Bookkeeping foundations

Shillinq is a full double-entry bookkeeping system. This page explains the concepts you need to understand before you create your first account or record your first transaction.

The general ledger (grootboek)

The general ledger is the master record of every financial transaction in your organisation. Every time money moves — from sales, purchases, payroll, taxes — the ledger captures it. In Dutch bookkeeping this is called the grootboek.

The ledger is divided into named accounts. Each account tracks one specific type of financial activity (e.g. "Revenue from consulting", "Office supplies", "Bank — main account"). When you open the Chart of Accounts in Shillinq you are looking at the index of your ledger.

Accounts

An account in Shillinq is a named slot in your ledger that collects all the transactions of one type. Each account has:

Field	Example	Meaning
accountNumber	8010	The RGS code (see RGS account numbering)
accountName	Revenue from consulting	Human-readable label
accountType	revenue	Balance sheet vs. income statement classification
normalBalance	credit	Whether the account grows on debit or credit

Shillinq uses the RGS (Referentie Grootboekschema) numbering scheme by default — a Dutch national standard that makes your accounts comparable to those of any other Dutch company. See RGS account numbering for a full explanation.

Double-entry bookkeeping

Every financial transaction in Shillinq is recorded with at least two entries — a debit and a credit — and these must always balance to zero. This is called double-entry bookkeeping (dubbel boekhouden).

A simple example: you pay a €100 supplier invoice:

Account	Debit	Credit
Accounts payable (crediteuren)	€100
Bank — main account		€100

The supplier account decreases (you no longer owe that money) and the bank account decreases (the money left your account). Both sides equal €100 so the entry balances.

You never need to enter debits and credits manually in Shillinq. When you record a bill, create an invoice, or import a bank statement, Shillinq generates the correct journal entries automatically based on the account type of each line. The double-entry layer is there for auditors, accountants, and financial reports — as a daily user you work with bills, invoices, and bank transactions instead.

Bills vs. invoices — the most important distinction

Shillinq uses two terms that sound similar but are opposites:

Term	Who sends it	Who owes money	Accounting name	Dutch
Bill	Your supplier	You owe them	Accounts payable (AP)	Crediteur / inkoopfactuur
Invoice	You	Your customer owes you	Accounts receivable (AR)	Debiteur / verkoopfactuur

Bills (inkoopfacturen / crediteuren)

A bill is a purchase invoice that a supplier sent to you. You owe them money. Shillinq records bills under Accounts Payable (AP):

• Found in: Inkoop → Supplier invoices
• Creates a liability: you owe the supplier
• Closed by: a payment from your bank account to the supplier

Invoices (verkoopfacturen / debiteuren)

An invoice is a document you send to a customer. They owe you money. Shillinq records invoices under Accounts Receivable (AR):

• Found in: Bookkeeping → Accounts receivable
• Creates an asset: the customer owes you
• Closed by: a payment from the customer into your bank account

Bank transactions and reconciliation

When your bank statement arrives (or you import a CAMT.053 file), Shillinq matches each bank line to an open bill or invoice. This process is called bank reconciliation (bankverzoening). Once a bill is matched to a bank payment, both are marked as settled and removed from the open-items list.

The financial cycle in one picture

Supplier → Bill (AP) → You pay → Bank reconciliation → Settled
You → Invoice (AR) → Customer pays → Bank reconciliation → Settled

The three daily actions that keep your books up to date:

1. Import bills — record what you owe suppliers.
2. Create invoices — record what customers owe you.
3. Import bank — match payments on both sides.

Each of these has a step-by-step guide in the Guides section.