Start the books

The address first

The first screen names the address where the books will live. Read it with care before you go on. A passkey belongs to one address, and to no other.

If the books ever move to a new address, each person makes a fresh passkey there. The old passkey does not carry over.

Your name

Type your name the way the society knows you. The books record that name beside the work you do.

You may add a password if you wish. A password is a backup for money work. The passkey is the way in, and the password is not needed day to day.

Your passkey

The next screen walks you through making your passkey. The passkey lives on your device or in your password app. Nothing is sent to you by mail, and there is no link to click.

When the passkey is saved, the guided pass runs: Start the books.

The guided pass

Start the books is a pass offered once, in order. The books stand open for money while it stands unfinished. It waits on the home page until it is done.

It asks for the society’s legal name and province, and what kind of organization it is. Those answers choose which law notes its people see, and nothing else. It asks for the fiscal year end and the receipt threshold.

It takes the bank account’s opening from the first statement. The bank step also asks what part of that balance is spoken for — a grant in hand, not yet spent — and whose it is. That part opens in its own fund.

Then it asks what the operator fronted before the books start, and whether a loan predates them. Tax status and the bylaws facts close the pass. Either step can be skipped. A question left unanswered stands as not recorded.

Cheques from before

A cheque written before the books start and not yet cleared is not in the first statement’s balance. The money is still in the bank, but it is already spent.

When the pass is done, record each such cheque in Pay money, with the date it was written and who it was written to. It then stands as outstanding: counted as gone in the books, not yet taken by the bank. It matches the statement line when it clears.

Where things live

Home shows the bank figure and whether the books balance. Accounts lists each account and its balance. Funds shows each fund and what is left in it. Journal is the list of entries.

Documents holds the notes, bills and deals the app keeps. People and Settings stand at the top right of every page as two buttons drawn as icons — two figures and a gear. Each opens the page of its name, which stands as that page’s heading.