Getting started: your first week

This is the short path from an empty workspace to your first invoice. Work down it in order — each step depends on the ones above it. Most businesses get through it in an afternoon.

Set your business up

1. Open System Manager›Company Profile and fill in your business name, address and tax registration. This is what appears at the top of every invoice you send, so it is worth getting right first.
2. Open System Manager›Chart of Accounts and look through the list of accounts. A standard set is ready for you — rename anything that does not match how you talk about your business, and add what is missing.
3. Open System Manager›Financial Period and check that your accounting months match your financial year. See Financial Periods.
4. Open System Manager›Bank Account and add the accounts money actually moves through. You need at least one before you can record a payment.
5. Open Sales›Customer and add the people you sell to. See Customers.
6. Open Inventory›Stock List and add what you sell. See Stock Items.
7. Open Sales›Invoice and raise your first bill. See Sales Invoices.

Once that first invoice is confirmed, your reports have something in them and the rest of the system opens up.

Doing it faster

• Already have lists somewhere else? Do not retype them. The import wizard brings customers, suppliers, stock and opening balances in from a spreadsheet — see Importing your existing data.
• Set your defaults once. System Manager›Accounting Defaults decides the tax and the accounts used when you do not choose them yourself, which saves a decision on every document afterwards. See Accounting Defaults.
• Trading in another currency? Switch it on once and it is available everywhere — see Working in more than one currency.
• Bring your team in when the setup is done, not before — then they arrive to a workspace that already works. See Inviting your team.

How the rest of the system fits together

Almost everything you do falls into one of four groups.

• Selling. Quote a price, agree it, send the goods, bill for them, take the money. Each of those is a document, and each one can create the next. See From quotation to money in the bank.
• Buying. The mirror image: order, receive, get billed, pay. See From purchase order to paying your supplier.
• Stock. What you hold, what it cost, and where it is.
• Money and reports. Recording what comes in and goes out, and reading what it all adds up to. See Running a report.

Two short guides are worth reading once before you get going: How documents work explains what changes the moment you confirm something, and Why can't I edit or delete this? explains every reason the system will refuse a change.