Creating a contract
In Accruals → Prepaid Expenses, either:
Click Add Installment Contract to set one up before any payment arrives, or
Click the plus action on a transaction in New, then convert it to an installment contract during setup. That transaction becomes the contract's first linked payment.
Option 1:
Option 2:
Enter the total contract value, term in months, and recognition start date. You'll also designate an accrued expense account, used if amortization ever runs ahead of payments (see below). Contracts can sit in Scheduled with no payments linked yet.
Linking later payments
When the next installment comes through QuickBooks Online, link it to the existing contract instead of creating a second schedule.
In New, click the search/link action on the transaction. (Prepaid Expenses only.)
Pick the contract from the list — each shows start date, total value, duration, description, and vendor.
Double assigns the payment to a period based on its transaction date; you don't pick the period. The transaction then leaves New and appears inside the contract.
One transaction links to one contract; one period can hold several transactions.
You can't link to a period that already has a posted journal entry. Use Undo on that entry first, then link and repost.
Locked closes can't be posted to or edited retroactively.
Month-end
Periods that are due but unposted appear in Pending, one row per contract period. Prior skipped periods show up here too, as long as their close is still open.
From a Pending row you can open the contract to review before posting or post the journal entry directly. Posting works with or without a linked payment — if no cash moved that month, amortization is still recorded. Once posted, the row leaves Pending and the period appears inside the contract in Scheduled. Future periods have no actions yet.
Unlinking and deleting
Unlink at the transaction level inside a period, not on the period row, and only before a journal entry is posted. Unlinked transactions return to New.
Deleting a contract unlinks its transactions and deletes its posted journal entries. If any period falls in a closed month, Double warns you and skips those periods.
When amortization outpaces payments
At month-end, if the prepaid balance would drop below zero, Double credits Prepaid down to $0 and routes the remainder to the accrued expense account you designated at setup. When the next installment arrives, it clears the accrued balance first, and any surplus goes back to Prepaid.
Example
A $12,000 12-month policy with recognition starting January, paid in three uneven installments: $3,000 in February, $4,000 in July, and $5,000 in October. Set total contract value to $12,000, term to 12 months, start date January — monthly amortization is $1,000, running January through December.
Month | Payment | Amortized | Prepaid exp. balance | Accrued exp. balance |
January | — | $1,000 | $0 | $1,000 |
February | $3,000 | $1,000 | $1,000 | $0 |
March | — | $1,000 | $0 | $0 |
April | — | $1,000 | $0 | $1,000 |
May | — | $1,000 | $0 | $2,000 |
June | — | $1,000 | $0 | $3,000 |
July | $4,000 | $1,000 | $0 | $0 |
August | — | $1,000 | $0 | $1,000 |
September | — | $1,000 | $0 | $2,000 |
October | $5,000 | $1,000 | $2,000 | $0 |
November | — | $1,000 | $1,000 | $0 |
December | — | $1,000 | $0 | $0 |