What are deferred costs?
Deferred costs (also called prepaid expenses) are costs that span multiple accounting periods for example, an annual software subscription paid upfront. Instead of booking the full amount in one period, Moss spreads the cost across the defined period and exports each release as a separate journal entry in MS BC.
Prerequisites
Before you can export deferred costs to Business Central, make sure:
A dedicated General Journal exists in Business Central for prepaid expense entries (e.g. "PREPAID" or "DEFERRED").
A dedicated G/L account exists in Business Central to serve as the prepaid expenses/deferred cost holding account (e.g. account 1300 "Prepaid Expenses").
Your G/L accounts and journals are synced to Moss (run an account sync if needed).
Step 1: Configure the Prepaid Expenses Account and Journal
You need to map the specific accounts and journals in Business Central where Moss will hold and post your deferred costs.
Go to Settings > Accounting > Accounting Integration.
Find the Prepaid Expenses Account field. Select the G/L account from the dropdown (e.g. "1300 – Prepaid Expenses"). This is the asset account on your balance sheet that acts as the balancing account until costs are released.
Find the Prepaid Expenses Journal field. Select the journal from the dropdown (e.g. "PREPAID"). This is the General Journal where Moss will post the deferred cost entries.
Save your settings.
Note: If either of these fields is left empty, expenses marked as deferred will fail pre-export validation.
Step 2: Mark an Invoice as a Deferred Cost in Moss
Open the invoice or a card transaction in Moss.
Click the "Prepaid expense" link on the invoice view.
Set the start date and end date.
Moss will automatically calculate the release schedule and amounts.
Step 3: Export Deferred Cost Releases to Business Central
Deferred cost releases are exported the same way as regular invoices and transactions.
Go to "Accounting" > "Export".
Select the "Prepaid expenses" tab.
Select the releases that are due for export and click "Export".
What gets created in Business Central
When you export a deferred cost release, Moss creates a journal line in your configured General Journal in Business Central. Each line in the expense (if split across multiple categories) results in a separate journal line.
Here is how Moss maps the data:
Business Central field | Value |
Account Type | G/L Account |
Account No. | The expense account |
Bal. Account Type | G/L Account |
Bal. Account No. | The configured Prepaid Expenses Account (from Moss settings) |
Posting Date | The invoice/expense date |
External Document No. | The invoice number |
Amount | The release line amount (in the transaction currency) |
Description | The booking text from Moss |
Document Type | Payment (for positive amounts) / Refund (for negative amounts) |
Dimension Set | Cost center / cost carrier dimensions, if configured |
Troubleshooting
Before export, Moss validates that your configuration is correct. If an item is blocked from export, check the pre-export summary and use this table to resolve the error:
# | Issue | Solution |
1 | Prepaid Expenses Account missing or invalid | The account field is empty or the selected G/L account no longer exists in Business Central. Go to Settings → Accounting, re-sync accounts, and select a valid G/L account. |
2 | Prepaid Expenses Journal missing or invalid | The journal field is empty or the selected journal no longer exists. Go to Settings → Accounting, click “Import all”, and select a valid General Journal. |
3 | Expense account not found in Business Central | The expense category on the original transaction is not mapped to a valid G/L account. Check your Moss expense categories and ensure accounts have been synced. |
4 | Release not appearing in the export list | Check that the release status on the invoice is marked as "Ready for export". |
5 | General Export Failure | Ensure a supplier account is available for the expense, a VAT code is assigned, and any assigned cost centers/cost carriers are mapped in Business Central. |