. The reversal is backdated to the original credit memo issue date.

  • Revenue: when a contract’s revenue is recognized based on its revenue schedule at the end of the period.

• Reversal: to mark a journal entry that reverses a previous entry in the ERP (either ERP-native or posted Tabs-generated) when you make corrections or adjustments in Tabs, preserving a complete audit trail.

  Example: 8/31/2026 revenue was posted to ERP.

  6/30/2026	Debit	Credit
  Deferred (Contract Liability)	$600
  Revenue		$600

  But you discovered an error (revenue should have been $650) so you make the necessary corrections in Tabs (reopen Tabs period is required if it’s already closed). Instead of overwriting the ERP entry, Tabs will generate the reversal and correct journal entries to reflect the change.

  6/30/2026 - Reversal	Debit	Credit
  Revenue	$600
  Deferred (Contract Liability)		$600

  6/30/2026	Debit	Credit
  Deferred (Contract Liability)	$650
  Revenue		$650

• Refresh stale journal entries: Click Update entries to refresh them with the most current contract activity as needed.

• Display settings: Click Format settings to customize the columns and currencies to show in the journal entry table.

• Type filter: Filter journal entries by the type of activity they represent.

• Search: Show only journal entries that match your search terms. This searches on the contract or customer name.

• Download: Export a CSV of all journal entries for the selected period.

Mark as done (invoice write-offs)

When you Mark an invoice as done to write off a remaining balance, Tabs shows an ERP-native journal entry for that write-off.

• First, you need to configure the GL account for Bad Debt under Integrations>Your ERP>Manage>Invoice reconciliation accounts.

• Tabs uses the account you picked in the dropdown when you mark an invoice as done.

• It’s dated on the day you marked the invoice done.

• You’ll see it as ERP Native: it’s for review in Tabs. Your ERP already receives the write-off when you mark the invoice done, so Push revenue to GL does not send this line again.

For example, you selected “Bad Debt” to write off an $1,000 invoice issued from 3/12/2025 on 8/14/2026, you will see this journal entry:

When do journal entries get generated or refreshed?

Journal entries for a month are generated or refreshed when:

• ERP-native activities are synced to ERP.

• Tabs runs its monthly close preparation for the prior month, or

• User clicks Update entries on the journal entries page for that period

How push, close, reopen, and re-close fit together

Push revenue to GL

When the close checklist is complete, you can review and push draft, non-ERP-native journal entries to your connected ERP (NetSuite, QuickBooks Online, Sage Intacct, or Rillet), or download the CSV and post to your ERP manually.

Close the period in Tabs

Once your journal entries are pushed from Tabs—or posted manually in your ERP—you can close the period in Tabs to make it read-only while you continue reconciling the rest of your GL accounts in your ERP. This ensures your accounts receivable, deferred, unbilled, and revenue numbers in Tabs won’t change.

What happens if you discover an error in a period you’ve already pushed to your ERP and closed in Tabs? For example, you closed June 2026 but later realized you need to add a missing contract for that period.

Reopen a period

Go to Close Management and select the June 2026 period in Tabs. Click Reopen June 2026 to unlock the period for editing. This action unlocks the period in Tabs only; it does not reopen the period in your ERP.

Reopening June 2026 also reopens every closed month from June onward to correctly reflect downstream changes in billing and revenue schedules.

A warning banner stays visible in Close Management to remind you to Re-close periods before you can close the next month.

Make corrections after period close

Make your necessary edits in June and return to Close Management, select June 2026 and view journal entries.

Make sure you click Update entries to reflect all the changes made in June since reopened.

You will notice the corrections in the refreshed journal entires:

1. For entries already posted, Tabs prepares two draft entries:

   1. reversal: to undo the old posted amounts

   2. new: to record the correct amounts

2. Your ERP is unchanged until you click Re-Push revenue to GL again to only push the draft entries.

Re-close periods

After corrections (and any needed re-push), use Re-close periods on
the banner to close the whole reopened chain again in one step or manually re-close each period as needed.

When your ERP’s native period close matters

Your ERP can lock accounting periods separately from Tabs.

• If the period is closed in your ERP, Tabs won’t be able to push
  anything until you reopen that period in the ERP.

• Closing a period only in Tabs does not by itself lock the ERP.

• Conversely, a period can look closed in Tabs while push is still
  available if the ERP period is still open so make sure you review the ERP and Tabs period status in Tabs Close Management before taking actions.

Frequently Asked Questions

June JEs still show old numbers in NetSuite after Update entries

This is expected, not a bug: Update entries only recalculates Tabs' numbers — it never pushes to the ERP by itself.Self check: did you click Push revenue to GL after updating? If not, that's the fix. If you did push and NetSuite is still wrong, check for a push failure, ERP period lock, or currency mapping issue next.

Two JEs for the same invoice — looks like a duplicate

Before escalating: this is very likely an Invoice offset (or Credit memo offset) entry, not a duplicate. Tabs generates offsets to reclass amounts between Deferred and Unbilled when revenue recognition timing differs from invoice timing. Check the Type column — a true duplicate would show the same type and same amount twice; an offset shows a different type (e.g. "Invoice sent" + "Invoice offset") and typically different debit/credit legs. Only treat as a real duplicate/bug if type and amount match.

Reopened March, April shows reopened too though untouched

Expected — reopening a month cascades forward to every closed month from that point on, so downstream billing/revenue schedule changes stay reflected correctly.
Fix: finish corrections in March, re-push if needed, then run Re-close periods to close the whole chain in one step.

Push failing on NetSuite even though Tabs isn't closed

Distinguish Tabs-side close from ERP-side close — a Tabs-open period doesn't guarantee push works. Checklist:

1. Is the period closed/locked in NetSuite itself (not just Tabs)? ERP lock blocks push regardless of Tabs status.

2. Currency mapped correctly for that entity in NetSuite — unmapped currencies are a known NetSuite-specific push blocker.

3. Confirm close checklist completeness and workflow status in Tabs.

4. If still blocked, contact support with the period and error message for further investigation.

August revenue JE reversed and replaced instead of edited

Expected — Tabs never overwrites a posted entry. Corrections generate a reversal (undoes the old posted amount) plus a new entry (correct amount), preserving a full audit trail. The ERP stays unchanged until Re-Push revenue to GL is clicked.