Accounting integration
ROBOTILL integrates with PiggyZen and QuickBooks Online by exporting accounting journals. The journals are saved as CSV files that you import into your accounting system.
You first link ROBOTILL's transaction categories to accounts in your accounting system. ROBOTILL then uses those account names when preparing the journals. Exporting creates the files; you must complete the import in your accounting system separately.
How the export works
ROBOTILL creates balanced daily journals for the selected period. A day can have several journals, with separate journals for activities such as sales, cost of sales, refunds and stock movements. These are accounting summaries, not individual customer invoices or supplier bills.
- Sales: Records sales revenue, output tax and amounts received through each payment method, including sales charged to customer accounts.
- Cost of sales: Records the historical company cost of goods sold and reduces the inventory account. Company cost includes non-recoverable purchase VAT where applicable.
- Customer account payments: Records money received against customer balances and reduces the customer control account.
- Laybys: Records deposits as a liability. Revenue and output tax are recognised when the layby is completed. Recorded cancellations release the deposit liability against the cash payout.
- Refunds: Records sales returns, the payment refunded and the related output tax reversal. Tax is allocated proportionally when the refund amount differs from the original amount. Returned stock restores inventory at the recorded company cost; stock marked for discard does not restore inventory.
- Stock received: Records finalised receipts against inventory, recoverable input tax where applicable, and the purchases / GRNI clearing account. Non-recoverable purchase VAT forms part of inventory cost.
- Stock adjustments: Records discarded stock and stocktake increases or decreases where the required historical values are available.
- Other amounts: Records applicable till rounding and tips payable separately.
Payment methods and tax groups remain separate journal lines, even if you map them to the same destination account.
Set up the account mappings
- In your accounting system, create or identify the accounts you will use for ROBOTILL transactions.
- In ROBOTILL Back Office, open Accounting Export, then Export Settings.
- Click Select Export Folder and choose where ROBOTILL should save the CSV files.
- For each applicable mapping, enter the full destination account name exactly as your accounting system expects it. Click outside the field to save it and check the saved message.
Only mappings used by transactions in the selected period are required. If one is missing, ROBOTILL will identify it and stop the export so you can complete the setup.
The table below lists every mapping shown in ROBOTILL. Account names are examples: use the names from your own chart of accounts. The account types describe the usual accounting purpose; your accounting system may use different type or detail-type names.
ROBOTILL account mappings
| Mapping in ROBOTILL |
Usual account type |
Purpose and example |
| Cash | Current asset / Cash | Cash received and cash payouts, including refunds. Example: Cash on Hand. Use the account representing till cash, rather than assuming the cash has already been deposited into the bank. |
|---|
| Card clearing | Current asset / Clearing | Card receipts awaiting settlement and card refunds. Example: Card Payments Clearing. Reconcile settlements and processing fees against this account in your accounting system. |
|---|
| Custom A clearing | Usually current asset / Clearing; depends on the payment method | Transactions using Custom Payment A. Example: EFT Payments Clearing. If this payment method redeems a liability, such as your own prepaid vouchers, the appropriate destination may instead be that liability account. |
|---|
| Custom B clearing | Usually current asset / Clearing; depends on the payment method | Transactions using Custom Payment B. Choose an account that matches what this payment method represents, separately from Custom A if appropriate. |
|---|
| Customer control | Current asset / Customer balances control | Sales charged to customer accounts increase this balance; customer payments reduce it. Example: ROBOTILL Customer Balances. Individual customer balances remain in ROBOTILL. |
|---|
| Sales revenue | Income / Revenue | Sales revenue excluding output tax, including completed laybys. Example: Retail Sales. |
|---|
| Sales returns | Contra-income / Sales returns and allowances | Refunds excluding the output tax reversal. This normally has a debit balance that reduces revenue. Example: Sales Returns. It is commonly set up within the income section of the chart of accounts. |
|---|
| Output tax | Current liability / Tax payable | VAT or sales tax charged on sales, reduced by applicable refunds. Example: Output VAT Control. |
|---|
| Recoverable tax | Current asset / Tax recoverable | Recoverable input VAT or tax on stock receipts. Example: Input VAT Control. Non-recoverable VAT is included in inventory cost instead. |
|---|
| Inventory | Current asset / Inventory | The company cost of stock on hand. Receipts, eligible returns and stocktake increases debit this account; sales, discards and stocktake decreases credit it. Example: Stock on Hand. |
|---|
| Cost of sales | Cost of goods sold / Expense | The recorded company cost of goods sold, reduced by eligible stock returns. Example: Cost of Sales. |
|---|
| Layby deposits | Current liability / Customer deposits | Money received for laybys before completion. Released when the sale is completed or the deposit is paid out on cancellation. Example: Layby Deposits Held. |
|---|
| Purchases / GRNI clearing | Current liability / Clearing | The balancing credit for stock receipts. GRNI means Goods Received Not Invoiced. Example: Stock Receipts Clearing. Clear this balance when recording the corresponding supplier bill or payment; do not record the same inventory and tax twice. |
|---|
| Discarded stock expense | Expense / Stock losses | The company cost of discarded stock. Example: Stock Write-offs. |
|---|
| Stocktake variance | Expense / Inventory adjustments | Stocktake shortages debit this account; surpluses credit it. Example: Stocktake Adjustments. It can therefore contain both losses and gains. |
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| Till rounding | Expense / Rounding adjustments | Recorded differences caused by rounding the sale total. Example: Till Rounding. This account may contain debit and credit adjustments. |
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| Tips payable | Current liability / Amounts owed to staff | Tips collected with sales that are payable to staff. Example: Tips Payable. Record the later payment to staff against this liability in your accounting system. |
|---|
Choosing control and clearing accounts
A clearing account holds an amount until the related bank settlement, supplier bill or other transaction is recorded. For example, card receipts first appear in Card clearing. When the card provider settles the money, record the settlement and any fees against that balance.
Use summary control accounts that accept journal entries. The export does not include individual customer or supplier names. QuickBooks' special Accounts Receivable and Accounts Payable accounts can require additional name information, so do not assume they can be used directly for these summary mappings. An ordinary current-asset customer control account and current-liability stock-receipts clearing account are generally more suitable for this workflow.
Agree the mapping and opening balances with your accountant before your first import, particularly for inventory, customer balances, tax and existing layby deposits. Posting a journal to a tax control account does not by itself establish how that entry will appear in your accounting system's VAT or sales-tax return.
Export a period
- Close the till sessions affecting the period and finalise any stock receipts that belong to it.
- Open Accounting Export > Export Accounting Data.
- Select the Start date and End date. Both dates are included. The end date must be no later than yesterday.
- Click Export Accounting Data. ROBOTILL checks the selected transactions and required account mappings before creating files.
- Read the completion message, then click Open Export Folder to find the files.
- Import the files into your accounting system and check the imported journals.
Each CSV file covers up to seven consecutive calendar days, counted from your selected start date. For example, a selection from 1 to 17 August produces files for 1–7, 8–14 and 15–17 August where those intervals contain journals. The journals inside each file remain daily journals.
Intervals with no journals do not produce a file. If the entire selection has no eligible activity, no files are created and the saved export date is not advanced.
After a successful export, ROBOTILL normally suggests the following day as the next start date. You can select earlier dates again. If you move the start date forward and leave a gap, ROBOTILL asks you to confirm the skipped period.
The last successful export date records file creation, not successful import. Keep track of which files you have imported into your accounting system.
Import into PiggyZen or QuickBooks
In PiggyZen, use the journal import facility to import the CSV files. In QuickBooks, use the journal import workflow supported by your edition. QuickBooks Online provides a CSV journal-entry import; other editions or import tools may have different requirements.
The files contain these columns:
Journal No,Journal Date,Account Name,Description,Debits,Credits
Match these columns to the corresponding fields in the import screen. Dates use yyyy-MM-dd, amounts use a decimal point and two decimal places, and all lines with the same journal number belong to one balanced journal.
For QuickBooks Online, create the destination accounts before importing. For subaccounts, use the full name expected by QuickBooks, such as Parent account:Subaccount. See Intuit's journal import instructions for its current account and import requirements.
Review the first imported period before continuing with further exports. Check the dates, mapped accounts and debit/credit totals, and reconcile the control accounts with ROBOTILL and your accounting records.
Exporting the same dates again
ROBOTILL keeps the same journal references when you export the same business, accounting date and journal purpose again. Changing the selected file ranges does not create new references for those existing journals.
A repeated export must not be imported as another set of new transactions. Use your accounting system's duplicate checks and review existing journal references before importing overlapping periods. ROBOTILL does not remove or replace journals already imported into another system.
If you change an account mapping, newly generated files use the new account name but retain the journal references. Correct or replace affected entries using your accounting system's supported process. Replacing a CSV file on your computer does not update entries already imported.
ROBOTILL asks before replacing existing export files. If saving several files fails partway through, the message lists any files already created or replaced. Resolve the problem and retry the same period, checking which files have already been imported.
If the export cannot continue
- Open till sessions
Close the sessions listed in the message, then retry. The message identifies the session and user. An affected open session blocks the export; ROBOTILL does not silently leave it out.
- Unfinished stock receipt
Complete the identified receipt, or correct it through the normal stock-receiving process, then retry.
- Missing account mapping
Open Export Settings and enter the destination account name for the mapping listed in the message.
- Older records have inadequate historical information
Earlier ROBOTILL versions did not capture some information needed for these journals. The message identifies the affected record and, where possible, suggests a later start date. Select a later start date to exclude those records and try again. Records before that date will not be exported, and other affected records may still remain. Arrange for the excluded period or opening balances to be handled separately in your accounting system.
- Incomplete or inconsistent transaction information
Follow the specific details in the message. These errors are not necessarily caused by an older version. If the record cannot be resolved through the normal ROBOTILL workflow, provide the full message and record number when requesting assistance.