# Twinfield accrual spread

Spread service periods across months in Twinfield.

This guide explains how to **spread purchase invoices in Twinfield** for costs that cover multiple periods (for example a yearly IT retainer booked in January but earned across the full year). Cortena posts the normal purchase transaction first, then creates the Twinfield **spread** when your workflow is configured to do so.

**Who this is for:** Finance teams on Twinfield who receive invoices with **service or subscription periods** and want accrual spreading without re-keying periods in Twinfield.

**Feature availability:** Accrual spread is feature-flagged. Contact [support@cortena.ai](mailto:support@cortena.ai) or your account manager to activate **Twinfield accrual spread** for your organisation before you configure the workflow option below.

## What Cortena does

1. Cortena extracts service periods from the invoice and stores structured **service accrual dates** on line items.
2. Cortena exports the invoice to Twinfield as a purchase transaction (INK), provisional or final.
3. Immediately after a successful purchase export, Cortena posts a Twinfield **spread** for eligible lines.
4. Amounts move to your **accrual GL account** and are spread across the service period.

Spread runs only on lines that qualify: structured service accrual dates, and period length meeting your tenant **minimum service period for accrual booking**.

## Minimum service period

Under **Settings → Accounting preferences**, configure **Minimum service period for accrual booking**:

| Setting | Meaning |
| --- | --- |
| **Whenever a service period is found** | Any line with valid service accrual start/end dates (default) |
| **At least 1 / 3 / 6 / 12 months** | Inclusive period length ≥ 30 / 90 / 180 / 365 days |
| **Custom minimum (days)** | Your own day count (1–3650) |

## Enable spread on the workflow export node

1. Open **Settings → Workflows → Invoice workflow**.
2. Select the **Export to accounting** node for Twinfield.
3. Enable **Spread invoice (accruals)**.
4. Set **Booking stage** to Provisional or Final as required.
5. Publish the workflow.

Enable the checkbox on **each** export node where spread should run (typically both provisional and final if you use a two-stage flow).

## Prepare invoices before export

- Confirm a **service accrual period** appears on lines you expect to spread.
- On qualifying lines, review the **Accrual GL account** suggestion (manual choice → supplier history → expense GL history → tenant-wide default).
- Every line that should spread must have an accrual GL account set.

## When spread is skipped or partial

| Situation | Result |
| --- | --- |
| Workflow option off | Purchase exports; no spread |
| Line has no service accrual dates | Line not spread |
| Service period below tenant minimum | Line not accrual-eligible |
| Service period equals invoice period only | Line skipped |
| Mixed service periods | Spread by line |

## Quick reference

| Task | Where |
| --- | --- |
| Request feature activation | [support@cortena.ai](mailto:support@cortena.ai) |
| Set minimum service period | Settings → Accounting preferences |
| Enable spread on export | Invoice workflow → Export to accounting → Twinfield |
| Twinfield setup | [Twinfield](https://help.cortena.ai/guides/integrations/twinfield) |
| Provisional → final | [Twinfield provisional and final](https://help.cortena.ai/guides/integrations/twinfield-provisional-final) |