How to Set Up Income and Expense Accounting in Planfix
Income and expense accounting in Planfix starts with a ready-made solution rather than an empty spreadsheet: install it, and the account already has the directories, the data tags and the reports it needs. Revenue and expense tracking in Planfix works through data tags added to the tasks where money is actually received or spent, so every figure keeps the task and project it belongs to. This three-minute video follows that setup from the solution to the payment report.
What you’ll learn: how to set up income and expense accounting
- Install the ready-to-use income and expenses solution instead of building it by hand (0:03).
- Fill the directories with the income and expense items your company actually uses (0:22).
- Find the reports that arrive with the solution (0:54).
- Choose the object a report takes its data from (1:12).
- Read a payment report and change its breakdown (2:17).
How to set up income and expense accounting in Planfix, step by step
Step 1. Install the Income and Expenses Accounting solution
Solutions are installed by the account owner or an administrator: open Account Management → Solutions, click Install solution, pick Income and Expenses Accounting from the list and click Install. Setup is available on any plan. The details are in the help article on the Income and Expenses Accounting solution.
Step 2. Fill in the Income and Expenses directories
Before anyone enters an amount, fill in the Incomes and Expenses directories: go to Main Menu → Directories and open Expenses or Incomes. Delete the entries added by default as examples, then add entries named after the income and expense items adopted in your organization. You don’t have to recall every item at once — Planfix directories can be extended as you work, and entries can be grouped so a long list stays navigable.
Step 3. Record amounts with the Income and Expenses data tags
To register income received or an expense incurred, add the Income or Expenses data tag to a task. Add it to the task where the money was actually received or spent: the entry then carries that task and its project, which is what gives later reports their breakdown. Explain the operation in a comment. For amounts with no task of their own, such as expenses on product deliveries or income from minor repairs, create special tasks for accounting purposes. The mechanics are shown in expense tracking with data tags.
Step 4. Open the reports that come with the solution
Everything entered through the Income and Expenses data tags appears in the corresponding reports. Report: Income and Expenses shows income and expenses broken down by project and task for the current and previous month, and by default takes information from all unfinished tasks. You can edit that report or build others on the same data tags with a different breakdown by changing their data selection parameters, as the help article on the Income and Expenses reports describes.
Step 5. Choose the object the report is built on
The first step of a new report asks for three things: the group it belongs to, its name and the object whose data it uses. For money entered with data tags, that object is Data tags, and after choosing it you specify which data tags the report includes. Other objects answer other questions: Tasks for task data and statistics, Projects for efficiency ratios calculated with formulas, Directories for reference data such as stock balances. If you hesitate, open a standard Planfix report that resembles yours and see which object it uses.
Step 6. Decide who sees the numbers
By default the solution divides nobody by role: every employee may enter income and expense data and sees the summary for the tasks they have access to. To narrow that down, restrict access to the Income and Expenses data tags, restrict who may add, edit and delete items in the Types of income/expenses directory, or restrict access to Report: Income and Expenses.
The payment report at the end of the video
The video closes on a payment report (2:17) built from the same entries. A payment report is the income and expenses report with a breakdown of your own: keep Data tags as the object, set the selection parameters to the period and the tasks you need, and group the rows by project, task or item. Because every amount sits inside a task, the same data reads as a monthly total or as the single payment behind it.
Who it’s for
- Finance and management: income and expenses for the current and previous month, by project and by task.
- Project managers: the cost of a project collected from its tasks, with no separate budget file.
- Small teams: a working financial setup on any plan, installed instead of designed.
- Accountants: consistent income and expense items, because they come from a shared directory rather than from memory.
FAQ
How do I start income and expense accounting in Planfix?
The account owner or an administrator installs the Income and Expenses Accounting solution, available on any plan. Then fill in the Incomes and Expenses directories, set access rights, and the team can add data tags to tasks.
Where do income and expense categories come from?
From the Incomes and Expenses directories in Main Menu → Directories. The solution adds sample entries that you can delete, and you add the items used in your company; the list can be extended and grouped later.
Can I change the breakdown in the income and expenses report?
Yes. The default report covers the current and previous month and unfinished tasks; edit it, or create another report on the same data tags with a different breakdown through its data selection parameters.
Start with one month of real amounts
Install the solution, put your real items into the directories and record one month of income and expenses inside tasks. A single month shows whether the items match how your company counts money, and the Income and Expenses Accounting configuration can be adjusted or restored to its defaults afterwards. If you would rather assemble a report yourself, see how to build an expense report from scratch. New to Planfix? Sign up to try it.
