How to use SwiftlyBooks

What needs you today, and the figures that matter: cash, what is owed each way, and the cash flow.

The menu, New, search, the day's rates, the bell, Help and Swiftly: where each is and what it does.

What the installed app does: approve, chase and look people up, away from your desk.

SwiftlyBooks on your phone's home screen: it opens like an app, and alerts reach you there.

The steps a new company takes before its books are ready to use, one at a time.

Your name, photo and password, two-step sign-in, and what you have done in the books.

The assistant behind the glowing button: it answers questions about your books and drafts what you ask for.

The goods and services you sell and buy, each priced before VAT, ready for every document.

What you hold of each goods item and what it is worth, what to reorder, and the counts and adjustments that put it right.

Your bank accounts, mobile money, tills and cards as wallets, each with its balance in the books and on its statement.

Profit and loss, the balance sheet, the trial balance, and what is owed each way, straight from the books.

Everyone you sell to, with their tax number, terms and currency, and a statement of what they owe.

Priced offers to customers, made into an invoice or a sales order when they say yes. A quote posts nothing to the books.

Orders customers have confirmed, invoiced in full or in parts as the goods go out. An order posts nothing to the books.

The invoices you raise for customers, each in its own currency. Each gets its number when it is approved.

Invoices repeated on a schedule, such as rent, a retainer or a subscription.

Sales paid on the spot, in cash, by card or by mobile money, straight into one of your wallets.

Money customers paid you, set against their invoices, and their credit paid back.

Corrections to approved invoices and sales receipts, for goods returned or a price that was wrong, and credit for customers to use.

Amounts added to an approved invoice, such as goods left off it. The customer owes and pays them as an invoice.

The businesses you buy from: their tax numbers, the days you have to pay, their currency and how to pay them.

Spending paid on the spot from a wallet, such as fuel or a repair, with its receipt kept beside it.

Spending that comes round on a schedule, such as rent, internet and subscriptions, copied on its day.

Orders you send suppliers, billed in full or in parts as the goods come. An order posts nothing itself.

The bills suppliers send you, each in its own currency and at their prices. Each gets its number when it is approved.

Every bill to pay on one page, with reminders in the bell and by email, and paying them from there.

Bills that come round on a schedule, such as rent or a service contract, copied on their day.

Money paid to suppliers against their bills, newest first, with the bills each payment settled.

Credit notes from suppliers, for goods sent back or an overcharge, set against their bills or refunded.

Entries you post by hand, such as accruals and corrections, each balanced in one currency.

Journals that repeat on a schedule, such as a monthly accrual or a prepayment spread over the year.

Move many transactions to another account at once, such as fuel posted to the wrong expense.

Every account the books post to, by type, each with its balance in your base currency.

Your old books as they stood on the day before you started: each account's balance, and what is still owed each way.

A guided move from Zoho Books, QuickBooks or Sage Pastel: each file in the order the books need it, then the check and posting.

Each day's two rates for every currency you trade in besides US dollars: your own, and the official one.

Revalue what is held or owed in other currencies, then lock the month so its figures stay as reported.

A budget for a financial year, by account and month, to set against what actually happened.

The register of what the company owns and uses, and each month's depreciation.

Each branch's fiscal device, how it stands with ZIMRA, and the documents ZIMRA has had today.

Each branch's VSDC and how it stands with ZRA, the documents ZRA has signed, and suppliers' Smart Invoices to bring in.

Each month's VAT on sales and the VAT you can claim, worked out from its documents, ready to file.

A tax year's capital allowances, asset by asset, for the income tax return. They are never posted.

The tax withheld from what you pay suppliers each month, each payment's certificate, and paying it over.

Zambia's monthly turnover tax return, form IT 64A2, worked out from the month's sales.

Zambia's monthly rental income tax on the rent the company receives for its own properties.

Zimbabwe's presumptive rental income tax on the commercial rent collected for landlords, and the informal traders' tax.

The buildings you manage, your own and landlords', each with its units and who pays its running costs.

Each unit let and to whom, with its charges on their own days, its rent increases and its deposit.

Each due day's rent invoices together: what has gone out, what comes next, and the drafts to approve.

What falls due on your leases, made from the leases themselves: what needs someone first, then what is coming.

Move-in, routine and move-out inspections: those to book, those booked and those done.

Each fault from report to bill: sent to a contractor, quoted, agreed, fixed and billed.

The rent roll, arrears, vacancies, each property's income and costs, and the deposits held.

Whose properties you manage, and the terms each agreed: commission, repairs, payouts and tax.

The rent you hold in trust for landlords, what each is owed, and the month's payouts to approve.

Each matter the firm acts on: its client, its money in trust, its unbilled work, fee notes and dates.

Client money held in trust: payments to approve, the three-way agreement, and each month's list of client balances.

A fee earner's week of recorded time, with the hours charged and their value.

Every matter's hearings, filing deadlines and prescription dates, with what needs doing first.

Client balances, unbilled work, fee notes owed, each fee earner's time, and what each matter earned.

The partners, associates and clerks whose time is charged, each with a title and a rate an hour.

Who works in your books, the role each holds, and what each role may do.

Where your company trades from. Each branch numbers its own documents.

What you report by besides accounts and branches: a project, a donor or a department.

Your company's details, and everything it can switch on or off, in one place.

How your quotes, invoices, receipts and credit notes look when they print, and the notes and terms each starts with.

Who did what in your books, and when: every document, payment, setting and sign-in.

Your plan and its price, your add-ons, and the invoices for your subscription.