How To Explain Expenses
Help Article
How To Explain Expenses
Links
Steps
1. Navigate to the Expenses page under Purchases.
2. Enter the details of the expense.
3. Click Submit for Approval.
4. Select the expense and click Approve Expense.
Quickly create and apply a Credit Note against an invoice
If the balance of, or an entire invoice, needs to be credited then there is a quicker alternative to creating a credit note and then applying it against the invoice.
When viewing an invoice to be credited click on the options link in the payment history section:
This will bring up a form where you may credit the balance on the invoice at the click of a button.
On clicking Apply Credit Note the system will automatically create a credit note and apply it against the invoice in question.
Create and apply a credit note against a customer invoice
Creating a Credit Note
To create a credit note navigate to Sales > Invoices > Credit Notes and hit the “New Credit Note” button.
Simply fill out the credit note form in the same way you would complete a new invoice i.e. indicate which customer the credit note is for, the amounts and account codes.
On confirming the credit note it will be available in the system but at this point in time it has not been applied against the original invoice.
Apply a Credit Note against an Invoice
View the original invoice that needs to be credited by clicking on its invoice number in the sales invoice list reached via Sales > Invoices > Unpaid. If an unused credit note exists for the particular customer then an option to allocate a portion, or all of it, against the selected invoice will be enabled. This is found at the bottom of the screen:
In the same way that a payment is allocated against an invoice, the credit note can be alloacted against an invoice.
Credit Notes and the Bank Import Tool
When using the bank import tool as your primary means of bookkeeping you will need to follow the process above to apply a credit note against an invoice in the system. Then when you explain money in against an invoice using the bank import tool the invoice will show the balance net of the credit note.
Starting A Business From Scratch
Starting A Business From Scratch (Part 1)
This is one of a number of business startup guides that will be posted over the coming weeks thanks to Duncan Accounting. Today’s post is the first of two posts on the basics of starting a business from scratch.
Easy API Integration
Most people shudder when someone mentions API integration. For those that don’t know (and there’s nothing wrong with that – I had to Google it to make sure I got it right!) API stands for Application Prgramming Interface. To put it simply it is the thing that lets one piece of software talk to another piece of software and make things happen.
Besides OS compatibility the best available feature, in my opinion, of a SaaS (Software as a Service) solution is that it can offer an easily accessible online API. In my recent search for some accounts software this wasn’t initially my priority; as I run an online business it soon became apparent that to make things easier it would be paramount.
The good news is that Clear Books offer such an API, along with full details and simple examples using the PHP SoapClient (you can also communicate via XML if you please). And to my surprise it was very simple to use. I did have a little problem which, as usual, turned out to be at my end. But once that was resolved it was plain sailing.
In a nutshell the API can be used for:
- Adding sales and purchase invoices to the system
- Recording payments and allocating them to invoices
- Adding customers and suppliers
- Updating customer and supplier information
A small example so you can see what I mean
When you order an SSL certificate at SSLDonkey you go through a simple sign up system where you have to input the required information. The screen shot below is the second part of the SSLD order process.
Unbeknown to you as a customer several things happen when you click on that continue button (none of then bad I assure you!). One of those things is to set you up in Clear Books and register your order. This sort of thing just isn’t available without an API and most definitely not on desktop based software.
Clear Book create entity file is included in main order script:
Content of create entity file:
You can see how easy it is to update the example code given – just add your information where needed. You can see I’ve left some the of the values hard coded as I have no reason for any more flexibility.
Content of ClearBooks config file:
You can get your apiKey from the settings tab when you have logged in to your Clear Books account. It’s way down bottom right and looks like this:
And in the words of a celeb chef … “done”. That’s it. If you place an order it appears straight away in Clear Books. And when you pay for that order the corresponding transaction is also sent to Clear Books via the API.
Why is this so good? Simply it means my accounting is done for me. I don’t need to worry about inputting your details separately, or registering the order, the payment from you to Donkey Internet, the payment from Donkey Internet to the Certificate Authority, the payment gateway transaction and fees, manually. It is all done using 3 simple PHP includes and the simple SoapClient API from Clear Books.
Apart from when payments are received I’ve had to make very few changes to the provided examples on the Clear Book site. The reason the payments one has been a bit more complicated is because I have had to factor in gateway charges/percentages so have to do some custom coding before submitting to the API. In essence what is provided by Clear Books is still used, I just do some extra stuff before calling it.(Note: there is no update payment example but the concept is the same as those provided).
What’s more there is no extra charge for using the API! I asked Clear Books before writing this post if there were any new API calls coming out I could allude to but when I think about it I’m not sure there really need to be any more. At the end of the day accounts software exists to record transaction of all types in and out and for me that needs to be quick, simple and automated as much as possible!
NOTE: Screenshots are taken from our development site. SSLDonkey isn’t live just yet, but it is due to launch in February.
Donkey Internet Ltd
I feel the need to point out a couple of things before I start. The first is that I am fussy; the second that I use a Mac. Sometimes these two things make my search for software tricky. You can imagine how it normally works out.
I realised that I needed some proper accounts software after my accountant laughed (and then very quickly coughed) when she saw my “spreadsheet”. I thought it was the bees knees, but when you copy something you used to use in the Civil Service one should really know better. Hence the search started, and was then soon hampered by the lack of effective business software for Mac.
My accountant suggested I used Solar Accounts. Indignantly I agreed to look at it, although I wasn’t best pleased that it was only available for Windows. Although I have the ability to run Windows and Windows programs on my Mac I do use it for a reason and that isn’t to run Windows!
My search turned instinctively to an online solution and, because I’ve known about it for sometime, I went to Kashflow. I signed up for a trial, but something has never been right about it for me , so I continued to Google. Quite by chance I found a post somewhere that mentioned Clear Books and their approach to openness and current user numbers.
I signed up for the free trial (what the heck, eh? It doesn’t harm) and was extremely surprised. It’s not often that I’m taken by a website (or the company behind it) but I really am by Clear Books. It’s simple to use, pleasing to the eye, allows multiple logins, has a simple API that is easy to integrate and a team that are keen to see the software grow and prosper.
Support requests over at the Clear Books Get Satisfaction site are readily answered and the team never seem to reject an idea or bug report. In fact some suggestions come back with a simple response like “changed” or “updated”. How it should be I know, but it’s not often it happens and it’s very refreshing to see.
I’m still on my free trial but I have no intention of signing up to another solution for my businesses. As an online company the effectiveness of the API is the key thing for me as I can automate over %90 of my accounting transactions so they are immediately recorded in Clear Books.
I’m looking forward to getting more involved with the team and the software and making the most of how easy using Clear Books is going to make things!
End of Year Accounts
End of year accounts will be filed by many accountants on behalf of small businesses across the UK over the coming months in what is commonly known in the accounting world as ‘busy season’. This coincides with the fact that Companies House has recently released a new abbreviated accounts pdf tool through its web filing service, something that will be useful to small/medium sized limited companies.
The end of year accounts PDF is accessed from within a company’s account on the WebFiling website. It saves time by populating sections of a company’s abbreviated accounts. The pdf can be downloaded and guides you through the process of filling out abbreviated accounts.
Companies House has certain criteria defining the size and type of business and whether they can file abbreviated accounts. For more information please read this link before completing and submitting abbreviated accounts as part of your end of year accounts.
Now it’s not like we want to brag here at Clear Books, however, thanks to our abbreviated accounts tool your end of year accounts are even easier to complete. Clear Books users simply have to click a button to generate a fully populated set of abbreviated accounts. There is no need to fill in any financial data as it is all populated from the system. For more information about how this is done please see this previous blog post on abbreviated accounts.
It is recommended that you get your accountant to review your your end of year accounts before submitting abbreviated accounts.
Snow Proof Accounting Software
Clear Books is accounting software that defies winter’s icy grasp. If you live in the UK you will no doubt have noticed that it has been snowing; some people are saying that it is one of coldest winters since 1963. If you need proof take a look at this picture from the BBC taken on Thursday January 7th 2010. There has been wide spread disruption across the UK as a result of this with schools and businesses having to close due to hazardous conditions. So what does snow have to do with accounting software?
How to record Corporation Tax in your accounts
If you run a limited company, and the company makes a profit in its accounting year then you will probably need to pay some corporation tax for that year. Your accountant should calculate for you how much tax is due, and in this blog post I will show the best way to record the Corporation tax charge and any subsequent payment in Clear Books.
Let’s assume our company is called Hyper Global Meganet, and that the company’s accounting year runs from the 1st of January (01/01) until the 31st of December (31/12).
Entering the Corporation Tax Charge
Firstly, at year end you will want to accrue the tax charge into the profit & loss account for relevant year. The easiest way to do this is to set up a purchase invoice.
- Navigate to Purchases > Invoicing in the top menu.
- Select “HMRC” as the supplier.
- Enter a brief description in the summary along the lines of “Corporation Tax charge for year ending 31/12/2009″
- Date: This is important – make sure you enter the last day of your company’s accounting year, so in this case it will be 31/12/2009.
- In the first line item, write:
- Details: “Corporation Tax”
- Quantity: 1
- Unit Price – This should be the amount of corporation tax your accountant has calculated
- Select Account: Tax Expense – Corporation Tax
- VAT: No VAT
- Check through everything you have entered, and then click Confirm Invoice to save the invoice.
The corporation tax charge will then be entered as an unpaid purchase invoice. When you have paid the tax, and it shows up on your bank import you can complete the next step.
Entering the Corporation Tax Payment
When you have paid the corporation tax charge it should then appear on one of your bank statements. When you import this statement via our import tool, and then go to explain the payment, you should do the following:
- Select HMRC from the To: box.
- The unpaid corporation tax purchase invoice should automatically appear in the invoice list that pops up.
- Click the “allocate” button to allocate all the payment to this invoice.
- Click the “create transactions” button.
And that’s it! You should now have correctly accounted for your corporation tax.
How To Set Up Purchase Orders
Help Article
How To Set Up Purchase Orders
Links
Steps
1. Navigate to Purchase Orders page.
2. Fill in purchase order details.
3. Click save draft to upload purchase order.
Below is an example of how to set up a purchase order, we will be making a purchase order for 100 folders from Mr Meganet (as seen in the demo account).
Step 1.
To start navigate to Purchases>Purchase Orders.
Step 2.
Fill in the Purchase order details , in this example we have selected Mr Meganet and a purchase order for 100 folders.
What The Purchase Order Options Mean
Project: If this purchase order is part of a project select it here.
PO Date: Enter the date of the purchase order.
Reference: Enter the reference number for this order here.
Step 3.
Once you have filled in the purchase order information click:
If the purchase order is successfully uploaded you should see the following
