Patriot Software patents dual-ledger feature

Patriot Software, an accounting technology and payroll services company, announced that it has successfully patented a “dual-ledger accounting” software feature.

The patent explains it as a system and method for selectively displaying accounting data in both cash and accrual basis formats. This allows a user to track cash, modified cash and accrual basis simultaneously, with the software automatically writing transactions in each method at the time of entry. The feature can be enabled per user in the software, letting them toggle between views and change accounting methods without the need for manually adjusting entries.

The patent references other attempts to do this, such as a similar invention that allows computers to automatically convert data from accrual to cash basis, but faulted this method for still requiring people to modify entries themselves.

“Previous patents have outlined how to programmatically convert from one accounting method to the other. But that takes additional processing and may make it hard to switch back. Our approach takes the processing hit upfront. After that, switching accounting methods is just a viewing preference and there’s no need for either manual or computational adjusting entries,” said senior solutions architect Asher McCune in a statement.