PowderCoatingLogix/docs/ACCOUNTING_AUDIT.md

# Accounting System Audit

> Living record of the accounting/GL audit and its remediation status.
> **Keep this file updated** whenever an accounting finding is opened or closed — the
> original audit was lost once because it was never written down. Don't let that happen again.

Last reconciled against code: **2026-06-19** (branch `dev`, commits through `9532812`).
Verification at that point: `dotnet build` clean (0 errors); `dotnet test tests/PowderCoating.UnitTests` → **290 passed, 0 failed**.

---

## How the GL is modeled (context for the findings)

Balances are computed two different ways, and they must agree:

1. **At posting time** — controllers call `AccountBalanceService.DebitAsync/CreditAsync`, which
   mutate the denormalized `Account.CurrentBalance`.
2. **At report time** — `FinancialReportService` (Trial Balance, Balance Sheet, P&L, AR/AP aging,
   statements) and `LedgerService` (per-account ledger + `RecalculateBalances`) recompute balances
   from source documents.

`LedgerService` also backs the **Balance Reconciliation report** (the detective control added in
`c2cd19e`), which compares stored `CurrentBalance` vs the ledger-recomputed balance. Any account
whose recompute path is incomplete will (a) be silently corrupted by a "Recalculate Balances" run
and (b) produce misleading output in the reconciliation report.

---

## Resolved findings (this audit batch)

| # | Finding | Fix | Commit | Verified |
|---|---------|-----|--------|----------|
| **#4** | `Sales Tax Payable` (2200) was credited on every invoice but never relieved — the liability grew forever (no remittance flow). | `JournalEntries/SalesTaxPayment` GET+POST: DR 2200 / CR bank, balanced, in a transaction, honors the period lock and validates amount + bank-account tenancy. | `0c921ba` | Posting reviewed `JournalEntriesController:235-296`. Reporting needs no change (posted JE lines already flow through TB/BS/ledger). |
| **#7** | Most report queries relied on the global tenant filter, which is **bypassed for SuperAdmin** → cross-company leakage on P&L / Balance Sheet / Trial Balance / aging / statements. | Explicit `CompanyId == companyId` predicate added to every query in `FinancialReportService`. | `9532812` | Confirmed: every query in `FinancialReportService.cs` carries an explicit `CompanyId` predicate. |
| **#9a** | A cash refund posted **DR AR** (control up) while the customer subledger went down — opposite directions → guaranteed AR drift. | Refund now **reverses the sale**: DR Sales Returns (4960) + DR Sales Tax Payable (tax portion) / CR bank; AR untouched. Split centralized in `Core/Accounting/RefundAllocation.Split`. | `2a82a1d` | Posting (`InvoicesController.IssueRefund`/`CancelRefund`) and both recompute paths (`LedgerService` §5b, `FinancialReportService` TB/BS/P&L) all use `RefundAllocation.Split` — they agree by construction. |
| **#9b** | Store-credit refunds & credit memos posted nothing to the GL on issue (only a `CreditMemo` + `Customer.CreditBalance`) → outstanding store credit invisible on the balance sheet. | New **2350 Customer Credits** liability. Issue: DR 4950 / CR 2350. Apply: DR 2350 / CR AR. Void remainder: DR 2350 / CR 4950. Updated in all 8 posting sites + TB/BS/P&L + ledger §12b. | `9ce3612` | Posting sites confirmed (`CreditMemosController` 180-185/262-270/314-320; `InvoicesController` store-credit path). Reporting `cmContraRevenue`/`cmIssuedNonVoided` math reviewed. |
| — | No detective control to catch denormalized-balance drift. | **Balance Reconciliation report** (`Reports/Reconciliation`): per-account stored vs recomputed, plus AR/AP control-vs-subledger. | `c2cd19e` | Reviewed `FinancialReportService.GetBalanceReconciliationAsync`. NOTE: its usefulness is limited by O2 below. |

### Original numbering gap
The commits reference findings **#4, #7, #9a, #9b** — implying a list of at least #1–#9. The original
audit document was never persisted and is unrecoverable. Findings **#1, #2, #3, #5, #6, #8** cannot be
matched to commits and their status is **unknown**. If the original list resurfaces, reconcile it here.

---

## Resolved findings (2026-06-19 remediation)

### O1 — Account 2300 mislabeled "Payroll Liabilities" while used as Customer Deposits — **RESOLVED**
- **Root cause refined:** there is no payroll feature posting to 2300; the deposit GL code has always used
  2300 (resolved by number) as the Customer Deposits liability. Migration `AccountingDepositsGL` already
  renamed it to "Customer Deposits" for tenants that lacked a 2300, but its `NOT EXISTS` guard **skipped**
  pre-existing tenants, leaving them mislabeled. The two seed files still created new tenants with the
  wrong name.
- **Fix (chosen approach: rename 2300, move payroll to a new 2400):**
  - Seed files now create **2300 = "Customer Deposits" (IsSystem)** and a separate **2400 = "Payroll
    Liabilities"** — `SeedDataService.Accounts.cs`, `SeedData.cs`.
  - `EnsureSystemAccountsAsync` self-heals: renames any 2300 still named "Payroll Liabilities" → "Customer
    Deposits" (preserving user renames) and ensures 2400 exists.
  - Migration `20260619233108_RenameDepositsAccountAddPayroll` does the same for existing tenants (rename
    only where Name is still the default; insert 2400 where missing). Down is best-effort (soft-deletes
    only empty 2400s; does not re-introduce the mislabel).
- Account **number 2300 is unchanged**, so the deposit posting code (`DepositsController`,
  `InvoicesController`) needed no changes — its lookups are by `"2300"`.

### O2 — `LedgerService` never recomputed 4950 Sales Discounts → recalc corrupted it — **RESOLVED**
- **Fix:** added a 4950 section to both `LedgerService.GetAccountLedgerAsync` and `ComputePriorBalanceAsync`
  that reproduces the *actual postings* so a balance recalc matches the stored balance:
  invoice discounts (DR at invoice date) + credit-memo issuance (DR full amount at issue) − the unapplied
  remainder of voided memos (CR at void). This mirrors what `AccountBalanceService` posts at
  `InvoicesController:849/1108/1629` and `CreditMemosController`, so the Balance Reconciliation report no
  longer shows false drift on 4950.
- **Note / micro-discrepancy:** the ledger uses `memo.AmountApplied` for the voided remainder (matching the
  true posting), whereas `FinancialReportService` TB/BS derive the voided portion from applications against
  non-voided invoices. These differ only in the rare case of a voided memo applied to a since-voided
  invoice. Left as-is (report-side nuance, not O2's target); documented here so it isn't mistaken for a bug.
- Regression test: `LedgerServiceTests.GetAccountLedgerAsync_SalesDiscounts4950_IncludesInvoiceDiscountsAndCreditMemoContraRevenue`.

Verification of O1+O2: `dotnet build` clean; `dotnet test tests/PowderCoating.UnitTests` → **291 passed**;
migration applied to the dev database successfully.

---

### O3 — Write-path account lookups omitted explicit `CompanyId` — **RESOLVED**
- Added `CompanyId` to every **GL posting-path** account lookup that determines where money posts:
  - `InvoicesController` — all account-resolver helpers (`GetCheckingAccountIdAsync`,
    `GetCustomerDepositsAccountIdAsync`, `GetSalesReturnsAccountIdAsync`, `GetCustomerCreditsAccountIdAsync`,
    `GetArAccountIdAsync`, `GetBadDebtAccountIdAsync`, `ResolveSalesTaxAccountIdAsync`,
    `GetSalesDiscountAccountIdAsync`, `GetGcLiabilityAccountIdAsync`) plus the bank-account and write-off
    expense dropdowns (scoped via `_tenantContext`).
  - `CreditMemosController` — Create/Apply/Void GL lookups (scoped via the in-scope `customer`/`invoice`/`memo`).
  - `GiftCertificatesController` — Create, BulkCreate, Void GL lookups + `GetGcLiabilityAccountIdAsync`.
  - `BillsController` — AP/expense account resolution that pre-fills `APAccountId` (Create + CreateFromPO).
- `DepositsController` and `JournalEntriesController.SalesTaxPayment` already scoped correctly.

### O4 — Sales-tax remittance could over-remit (drive 2200 negative) — **RESOLVED**
- `JournalEntriesController.SalesTaxPayment` (POST) now rejects any amount exceeding `taxAcct.CurrentBalance`
  (0.005 rounding tolerance), so a typo can no longer push Sales Tax Payable into an abnormal debit balance.

Verification of O3+O4: `dotnet build` clean; `dotnet test tests/PowderCoating.UnitTests` → **291 passed**.

### O5 — Gift Certificate Liability 2500 missing for new tenants / mislabeled on default company — **RESOLVED**
- **Root cause (same shape as O1):** 2500 is resolved by number as the GC liability
  (`GiftCertificatesController`). The `AccountingGapsPhase2` migration seeded it for tenants existing at
  deploy, but (a) the per-tenant seeder `SeedDataService.Accounts.cs` never created a 2500, so tenants
  onboarded afterward had **no GC liability account** and GC GL postings silently no-op'd; and (b) the
  default-company seeder `SeedData.cs` created 2500 as **"Long-Term Loan"**, so that company's GC
  obligations were mislabeled (and the migration's `NOT EXISTS` guard skipped it).
- **Fix:**
  - `SeedDataService.Accounts.cs` now seeds **2500 "Gift Certificate Liability" (IsSystem)**.
  - `SeedData.cs` now seeds 2500 as GC liability and moves the long-term loan to **2900**.
  - `EnsureSystemAccountsAsync` self-heals: renames any 2500 still named "Long-Term Loan" → "Gift
    Certificate Liability" (preserving user renames) and ensures a 2500 exists.
  - Migration `20260620002950_FixGiftCertificateLiabilityAccount`: moves long-term loan to 2900 where a
    2500="Long-Term Loan" exists and no 2900 is present; relabels the mislabeled 2500; safety-net inserts a
    2500 for any company lacking one. Non-destructive (no Id/number/balance changes); Down is best-effort.
- Verified on the dev DB: existing 2500 GC-liability rows preserved; no spurious accounts added; build
  clean; migration applied; **291 unit tests pass**.

---

## Read-path account lookup sweep (Tier 1–3) — **RESOLVED**
Completed the app-wide defense-in-depth pass: every `Accounts` lookup in a controller now carries an
explicit `CompanyId` predicate, matching the standing rule in CLAUDE.md. ~19 lookups across 12 controllers:
- **Tier 1 (write-path validation):** `AccountsController` duplicate account-number check on Create/Edit.
- **Tier 2 (dropdowns/lists):** `AccountsController` (Index/year-end/parent dropdown), `BankReconciliations`,
  `Bills` (bank list + receipt-scan + suggest), `Budgets`, `CatalogItems`, `Expenses`, `FixedAssets`,
  `Inventory`, `JournalEntries` (chart dropdown), `Vendors`.
- **Tier 3 (`accountIds.Contains` display maps):** `JournalEntries` Details, `Reports` budget vs actual,
  `VendorCredits` Details — scoped via the in-scope entity's `CompanyId` for uniformity.
`companyId` source per controller: `_tenantContext.GetCurrentCompanyId()` where available, else the
in-scope entity's `CompanyId`, else `_userManager` current user. Build clean; 291 unit tests pass.

---

## Whole-system re-audit (2026-06-19) — NEW findings, OPEN

Root cause shared by all three: the GL is kept two ways — **direct postings** via
`AccountBalanceService.Debit/CreditAsync` (authoritative `Account.CurrentBalance`) and **recomputes**
via `LedgerService` (drives `RecalculateAllAsync`) and `FinancialReportService` (drives the reports).
Every posting type must be mirrored in *both* recompute engines or balances diverge. Several postings
are **not** mirrored, so: (a) "Recalculate Balances" corrupts those accounts, (b) the Balance
Reconciliation report shows false drift, and in one case (O7) the **Trial Balance does not balance**.
O2 (Sales Discounts 4950) was the first instance found and fixed; these are the rest.

### O6 — Inventory consumption COGS not in the recompute — **RESOLVED (recompute approach)**
- `JobsController` and `InventoryController` post **DR COGS / CR Inventory** when an item with both
  `CogsAccountId` and `InventoryAccountId` is consumed. The COGS posting fires only for `JobUsage` and
  `Waste` transaction types, and those types are created **only** at the two COGS-posting sites — so the
  consumption is exactly identifiable from `InventoryTransaction`. (This is why the recompute approach was
  used instead of the originally-planned JE+backfill: it reads existing transactions, so historical data is
  covered automatically with no fuzzy backfill.)
- **Fix applied:**
  - Both posting sites now record the consumption at the effective (weighted-average) unit cost, so the
    transaction's `TotalCost` equals the COGS actually posted (the recompute reads `TotalCost`).
  - `LedgerService` (dated rows + prior balance): new section 12d — for a COGS or Inventory account, sum
    `TotalCost` of JobUsage/Waste transactions on items with both accounts (DR COGS / CR Inventory).
  - `FinancialReportService` **Trial Balance** (`cogsConsumptionByAcct` DR / `invConsumptionByAcct` CR) and
    **P&L** (accrual COGS) include consumption. Cash-basis P&L excludes it (cash recognises cost at purchase).
  - Regression test `GetAccountLedgerAsync_InventoryConsumption_DebitsCogsAndCreditsInventory`.
- **Deliberately NOT changed — see O9:** the **Balance Sheet** inventory-asset line is left as-is because it
  already does not track inventory *purchases* (it expenses them through retained earnings), so relieving it
  for consumption alone would drive inventory negative or unbalance the sheet. That's a separate inventory
  *capitalization* policy decision (O9). TB and recalc are now correct and balanced; build clean; 293 tests pass.

### O7 — Gift-certificate redemptions credit AR but AR recompute omitted it — **RESOLVED**
- `InvoicesController.ApplyGiftCertificate:3137` posts **DR 2500 GC Liability / CR AR** (no Payment row,
  no `AmountPaid` change — only `invoice.GiftCertificateRedeemed`). The **2500 debit IS** recomputed
  (GC redemptions), but the **AR credit is NOT**: AR recompute = `sum(Total) − Payments − CreditMemoApplications`
  in both `FinancialReportService` (BS line 358 / TB line 1129) and `LedgerService` (AR section).
- **Impact:** because only one side of the entry is recomputed, the **Trial Balance is out of balance by the
  total GC redeemed**; Balance Sheet AR is overstated; recalc corrupts AR. (AR **Aging** is correct — it uses
  `BalanceDue`, which includes `GiftCertificateRedeemed`.) Active for any company that redeems GCs on invoices.
- **Fix applied:** GC redemptions now subtracted from AR in both recompute engines — `FinancialReportService`
  Balance Sheet (`gcRedeemedBs`) and Trial Balance (`gcRedeemedTb`), and `LedgerService` AR section + prior
  balance. Mirrors the `cmApplied` treatment. Regression test
  `GetAccountLedgerAsync_AR_GiftCertificateRedemption_CreditsAccountsReceivable`. Build clean; 292 tests pass.

### O8 — Written-off invoices misstated in AR recompute — **RESOLVED**
- `InvoicesController.WriteOff` already posts **DR Bad Debt / CR AR** *and creates a balanced posted
  JournalEntry* — so both recompute engines already pick the entry up via their JE-line sections. The real
  defect was narrower: `FinancialReportService` **excluded payments on written-off invoices** from AR credits
  and bank debits (4× `Status != InvoiceStatus.WrittenOff` filters). Because the write-off JE only credits the
  *unpaid balance*, excluding the earlier payments left the **paid** portion dangling as open AR (and
  understated the bank). `LedgerService` had no such filter, so the two engines disagreed.
- **Fix applied:** removed all four `WrittenOff` exclusion filters in `FinancialReportService` (Balance Sheet
  + Trial Balance, both the bank-deposit and AR-credit queries). Now: invoice `Total` (debit) − payments
  (credit) − write-off JE (credit) nets AR to zero, the payment counts in the bank, and bad debt is the JE
  debit — trial balance balances, and the two engines agree. No backfill needed (the write-off JE already
  exists for historical write-offs). AR Aging was already correct.

**Architectural note:** O2/O6/O7/O8 all stem from reports re-deriving balances from source documents in
parallel with the live postings. The durable fix is to make **every** financial event post `JournalEntry`
lines and drive all reports/recompute from those lines alone (single source of truth) — O8's write-off already
does exactly this, which is why it was the cleanest. Worth considering before the ledger grows further.

### O9 — Inventory accounting policy — **RESOLVED (policy decision: expense at purchase / periodic)**
- **Decision (owner, 2026-06-19):** materials (powder, consumables) are **expensed at purchase**, not
  capitalized as inventory-for-resale — this is a service business that *uses* materials to deliver a
  service, it does not sell inventory. So the **periodic** model is correct.
- **Implication — no code change needed:**
  - The Balance Sheet correctly does **not** capitalize inventory (cost hits the P&L at purchase via the
    bill line categorized to a COGS/expense account). The earlier decision to leave the BS untouched stands.
  - Purchase receiving creates a `Purchase`-type `InventoryTransaction` that posts **no** GL — correct.
  - The **perpetual** consumption-COGS path (O6: `DR COGS / CR Inventory` on JobUsage/Waste) is **opt-in**:
    it only fires when an item has *both* `CogsAccountId` and `InventoryAccountId`, which are set **only via
    CSV import** (never by normal item creation). Under this policy those mappings should be left empty, so
    the path stays dormant. O6's recompute fix remains correct and harmless when unused.
- **⚠ Footgun to avoid:** do **not** both expense powder at purchase (bill → COGS account) *and* map an
  item's `CogsAccountId` + `InventoryAccountId` — that would record the cost twice (once at purchase, once at
  consumption). Keep item COGS/Inventory account mappings empty under the expense-at-purchase policy.

#### O9 update (2026-06-20) — default GL accounts feature widened this surface
- The original O9 note assumed item `CogsAccountId`/`InventoryAccountId` are "set only via CSV import, never
  by normal item creation." **That assumption no longer holds.** A new **Default Accounts** feature
  (Chart of Accounts → "Set Defaults", stored on `CompanyPreferences.Default{Revenue,Cogs,Inventory}AccountId`)
  pre-fills these fields on **normal** Inventory/Catalog item creation. A company that sets *both* a default
  COGS and a default Inventory account will have new items post `DR COGS / CR Inventory` on consumption —
  i.e. it opts the shop into the perpetual path.
- **Why it's still safe:** the defaults are **null by default**, so nothing changes until a company
  deliberately sets them. The footgun (double-counting under expense-at-purchase) is surfaced with an inline
  warning on the Default Accounts card and in the Settings help article. Posting and balance-recompute both
  read the item's *stored* accounts, so there is **no recompute drift** — verified during the 2026-06-20 audit.
- **Revenue default fallback:** invoice lines now fall back to `DefaultRevenueAccountId` (active only), then
  to account 4000 (`InvoicesController.Create`). Resolved at invoice-create time and stored on the
  `InvoiceItem`, so recompute stays consistent.

### 2026-06-20 audit — dropdown sub-type→type broadening + deposit account picker
Reviewed after broadening account dropdowns from sub-type to parent `AccountType` and adding a user-selectable
deposit account. **No ledger-drift bugs found.** Notes:
- **Deposit account picker ↔ recompute:** consistent. Live posting debits the chosen `DepositAccountId`, and
  `LedgerService` reproduces the debit by `DepositAccountId == accountId` (lines ~78/724). Picking a non-default
  deposit account recomputes correctly.
- **Bank / "pay-from" / bank-rec pickers** now list all Asset + Liability accounts with **no server-side type
  guard** — a user could pick a nonsensical source (e.g. A/R). Postings stay sign-correct
  (`AccountBalanceService` keys sign off `AccountSubType`), and this is the intended "trust the operator"
  tradeoff, but there is no longer a guardrail. Accepted; noted here for visibility.
- **Latent deposit imbalance — RESOLVED (2026-06-20):** a deposit saved with a null `DepositAccountId` posted
  `CR 2300` with no offsetting debit → unbalanced. `DepositsController.Record` now blocks recording when the
  `2300` Customer Deposits account exists but no deposit/bank account resolves (user must pick one). When `2300`
  doesn't exist (company not using accounting), no GL posts at all, so the deposit is still allowed through.
- **Pre-existing type/sub-type mismatch risk:** account create does not enforce a valid type↔sub-type pairing,
  and sign convention keys off sub-type — a mis-paired account would post with the wrong sign. Backlog item.

## Status
**All findings O1–O9 + the read-path sweep are resolved** on `dev` (O9 by policy decision — expense at
purchase — needing no code change). The optional structural follow-up is the JournalEntry single-source
refactor (`docs/ACCOUNTING_LEDGER_REFACTOR.md`), which would prevent the O2/O6/O7/O8 bug class from recurring.
Original audit numbering #1–3/#5/#6/#8 remains unrecoverable (see top). Nothing merged to `master` yet.