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Set up the books for the first time
The first evening with a fresh set of books: the login, the name, the opening facts, in order.
In the books, the Wizard walks this task beside you and ticks each step from the books as it lands.
Make your login and passkey
The first person to arrive at a fresh set of books makes the first login. That login is the society’s setup login. It can do everything, including handing out the other roles later.
Enrol a passkey when asked. A passkey ties to this exact address. So the books need to be standing at their real address before anyone enrols.
(Done on the Your login page.)
Name the society and its year end
Write the society’s legal name as it stands on its incorporation papers. Pick the day its year ends. Most societies use December 31. The app takes any date the society’s own papers allow. These two facts head every statement and pack from here on.
(Done on the Start the books page.)
Put in the bank balance you are starting from
Take the balance from the first bank statement the books will cover. Say what part of it, if any, is spoken for. Grant money or other money with a set purpose goes to its own fund from day one, not into the general pot.
An account that stood overdrawn can be entered below zero. If the account opened empty, this step can be skipped.
(Done on the Start the books page.)
Record money the society owes back to people
Founders and directors often pay the society’s first costs from their own pockets — the filing fee, the first supplies. List each one here: who paid, what for, how much.
Each is booked under its own kind of cost. Each person stands as owed that money back until the society pays it. Skip the step if nothing is owed.
(Done on the Start the books page.)
Record any loan the books start with
If the society already owes money on a loan when the books open, record it here. Say who lent it, how much and the terms as they stand. A founder’s loan is the common case.
From here the loan has its own line in the books. Its balance is provable at any date. Skip the step if there is no loan.
(Done on the Start the books page.)
Say how tax stands for the society
Three answers: whether the society charges GST/HST, whether it charges PST, and its numbers for each if it has them. A law note rides on this step: the tax office’s registration clocks.
A society can pass the point where it must register without ever being told. So the note names the two thresholds in plain words. It lets the treasurer place the society against them.
(Done on the Start the books page.)
Record what the bylaws say about paying directors
Open the society’s bylaws and find what they say about paying a director for being a director. Record the answer in the bylaws’ own terms: permitted, not permitted, or not recorded. Silence here stays “not recorded” — it never hardens into a no.
A law note rides on this step: paying a director for being a director is allowed only where the bylaws permit it. The note links to the fuller wording.
(Done on the Start the books page.)
Read the start gate and settle what it names
The start gate is a report, not a fence. It is six checks on whether the books are ready to run, each stated in plain words with what would settle it. Nothing on it blocks the money screens.
Work the items it names. A second administrator is the one most worth settling now, so the books are never one person’s password away from being locked to everyone.
(Done on the Start gate page.)
Give the other directors their logins
A director’s read of the society’s records is a right, not a favour. Approvals need a second person from the first payment on. Set up each director’s login and roles now, while setup is in front of you. Each person enrols their own passkey. No one can enrol for another.
(Done on the People page.)