Books, GST/TDS, period locks & reports

Behind every invoice, bill, receipt and payment sits a chart of accounts — and every posting lands there. This layer is where you manage that chart, your tax codes, your period locks, the reports you hand to your CA, the returns you file, and the audit log of everything that happened.

• Role: the accounting role — your accountant (CA or bookkeeper), hr_manager or company_admin. Reading reports, locking a period and viewing the audit log are all here.
• Unlocking a period is stricter — it needs the override_lock capability and a step-up 2FA code. Without that capability, the unlock action is read-only.
• Plan: the Accounting module must be enabled on your plan — otherwise the section is hidden. See pricing.

WorkRight seeds a standard set of system accounts at sign-up, so you can start booking immediately. Under Accounting → Accounts you can add your own custom sub-accountsunder a parent (the new account inherits the parent's type), and edit or archive the ones you created — system accounts stay read-only. The Settings → Chart of accounts page explains this and links straight into the module.

Under Settings → Tax codes, manage your GST and TDScodes — each with a rate and the inter-state / intra-state treatment. There's a restore defaults option for the standard codes. Archiving a code hides it from new documents but leaves existing postings intact (per Companies Act 2013 §128(5)). Editing tax codes is HR-admin only; accountants see it read-only.

When a month or year is finalised, lock it under Accounting → Period locks: set the period-end date, add optional notes, and lock the period. A lock is write-once— once a period is closed it can't be edited, which is what keeps your books a true-and-fair record under Companies Act 2013 §128(1) with the non-disableable audit trail under Rule 3(1).

If you genuinely have to reopen a period, an admin with the override_lock capability can unlock it — but only with a reason (recorded for audit) and a step-up 2FA code. The existing locks table shows who locked each period and when.

Open Accounting → Reports for the statements your CA needs, each with a date picker and a CSV export:

• Trial balance— every account's debit and credit as of a date; the totals must match.
• Profit & loss — income less expenses over a date range, laid out per Schedule III.
• Balance sheet — equity, liabilities and assets as of a date, per Schedule III.
• MSME overdue — supplier bills past the MSME window, with an interest estimator your CA finalises at year-end.

The reports hub also shows a live snapshot — cash on hand, receivables, payables and recent profit.

Under Accounting → Returns, pick a financial year and period and generate the working files for GSTR-1 and GSTR-3B (monthly), TDS Form 24Q (quarterly) and Form 16 (annual). Each tile generates the documents and offers a CSV download you take to the portal.

Accounting → Auditis the append-only trail of postings, voids, locks and unlocks — filterable by action, entity and date, with each row expandable to its before/after snapshot. It can't be disabled, and entries are retained per Companies Act 2013 §128(5). You can also bring in prior balances via the opening-balance wizard (upload, preview, commit — step-up 2FA gated).

• Set up your custom accounts and tax codes before you start booking, so postings land in the right place from day one.
• Lock a period only when it's truly final — reopening needs the override_lock capability and a 2FA step-up.
• Run the trial balancebefore you close — if the totals don't match, fix it before locking.
• Treat the MSME interest figure as an estimate; your CA adjusts the exact amount at year-end.

• Invoices, quotes & customer receipts — the selling side that posts into these books.
• Bills, vendor payments & purchases — the buying side and the MSME clock.
• Run your first payroll — where TDS on salaries and Form 16 / 24Q come from.
• Accounting software for India — what the module covers.