How it works
Under the accrual basis, a sale is recorded when the goods ship or the service is delivered, not when the customer pays, and a cost is recorded when the business receives the benefit, not when it pays the bill. Timing differences sit on the balance sheet as receivables, payables, deferred revenue and accrued expenses. Most companies above a small size, and anyone reporting under GAAP or IFRS, use it.
Example
A software company bills $12,000 upfront for an annual plan in January. Under accrual accounting it records $1,000 of revenue each month and holds the rest as deferred revenue until earned.
In integrations
Accrual books mean an integration has to read more than cash movements: open invoices, unpaid bills, deferred balances and the journal entries that adjust them. The Unify Accounting API is designed to expose those objects, plus balance sheet and profit and loss reports by period where the platform provides them. Products built on cash data alone often show figures that do not match what the finance team sees in their reports. Reading the accrual detail keeps your numbers consistent with the customer's own books.