The connections have been established between Lightspeed Retail, Lightspeed Accounting, and your accounting software. You've selected a sales posting method and you've configured your General Settings. The path is now open to begin syncing your information, however, Lightspeed Accounting needs to know where to send that information in your accounting software. You'll need to map your accounts in Lightspeed Accounting before any information can be synced.

The process of mapping your information is the most important part of setting up Lightspeed Accounting, and it's also the most specific to your business. No two businesses will have exactly the same Lightspeed Retail Categories, Inventory, or chart of accounts. You should work closely with your accountant when deciding where to map your information as our support team will not be able to provide any guidance on this. We can, however, explain what information is available to be mapped and what kind of account or item that information will map to in your accounting software.

If you are setting up Lightspeed Accounting for a multi-store account, you will see a column called Class throughout the mapping process. Class is used to determine which shop location the data is coming from when all shops are being mapped to the same Company in your accounting software.

Posting method

• Journal Entry Posting Method

  If you selected Journal Entry as your posting method, your activity in Lightspeed Retail will be synced over to your accounting software as a journal entry. You'll map your categories to general ledger accounts and you'll report on your activity through the Profit and Loss report. The sections that need to be mapped are:

  • Sales
  • Discounts, Returns, Offsets
  • Other Charges
  • Payments
  • Cash Drawer
  • Inventory & COGS (optionally)

  Accounts of the type accounts receivable are not compatible with Lightspeed Accounting and cannot be mapped to. We recommend using the account type other current assets whenever you might want to use accounts receivable instead.

• Summary Sales Receipt Posting Method

  If you selected Summary Sales Receipt as your posting method, your sales in Lightspeed Retail will be replicated in your accounting software. You'll map your categories in Lightspeed Retail to corresponding items in your accounting software and you'll report on your activity by running sales reports.

  The sections that need to be mapped are:

  • Sales
  • Discounts, Returns, Offsets
  • Other Charges
  • Taxes
  • Payments
  • Cash Drawer
  • Inventory & COGS (optionally)

• Itemized Sales Receipt Posting Method

  If you selected Itemized Sales Receipt as your posting method, your sales in Lightspeed Retail will be replicated in your accounting software. You'll map your individual items in Lightspeed Retail to corresponding items in your accounting software and you'll report on your activity by running sales reports.

  The sections that need to be mapped are:

  • Sales
  • Discounts, Returns, Offsets
  • Other Charges
  • Taxes
  • Payments
  • Cash Drawer
  • Inventory & COGS (optionally)

Recommended mappings

The following are suggestions for mapping your account types, however, please note that we are not certified to guide retailers in configuring their specific chart of accounts. Any additional mapping needs may require expertise beyond our scope and we cannot offer specific guidance on your chart of accounts in such cases. If you have uncertainties or specific queries, we recommend you consult a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) for professional accounting opinions tailored to your unique business requirements.

We suggest the listed mapping sections be mapped to the specified account types for Lightspeed Accounting:

• Sales: Income, Revenue, Sales
• Discounts: Income, Revenue, Sales
• Sales tax: Liability
• Gift cards sold: Liability
• Payments: Current, Current Asset
• Cash over/short: Expense, Current Asset
• Paid out: Expense
• Inventory: Inventory, Current Asset
• Cost of goods sold: Cost of Goods Sold, Expense
• Credit account: Asset, Liability
• Purchase orders: Other Exepsnse
• Tips: Liability

Sales

• In this section, you'll map your Lightspeed Retail item categories to general ledger accounts in your accounting software, usually of the type Income.

  

  Your sales by category in Lightspeed Retail can be mapped to individual accounts, allowing you to track your sales information the way you want. You also have the option to map All Sales. This will set a default, "catch-all" account for any category that is not mapped, which is helpful if a new category is created and not mapped prior to the daily sync. Rather than hold up the entire sync, sales from the new category will default to the All Sales mapping. Any category that does have a specific mapping will override the All Sales mapping.

  

• In this section, you'll map your Lightspeed Retail item categories to corresponding Items created in your accounting software. Your sales totals by category in Lightspeed Retail will be added to a summary sales receipt in your accounting software, with each Lightspeed Retail category being represented by a corresponding item in your accounting software.

  

  You also have the option to to map All Sales. This will set a default, "catch-all" item for any category that is not mapped, which is helpful if a new category is created and not mapped prior to the daily sync. Rather than hold up the entire sync, sales from the new category will default to the All Sales mapping. Any category that does have a specific mapping will override the All Sales mapping.

  

  If you're using Xero as your accounting software, your sales data will be accounted for in a Summary Invoice. It is similar to a sales receipt, however you will map your Lightspeed item categories to accounts and not items.

• In this section, you'll map your Lightspeed Retail items to corresponding Items created in your accounting software. Your sales totals by item in Lightspeed Retail will be added to a summary sales receipt in your accounting software, with each Lightspeed Retail item being represented by a corresponding item in your accounting software.

  

  You also have the option to to map All Sales. This will set a default, "catch-all" item for any Lightspeed Item that is not mapped, which is helpful if a new item is created and not mapped prior to the nightly sync. Rather than hold up the entire sync, sales of the new item will default to the All Sales mapping. Any item that does have a specific mapping will override the All Sales mapping.

  

  Summary Invoice. It is similar to a sales receipt, however you will map your Lightspeed Items to accounts and not items.

Discounts, Returns, Offsets

• In this section, you'll map the discounts you've set up in Lightspeed Retail under Settings > Discounts. Whenever a discount is applied to a sale, the amount discounted will be recorded in your accounting software according to the mappings made here.

  

  As with the sales section, you will have the option of mapping All Discounts to a default account. Any individual discounts that are not otherwise mapped will be synced to the All Discounts account, however, any discount that is mapped individually will override this default and will sync to its designated account.

• In this section, you'll map the discounts you've set up in Lightspeed Retail under Settings > Discounts. Whenever a discount is applied in a sale, the amount discounted will be recorded in your accounting software according to the mappings made here. You'll map your Lightspeed Discounts to corresponding discount items in your accounting software.

  

  As with the sales section, you will have the option of mapping All Discounts to a default item. Any individual discounts that are not otherwise mapped will be synced to the All Discounts item, however any discount that is mapped will override this default and will sync to its designated item.

• In this section, you'll map the discounts you've set up in Lightspeed Retail under Settings > Discounts. Whenever a discount is applied in a sale, the amount discounted will be recorded in your accounting software according to the mappings made here. You'll map your Lightspeed Discounts to corresponding discount items in your accounting software.

  

  As with the sales section, you will have the option of mapping All Discounts to a default item. Any individual discounts that are not otherwise mapped will be synced to the All Discounts item, however any discount that is mapped will override this default and will sync to its designated item.

Other Charges

In this section, you'll map the taxes and tax classes you've set up in Lightspeed Retail under Settings > Tax Classes. Here you can map not only the account you want to record your taxes in, but the associated vendor as well (this is optional and will usually be the body to which you pay taxes).

You can also map Credit Account here. This represents payments made to a customer's credit account when nothing else is purchased in that transaction, however, most credit account activity is mapped under the Payments section.

Accounts of the type Accounts Receivable are not compatible with Lightspeed Accounting. We recommend using the type Other Current Asset instead.

Payments

In this section, you'll map the various payment types found in Lightspeed Retail under Settings > Payment Types. While most payment types are mapped individually, you have the option of combining all card payments into a single lump sum. To do so, in Lightspeed Accounting, click Toggle All Credit and map the All Credit Cards item.

The various types of card payment will be listed separately under the heading Credit Cards (debit cards are listed here as well) and will have (Credit) after the name of the payment type. This lets you know that it will be included in the mapping of All Credit Cards.

Unlike the All Sales or All Discounts mapping options, All Credit Cards combines the amounts of all credit card payment types into a single, lump-sum entry. If you want a granular breakdown of the amount charged on a specific card type, you'll map those card types individually.

You also have the option to designate a Vendor for a specific payment type in this section. If you are mapping all of your payment types to Undeposited Funds, for example, the vendor name appears on the Make Deposit screen. This can be useful for categorizing payments by type, even if they're all going to the same account.

Taxes

If you've set Track Sales Tax in Accounting Software to On in the General Settings section, the Taxes section will be available. Here, you'll map the taxes and tax classes you've set up in Lightspeed Retail under Settings > Sales Taxes and Settings > Tax Classes to corresponding Taxes set up in your accounting software.

If Track Sales Tax in Accounting Software is set to Off in General Settings, your taxes will be mapped under Other Charges.

Cash Drawer

In this section, you'll map the activity of the cash in your register's drawer.

You'll start your day with a certain amount of money in your cash drawer and over the course of the day, that number will of course fluctuate. You'll accept cash payments, hand out change, and possibly pull money from the drawer for small business expenses. This section will account for all of these fluctuations:

• Payouts:
  • Whenever the Payout/Drop button on the Sales menu in Lightspeed Retail is used to log the removal of cash from the drawer, that constitutes a Payout.
• Cash Over/Short:
  • When closing the register in Lightspeed Retail, the amount of cash in the drawer is counted and entered. Cash Over/Short represents the deviation of the amount counted from the theoretical amount that should be in the drawer, as calculated by Lightspeed (cash payments +/- adds and drops, including the starting amount).
• Cash Deposit:
  • Cash Deposit is calculated by subtracting Payouts from Cash Payments and adding or subtracting the Cash Over/Short:  
    
    Cash Deposit = Cash Payments - Payouts +/- Cash Over/Short
    
    It represents the actual amount of money physically present for deposit in your account.
• Cash in Drawer:
  • In the unlikely event that the Cash Deposit is negative, that figure will be represented as Cash in Drawer instead.

Inventory & COGS

In this section, you'll map your inventory assets and cost of goods sold if you elected to Book Inventory/COGS in General Settings. Whenever a purchase order is created in Lightspeed Retail, the value of the items in that order are logged to the Inventory Account mapped here. Whenever an item is sold, the value of that item is deducted from the appropriate Inventory Account and is transferred to the COGS Account mapped here via a journal entry.

As with Sales and Discounts, Returns, Offsets, you can map a default account for both COGS and Inventory by mapping the ALL option in this section. Any category not otherwise mapped will sync to the accounts designated by the ALL mapping.

If there are certain categories of items you choose not to track, you can check the Ignore checkbox for that category. Inventory and COGS will not be synced for any category with Ignore checked.

Preview

This section will give you a preview visualization of what your mappings would look like once activated. If you are satisfied with the mappings, you can click Activate at the bottom of the menu. Once activated your accounting information will begin syncing automatically every morning for the previous day's activity.

If after a day or two of syncing, you feel you would like to make changes to your mappings and adjust how your data is being accounted for, you can return here and edit your mappings. Those changes will only affect future synchronizations, however, and will not retroactively adjust anything that has already synced -- you'll need to adjust those dates manually in your accounting software. As such, we recommend keeping a close eye on the first few days after activation to make sure the data is organized to your liking.

Once you've fine-tuned your mappings to your satisfaction, your Lightspeed Accounting setup is complete and you're ready to enjoy hassle-free bookkeeping!

Access to Lightspeed Accounting

Now that everything is set up and ready to begin syncing, you may want to grant access to Lightspeed Accounting to others in your organization. You can provide full or limited access to others by managing your users.