"Books: accounting basis, sales tax, and reporting facts"

What this page controls

Books is the controller's page: the facts that decide whether your margin can be compared to another operator's at all. It moved out of Company Profile on 2026-09-18 because a different person usually answers it, the one who actually keeps the books rather than the owner. Two things matter most: whether you pay sales tax on job materials, and whether your books run cash or accrual. Verinode does not compute your tax and none of this is advice; it records what you say so your figures are normalized against peers answering the same way.

Where to find it

Books is admin-only. Open Settings from the sidebar, then in the Your business group click Books, or go directly to /settings/books.

The questions on the page

Reporting facts

• Reporting currency. What your firm's consolidated figures are stated in. A book kept in a different currency is set on its own row under Structure and translated at the period's rate, never simply summed in.
• Financial year ends. The month you close your books. Every quarter in the board report is cut on this date; leave it blank and reports assume the calendar year.

Accounting basis

Cash books resolve a job's profit when the money moves; accrual books resolve it while the work is running. The two answer the margin question at a different moment, so Verinode only ever compares you within your own basis, never across it. Leave this Unknown and your margin comparisons cannot account for the difference.

Sales tax, by state

Sales tax is levied by state, so one answer covers every location you have there. Pick Which state you are answering for (the list fills in automatically once you've added branches under Structure), then answer:

• Do you pay sales tax on job materials? The question that matters most, Yes, No, or Not sure. Holding a certificate and actually using it on every purchase are different things, which is why the next two questions are asked separately.
• Does the carrier estimate allocate sales tax on revenue? When it does and you also pay tax at the register, you're taxed on both sides, and only the revenue side comes back to you.
• Can you issue a resale certificate? A contractor is often not exempt as an entity but can still buy materials for resale on qualifying work.
• Do you hold a sales-tax exemption?
• Materials tax rate. Your effective rate as a percentage, meaning what your invoices actually show. Used to size what the tax actually costs you against your own materials share. If Verinode has a suggested rate for your state, it appears here labeled as a proposal, not a default; typing your own rate replaces it and the suggestion is gone.

Answer for a different state at any time by picking it again from the state dropdown; each state keeps its own set of answers.

Saving

Unlike most of Settings, this page does not autosave. Pressing Save is the confirmation, including of any suggested materials tax rate showing on the page at the time. A success message confirms your margin comparisons now account for what you entered.

What this is not

Books does not compute or file your sales tax, and nothing on this page is tax advice. It also isn't where you set up branches or ownership (see Structure) or your company's identity and size (see Company). Cost inputs like labor burden and overhead live under Margin's cost profile, not here.

Data sources