# Data Overview

Zoho Books exposes a wide range of financial entities through Coupler.io — from transactional records like invoices and bills to reference data like contacts, items, and tax settings. Here's a breakdown of what's available and how to use it.

## Entities overview

| Entity            | What it contains                                                    |
| ----------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Invoices          | Sales invoices with amounts, due dates, statuses, and line items    |
| Bills             | Vendor bills with amounts owed, due dates, and payment status       |
| Expenses          | Business expenses categorized by type, project, or customer         |
| Customer payments | Payments received against invoices, including payment mode and date |
| Purchase orders   | POs sent to vendors with line items and fulfillment status          |
| Sales orders      | Customer orders with fulfillment and invoice linkage                |
| Estimates         | Quotes sent to customers with expiry dates and acceptance status    |
| Credit notes      | Credits issued to customers, linked to original invoices            |
| Contacts          | Customer and vendor details including payment terms and balances    |
| Items             | Product and service catalog with pricing and tax applicability      |
| Taxes             | Tax rates, tax groups, and configuration                            |
| Journals          | Manual journal entries with debit/credit account details            |
| Transactions      | All financial transactions across accounts                          |
| Bankings          | Bank and credit card account balances and details                   |
| Organizations     | Organization profile and settings                                   |
| Users             | User accounts and access levels                                     |

## Available fields by entity

#### Invoices

| Field           | Description                         |
| --------------- | ----------------------------------- |
| invoice\_id     | Unique invoice identifier           |
| invoice\_number | Human-readable invoice number       |
| customer\_name  | Name of the billed customer         |
| status          | Draft, Sent, Overdue, Paid, or Void |
| date            | Invoice date                        |
| due\_date       | Payment due date                    |
| total           | Total invoice amount                |
| balance         | Outstanding balance                 |
| currency\_code  | Invoice currency                    |

#### Bills

| Field        | Description                |
| ------------ | -------------------------- |
| bill\_id     | Unique bill identifier     |
| bill\_number | Vendor bill number         |
| vendor\_name | Vendor who issued the bill |
| status       | Open, Overdue, or Paid     |
| date         | Bill date                  |
| due\_date    | Payment due date           |
| total        | Total bill amount          |
| balance      | Amount still owed          |

#### Expenses

| Field                        | Description                                 |
| ---------------------------- | ------------------------------------------- |
| expense\_id                  | Unique expense identifier                   |
| date                         | Expense date                                |
| account\_name                | Expense category/account                    |
| paid\_through\_account\_name | Account used to pay                         |
| vendor\_name                 | Vendor or payee                             |
| total                        | Expense amount                              |
| customer\_name               | Customer the expense is billed to (if any)  |
| project\_name                | Project linked to the expense               |
| is\_billable                 | Whether the expense is billable to a client |

#### Customer payments

| Field            | Description                         |
| ---------------- | ----------------------------------- |
| payment\_id      | Unique payment identifier           |
| date             | Date payment was received           |
| customer\_name   | Paying customer                     |
| amount           | Amount received                     |
| payment\_mode    | Cash, check, bank transfer, etc.    |
| invoice\_numbers | Invoices the payment was applied to |

#### Contacts

| Field                           | Description               |
| ------------------------------- | ------------------------- |
| contact\_id                     | Unique contact identifier |
| contact\_name                   | Customer or vendor name   |
| contact\_type                   | Customer, vendor, or both |
| email                           | Primary email address     |
| outstanding\_receivable\_amount | Total AR outstanding      |
| outstanding\_payable\_amount    | Total AP outstanding      |
| payment\_terms                  | Net 30, Net 60, etc.      |

#### Transactions

| Field             | Description                                  |
| ----------------- | -------------------------------------------- |
| transaction\_id   | Unique transaction identifier                |
| date              | Transaction date                             |
| transaction\_type | Type (invoice, bill, payment, etc.)          |
| amount            | Transaction amount                           |
| account\_name     | Account affected                             |
| debit\_or\_credit | Whether the transaction is a debit or credit |

## Common field combinations

* **AR aging:** Invoices → `due_date`, `balance`, `customer_name`, `status`
* **AP aging:** Bills → `due_date`, `balance`, `vendor_name`, `status`
* **Cash flow view:** Customer payments + Expenses → `date`, `amount`, `account_name`
* **Expense by project:** Expenses → `project_name`, `total`, `is_billable`, `customer_name`
* **Sales pipeline:** Estimates → `status`, `total`, `expiry_date`, `customer_name`

## Use cases by role

{% tabs %}
{% tab title="Finance teams" %}

* Track accounts receivable and payable aging using Invoices and Bills entities
* Reconcile bank transactions by joining Bankings with Transactions
* Monitor cash position by combining Customer payments and Expenses over time
* Export Journals for audit trails or month-end close reporting
  {% endtab %}

{% tab title="Operations" %}

* Track purchase order fulfillment status alongside vendor bills
* Monitor inventory by combining Items with Sales orders and Purchase orders
* Identify unbilled expenses using the `is_billable` flag in Expenses
  {% endtab %}

{% tab title="Leadership" %}

* Build P\&L dashboards in Looker Studio or Google Sheets using Invoices, Bills, and Expenses
* Use AI destinations like ChatGPT or Gemini to summarize financial performance across periods
* Append data from multiple Zoho Books organizations to get a consolidated view
  {% endtab %}
  {% endtabs %}

## Platform-specific notes

* Zoho Books uses **Organization IDs** to scope data — each connection in Coupler.io is tied to one organization. To combine multiple organizations, create separate sources and use the Append transformation.
* The **start date** parameter filters records by their creation or transaction date. Set it conservatively on the first run to avoid pulling years of historical data all at once.
* Some entities (like Taxes and Organizations) are relatively static and don't need frequent syncs — syncing them weekly or on-demand is usually sufficient.
* Currency fields reflect the currency set on each transaction, not necessarily your organization's base currency. Account for this when aggregating totals across currencies.