AWRA Help Center

AWRA keeps one double-entry ledger per workspace. You rarely type into it: each business document posts its own entries when it happens — a POS sale, an invoice and its payment, a stock receipt, a supplier bill, a payment, a payroll run — and every entry carries a reference back to that document. Finance work is mostly reviewing those entries, adding the few that no document makes, agreeing the bank, and closing the month.

Where Things Are

• The accounting workspace — open Accounting → Journal. Its sidebar holds the statements (balance sheet, income statement, trial balance, general ledger, cash flow), accounts receivable and payable, expenses, bank reconciliation, the asset register, petty cash, withholding tax, staff advances, accounting periods, taxes, the aging report, integration sync and the chart of accounts. Some links appear only for roles with the matching permission.
• Payables — open Procurement → Purchase Orders; the row of links at the top leads to reorder, supplier bills, payment runs, and returns & debit notes.
• Budgets and Accounting Insights — under Accounting in the main menu.
• The Payments Register — under Reports → System Reports.

A Month, In Order

1. Capture what you owe. Every supplier invoice as a supplier bill, approved for payment; goods sent back as a return and debit note.
2. Pay it. Due bills in a payment run that a second person approves; bank lines confirmed once the bank has paid.
3. Agree the bank. Import the statement in Bank Reconciliation, match it, post the bank charges, and complete the reconciliation.
4. Settle tax. Remit the month’s withholding tax from its register. In Kenya, sales are filed to KRA through eTIMS as they are issued.
5. Adjust. Post accruals, corrections and opening balances as manual journals; run monthly depreciation from the asset register.
6. Report and close. Run the income statement and balance sheet, then close the month under Accounting Periods so nothing dated in it moves afterwards.

Controls Built In

• Balanced or refused. A manual journal posts only when debits equal credits.
• Closed means closed. Nothing dated in a closed month can be posted, changed or removed until it is reopened with a reason.
• One invoice, one bill. A supplier’s invoice number is captured once per supplier.
• Two people for money out. Whoever prepares a payment run cannot approve it; a second approver for supplier returns can be switched on.
• Every payment posts once. However a supplier is paid — by hand, in a run, or through a gateway — it books Dr Accounts payable, Cr the account it was paid from, once.
• Department, branch and project. Postings that carry these tags split the income statement by them.

Permissions

Finance screens follow your role and your plan. The separate permissions worth knowing: approving supplier bills, approving payment runs, reconciling transactions (bank reconciliation, on Premium and Enterprise), creating journal entries, managing accounts (closing a month, adding a bank account), and viewing or managing withholding tax. If a link or button is missing, ask your organization admin for the specific permission rather than broad access — see Missing Menu Items.

Common Mistakes

• Fixing a document with a journal. Correct or reverse the bill, invoice or payment instead, so the document and the books agree.
• Reconciling before confirming bank payments. Bank lines in a payment run reach the ledger only when confirmed.
• Reporting on a month that is still open. Close it once its figures are final.