Set up Books
Books keeps your business's accounts in the admin, and every sale you're paid for goes into them by itself. Setting it up takes a few minutes: the books first, then a few steps that can each wait.
Books is an add-on, listed on Settings · Plan & add-ons under Run the business. It can't run beside Xero or QuickBooks: take those off first.
3 minutesOwners, with the authenticator appWorks on a phone
Check your country
Books keeps the books the way your country does: Australia, Thailand, the United Kingdom or the United States. It reads the country on Settings · Business profile, so set it there first.
Open Books, then Set up Books
On a computer, choose Books in the sidebar. On a phone, tap More, then Books. Tap Set up Books. Only an Owner can, with the code from their authenticator app.
Your books
Books start on is the day your books begin: nothing before it goes in, and your opening balances are on that day. Set when the Financial year starts, then Cash or accrual: cash counts a sale when the money moves, accrual when it's invoiced or billed.
Tax
Switch on Registered for GST, VAT registered or Collects sales tax, as your country words it, and type your tax number. In Thailand, the branch too (00000 is the head office). Registered from is only for a registration after your books start. Pick how often you do Returns; in Australia, Simpler BAS or Full reporting.
Bills, then save
Bookkeepers can approve bills: off, they add bills and someone with full access approves them. Tap Set up Books in the bar at the bottom.
Work through the steps
The screen becomes a list: Money accounts, Opening balances, Sales taxes (in the US) and Who keeps the books. Each says Done once it is. Tap one to do it now, or come back to it later.
Give your team access
On Team, an Owner picks each person's Books access: No access, Bookkeeper (banking, bills and expenses) or Full (reports, tax, journals and closing the month too).
Catch up
Started your books on a day in the past? Books Home says how many sales, invoices, bookings and stock changes since then aren't in the books yet. Tap Catch up: they go in oldest first. Running it again never doubles anything. It needs full Books access.
Good to know
- From then on, paid orders and refunds, the invoices you send, paid bookings and courses, and stock counted or received at cost go into the books by themselves, with the tax they charged. Each order, invoice and booking says In the books ✓, with its journal.
- Books opens on its Home: Needs you, Money, what's owed both ways, Tax due next and this month's profit, with Add a bill, Spend money and Reconcile at the top.
- Anything that couldn't go in shows under Not in the books yet, with why. It's tried again by itself, and Try again sends it now.
- Change any of it later with Settings on Books (with the buttons at the top on a phone), or Settings, then Books. Books start on and the Financial year stay as they are once anything but the opening balances is in.
- Where sales go, on the same screen, picks the account and tax code for each kind of sale, and where each way of being paid lands.
- A country Books doesn't keep yet says so on this screen. Ask us through Get help.
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