Furnish.co.uk using Clearbooks
Up until relatively recently, I’d always done my accounting using a Microsoft Access database I’d knocked out years ago. It was pretty basic and 100% manual, but it worked. The alternative was using off-the-shelf accounting software, which all reminded me of either something out of the 1980s or someone’s school homework internet project.
To be frank, I started using Clearbooks because my company, furnish.co.uk, and Clearbooks share some of the same investors, and they insisted I use it (If you don’t know, furnish.co.uk pulls together home furnishings from the best interiors stores and designers onto one site so you don’t have to trawl through brochures, magazines or shops). At the time, Clearbooks was still very much in beta, maybe even alpha, and was far from perfect. But it was great, because Tim was open to feedback and was modelling the user interface and functionality around the needs of those using it at the time, turning over requests very quickly.
The result is that now, to me, Clearbooks doesn’t feel like accounting software at all. I find it extraordinarily simple to use, especially compared with other accounting software. I also like that it doesn’t perpetuate the perception that software that helps people manage money needs to be expensive. It’s actually rather cheap. I love the fact that it’s software-as-a-service, i.e. everything stored online rather than on my local machine. There’s no question that this approach is the future of accounting (and most other) software, plus I want the convenience of being able to work on accounts from anywhere. Basically, it’s a perfect fit for me.
I have now started using an accountant who works with Clearbooks. All I do is automatically import furnish.co.uk’s bank statements into Clearbooks, consolidate what each entry means and then the accountant takes over whenever anything needs to be submitted to HMRC or Companies House. It really does work well.
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!
Xero raises $23.2 million
In a previous post about Xero I alluded to the fact that Xero would need to seriously ramp up paying customers to move into profitability. Xero recently announced a paying customer base of 6,000 with an increase of 3,000 over a three month period.
A capital fundraising of NZ $23.2 million is no doubt a means to partly provide a cushion for their current high cash burn rate. It will be interesting to see what growth plans are in store for the remaining funds.
Online Accounting Software for Companies and Accountants
Clear Books is an accounting software package for companies and accountants. It is an online accounting system that makes managing company accounts easy, efficient and stress free.
