How TBooks works

TBooks keeps a small business's books: what you sell and who owes you, what you buy and who you owe, and what's in the bank, all adding up to a profit and loss and a balance sheet.

Getting started

Set up the company: its name, currency, and when its fiscal year starts. It comes with a chart of accounts that suits most small businesses; change it on the Chart of accounts page.
Add your opening balances: what was in each bank account and owed on each card on the day you start. Older unpaid invoices and bills go in as invoices and bills dated when they were made.
Add your customers, vendors, and products and services. Charge sales tax? Add each rate on the Company page.
Then, as the business runs: make invoices, receive payments, enter bills and pay them, and bring in your bank statements.

Invoices and payments

An invoice puts what the customer owes in accounts receivable, the sale in an income account, and any sales tax in a sales tax account. Print it or save it as a PDF to send. A draft stays out of the books until you save it for real. When the customer pays, Receive a payment applies it to their invoices; paying more than they owe leaves a credit for next time. Payments can go straight to the bank, or to Undeposited funds until you take several cheques to the bank in one deposit.

Bills and expenses

A bill is a vendor's invoice you'll pay later: it goes in accounts payable until Pay bills pays it. Something you've already paid, by card or from the bank, is an expense: choose the account it came from and what it was for. Money coming in that isn't an invoice payment (a refund, a loan, the owner putting money in) is a deposit. Moving money between your own accounts, or paying off a card, is a transfer.

Banking and reconciling

Download a CSV statement from your bank's website and bring it in on the Banking page. For each line, choose the account it goes to and Add, or Match it to the payment or expense you've already entered. Rules remember that "SHELL" is fuel, and TBooks suggests what the same description went to last time. Once a month, Reconcile each account: tick what's on the statement until TBooks' balance equals the bank's. That proves nothing is missing or entered twice.

Reports

The profit and loss shows income less expenses for any dates (by month too). The balance sheet shows what the business owns and owes on a date. Cash flow explains why the bank balance moved differently from profit. Aging reports show who owes what and how late it is. The trial balance, general ledger, and journal are what your accountant will ask for. Every report downloads as a CSV file.

Double entry, briefly

Every transaction is recorded twice, as debits and credits that are always equal: a $100 sale paid into the bank adds $100 to the bank (a debit) and $100 to income (a credit). TBooks does this for you on every invoice, bill, payment, and expense, and won't save anything that doesn't balance, so the books always add up. For anything else, such as depreciation or your accountant's year-end adjustments, a journal entry lets you enter the debits and credits yourself.

Questions

Is TBooks free?

Yes. There are no limits on companies (up to 20 of your own), invoices, or transactions.

Does it connect to my bank?

Not directly: you download a CSV file from your bank's or card's website and bring it in on the Banking page. TBooks never asks for your bank sign-in. Lines brought in before are skipped, so overlapping dates are fine.

Can my accountant see my books?

Yes, if you invite them from the Company page: as an editor (they keep the books with you) or a viewer (they see everything and change nothing). They can also download every report as CSV, or all the books as a zip.

Does it do payroll or file my taxes?

No. TBooks keeps the records. Record payroll you run elsewhere as an expense (or a journal entry), and use the Sales tax and Profit and loss reports when you file.

What if I make a mistake?

Change it or delete it. Once a period is done and filed, the owner can set a closing date on the Company page, so nothing dated then or earlier can change by accident.

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Keep in mind

TBooks keeps records; it isn't tax, legal, or accounting advice. An accountant can set up your chart of accounts and check your books before you file.