Income received in advance

A membership is earned a day at a time over the days it covers. A year's fee received in October is mostly for months still to come. In the accounts that part is income received in advance, a liability, until the days pass. Income in advance works it out for any day, usually the end of the financial year.

Before you start

You need to be able to see the finance figures. The Treasurer and Administrator can by default.

See the figure for a day

1. Open Finance › > Income in advance. It opens at the end of today.
2. Choose another day under As at the end of, or press the button for the last year end, for example Last year end, 30/06/2026.

The page shows:

• Received in advance: money received for membership days still to come at the end of that day, excluding GST.
• Invoiced, not yet earned: the same for every issued invoice, paid or not, for an accrual balance sheet.
• Joining fees: When charged or Spread, as set on GST and prices.
• By membership: the two figures for each membership.
• Each month of the financial year: what was earned, what was received and what was in advance at each month's end.
• The memberships behind it: each membership line, with the invoice, the days it covers, its amount excluding GST, what is earned and what is in advance. Show more lists more.

How it is worked out

• Which lines. Membership lines on issued and paid invoices: renewals, monthly memberships, new members' first invoices, and memberships raised by hand. Drafts and voided invoices are left out.
• What a line is worth. Its amount less its share of the invoice's GST. GST is not spread: it stays where the BAS puts it. A credit on the same invoice, for example from an earlier plan, comes off the membership lines it belongs with.
• The days it covers. The line's own start and end dates, else the two dates in its words (such as "1/8/2026 – 31/7/2027"), else a renewal's year.
• Earned. In proportion to the days gone, to the cent. A line covering 365 days has a 365th earned each day.
• Received. The share of the invoice paid by that day. A part-paid invoice counts in part.
• In advance. What was received less what was earned, never below nought.

A membership line that gives no dates to cover is counted as earned when it is paid. A note says how many lines that is and how much they hold, for example 7 membership lines give no dates to cover ($2,409.06 received, excluding GST), so they are counted as earned when paid.

Joining fees

A joining fee is counted as earned when it is charged. A club may instead spread each joining fee over the membership it came with. Practice differs: ask the club's auditor.

To change it, open Finance › > GST and prices and, under Income received in advance, tick or untick Spread a joining fee over the membership it came with, instead of counting it as earned when charged. It is saved at once, and a message says Saved. Changing it needs the permission to change GST codes, price entry and accounts.

What it does not do

• It covers membership and, if the club spreads them, joining fees. Class terms, functions and anything else paid ahead are not counted here.
• It writes nothing into the accounts. The treasurer or accountant takes the figure to the club's accounts.