Double-entry accounting, posted from your documents

Guliel is accounting and finance-operations software that runs invoicing, expenses, purchasing, payroll, reporting and a double-entry general ledger on one engine. The ledger is not a second book you sync to. Sent invoices, approved expenses, recorded payments and approved payslips post debits and credits from the same lines that drive receivables and payables, so the trial balance and the open balances agree by construction. Manual journal entries cover the rest: opening balances, accruals, depreciation.

What the ledger does today

	Status
Double-entry general ledger on a fixed chart of 17 accounts	Live
Automatic postings from invoices, credit and debit notes, approved expenses, payments and approved payslips	Live
Manual journal entries that must balance	Live
Service periods spread day by day through prepaid expenses and deferred revenue	Live
Trial balance, balance sheet, general ledger, income statement, cash flow statement	Live
Books lock date, set by a manager	Live
Ledger export as CSV	Live
Custom accounts in the chart of accounts	Planned
A sign-off queue where an accountant approves AI work	Planned
GST and VAT return preparation	Planned
Bank feeds and bank reconciliation	Not built yet
Filing tax or payroll returns	Not done by Guliel

How documents post

Invoices, receipts, expenses, purchase orders and payslips are one document object in Guliel, with a type and a direction. Each document carries lines that say what is owed, by whom and to whom. The ledger reads those lines when you open it: postings from documents and payments are derived, not copied into a second table, so there is no sync job and nothing to drift. Only manual journal entries are stored as postings.

Event	Debit	Credit
Invoice sent	Accounts receivable	Revenue, and Tax payable for the tax
Supplier bill or receipt approved	Expense, and Tax receivable for the tax	Accounts payable
Customer payment recorded	Cash & bank	Accounts receivable
Supplier bill paid	Accounts payable	Cash & bank
Credit note issued	Revenue and Tax payable	Accounts receivable
Payslip approved	Salary expense, Statutory contributions (employer)	Due to employees, Statutory payable
Invoice with a service period	Accounts receivable	Deferred revenue, moved to Revenue day by day across the period

When something posts:

• Drafts never post. An invoice posts when it is sent or marked as sent.
• A captured expense posts when it is approved, and a payslip when it is approved.
• A purchase order never posts. It is a commitment, not a liability. The supplier invoice that bills it posts when it is approved.
• A receipt issued for a recorded payment adds nothing, because the payment already posted.
• A voided document leaves the books. Cancelling an invoice issues a credit note, which posts when it is created.
• An expense an employee paid personally posts to Due to employees, not Accounts payable, so the ledger shows what you owe that person.
• One payment can settle several documents. Any remainder sits in Unapplied payments until it is allocated.

Chart of accounts

Each organisation gets a fixed chart of 17 accounts, created on first use:

• Assets: Cash & bank, Accounts receivable, Tax receivable, Prepaid expenses, Government receivable, Unapplied payments
• Liabilities: Accounts payable, Tax payable, Deferred revenue, Due to employees, Statutory payable
• Equity: Owner's equity
• Income: Revenue
• Expenses: Expense, Salary expense, Statutory contributions (employer), Government leave funding

In the ledger, expenses post to one Expense account; the categories from your own list group them on the income statement. Retained earnings are computed from the unclosed profit and loss, so assets equal liabilities plus equity at any date without a closing entry. Custom accounts are planned.

Journal entries

A journal entry records what no document carries: opening balances, depreciation, accruals, write-offs, bank fees and interest.

• An entry has at least two lines, and each line is a debit or a credit, never both.
• Debits must equal credits, or the entry is refused. The rule is the same for an entry made in the app, through the API or by an AI.
• Lines use accounts from the chart.
• A contributor or a manager can post entries; a viewer can read them.
• Entries are not edited in place. Delete one and enter it again. Inside locked books, post a correcting entry dated after the lock date instead.

Starting partway through a year? Enter the closing balances from your previous system as one opening journal entry. Guliel has no importer today for QuickBooks, Xero, Zoho, Wave, FreshBooks, Invoice Ninja, Stripe or Shopify; connectors for all eight are planned. See Migrate.

Statements

Each statement runs from Reports, previews in the app and downloads as PDF:

• Trial balance: debits, credits and the net balance per account for a date range.
• Balance sheet: assets, liabilities and equity as of a date, journal entries included.
• General ledger: every posting in a period, dated and labelled with its source (document, payment, recognition or journal).
• Income statement: revenue and expenses by category, monthly or quarterly, with an optional comparison to the previous period.
• Cash flow statement: cash received against cash paid, on a cash or accrual basis.

They are 5 of 49 report definitions, next to receivables aging, customer statements, tax reports and payroll reports. See Reports.

Books lock date

A manager sets the date the books are locked through. Anything dated on or before it is fixed:

• journal entries cannot be added or deleted
• documents cannot be sent, voided or have their amounts changed
• expenses cannot be approved or un-approved
• payments cannot be recorded or reversed
• payroll cannot be run or regenerated for that month

Corrections go in as new entries dated after the lock. Move the date forward as you close each month or year. Clearing the date, or moving it back, reopens the books, and only a manager can do that.

Ledger export

The general ledger exports as CSV for a date range: date, kind, source, account, account code, account type, debit and credit, one row per posting line, up to 50,000 rows per file. The file is UTF-8 and opens in Excel. Payslip rows are de-identified for users without payroll access, and they stay in the file so the export still balances.

Accountant in the loop

Guliel prepares the records. The business or its accountant reviews and approves them.

• Expenses captured from scans and inboxes wait in review. Only a manager can approve them into the ledger.
• An expense can be approved only if it is an invoice, receipt, invoice-receipt, credit note or debit note with the issuer's document number and the source document kept. Supplier statements, payment requests and card-charge confirmations are kept as evidence and never posted.
• Roles are per organisation. A viewer reads the ledger and reports. A contributor also posts journal entries. A manager also approves expenses and sets the lock date.
• Planned: a sign-off queue where an accountant approves work the AI prepared, and GST and VAT return preparation. Guliel does not file tax or payroll returns.

AI on the ledger

Any AI client that supports the Model Context Protocol, for example Claude, ChatGPT or Copilot, connects through OAuth 2.1. It can read the ledger, run statements and post journal entries within the scopes and role you grant. The built-in AI companion runs with the signed-in user's role. The engine applies the same rules to an AI as to a person: an unbalanced entry is refused, and nothing posts into locked books.

What it does not do yet

• The chart of accounts is fixed today. Custom accounts are planned.
• Guliel does not connect to bank feeds or reconcile bank statements yet. Recorded payments post to one Cash & bank account.
• There is no fixed-asset register. Book depreciation as a manual journal entry.
• The ledger adds amounts as recorded, without currency conversion. Currency revaluation in the ledger is not built yet.
• Guliel does not file tax or payroll returns. GST and VAT return preparation is planned.
• In Israel, Guliel imports documents from the uniform file (מבנה אחיד) but does not produce one today.

Beside Xero or QuickBooks, or instead of them

You do not have to switch on day one. A business can start by running Guliel beside the tool it already has: issue documents, capture expenses and work with suppliers in Guliel, and hand the ledger CSV to whoever keeps the books. Then automations take over routine steps. When you are ready, move over with an opening journal entry.

Xero and QuickBooks Online are the better fit today if you need bank feeds and reconciliation or a custom chart of accounts. Guliel's difference is centralization: invoicing, expenses, purchasing, stock, payroll and the ledger run on one engine and one data model, rather than a ledger with apps and connectors around it, so more of the bookkeeping happens without anyone re-keying it. See Guliel vs Xero and Guliel vs QuickBooks.

Pricing

Pricing is per organisation, not per seat, and the ledger is not sold as an add-on. Free is $0 for 200 invoices, 100 expense scans, 10 reports and 5 automations a month. Standard ($20) and Premium ($99) per organisation per month are published prices; billing is not live and paid plans are not on sale yet. See Pricing.

FAQ

Is Guliel double-entry accounting software?

Yes. Guliel keeps a double-entry general ledger on a fixed chart of 17 accounts. Every posting has a debit side and a credit side, every journal entry must balance, and the trial balance, balance sheet and general ledger report read from the same postings. Invoicing, expenses, purchasing, payroll and reporting run on the same engine.

Do I need to enter journal entries for my invoices and expenses?

No. Sent invoices, approved expenses, recorded payments and approved payslips post automatically from the document lines. Journal entries are for what no document carries: opening balances, depreciation, accruals and write-offs.

Can I add my own accounts to the chart of accounts?

Not yet. The chart is fixed at 17 accounts today, and custom accounts are planned. The expense categories from your own list still group the income statement.

Does Guliel reconcile my bank account?

Not yet. Guliel does not connect to bank feeds or reconcile bank statements. Payments you record against invoices and bills post to Cash & bank.

How do I close a month?

A manager sets the books lock date. Nothing dated on or before it can be posted, changed or deleted, and corrections go in as new entries dated after the lock. Clearing the date reopens the books.

Can my accountant work in the ledger?

Yes. Invite them to the organisation with a role: a viewer reads the ledger and reports, a contributor also posts journal entries, and a manager also approves expenses and sets the lock date. Pricing is per organisation, so there is no seat fee. Guliel does not file tax returns.

Can I run Guliel beside Xero or QuickBooks?

Yes. Run Guliel beside them while you adopt it and export the Guliel ledger as CSV. There is no importer from QuickBooks or Xero; connectors for them are planned. When you move over, enter your closing balances as an opening journal entry.

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