Software setup and training

Accounting software is only as good as the way it was set up. A file with a sensible chart of accounts, working bank feeds and correct GST settings looks after itself. A file that was set up in half an hour by whoever was free generates a small amount of wrong information every day, for years.

We do the setup, and we teach you the parts you’ll actually use.

Setting up

• Choosing between them. We work in Xero and QuickBooks Online. Which one suits you depends on your business, not on which we prefer — and if you’re already on one of them, staying put is usually the right answer.
• The chart of accounts built around how you want to see your business, so the reports make sense to you.
• Bank feeds connected and reconciling, including the accounts people forget: the credit card, the loan, PayPal, the terminal.
• GST and payroll settings configured correctly at the start, which is much cheaper than correcting a year of transactions later.
• Invoice and statement templates carrying your own branding, so what your customers receive looks like it came from your business.

Moving from something else

• From spreadsheets or paper — we set the file up, bring in your opening balances, and pick a changeover date that doesn’t land mid-quarter.
• From another package — migrations are ordinary work where the details matter: historical transactions, outstanding invoices and bills, payroll year-to-date figures and leave balances all have to arrive intact and reconcile on the other side.

We’ll tell you if a migration isn’t worth doing. Sometimes the right answer is a clean start at the beginning of a financial year, with the old system kept read-only for reference.

Training

Training here means sitting with the people who will use it — you, or your office administrator — and working through your own file, not a demonstration company.

Usually that is a couple of sessions covering the handful of things you’ll do every week: entering a bill, raising an invoice, reconciling the bank, and knowing which reports to look at and when. Then a follow-up a few weeks later, once you’ve hit the things that only come up in real use.

You keep control of your own subscription and your own data throughout. If you later decide to do the books entirely yourself, or to move to another bookkeeper, the file is yours and it goes with you.

Common questions

Xero or QuickBooks Online? It depends on how your business runs, and we’ll talk it through with you. If you’re already on one, switching is rarely worth the disruption.

Can you move my history across? Yes — historical transactions, outstanding invoices and bills, payroll year-to-date and leave balances, reconciled on the other side. And when a clean start is the better answer, we’ll say so.

Will I be locked in? No. The subscription and the data stay yours, always.

How much training will I need? Usually a couple of sessions, in your own file rather than a demonstration company, plus a follow-up a few weeks later once real use has thrown up the odd questions.