Almost everything here can be changed later. A few things can’t, or can only be changed with some effort, because by the time you want to they’re in every entry you’ve posted.
This is the order that gets those few right first, and leaves the rest until you actually need it.
What you can do
- Start with the tax setup your country uses, chosen from the country you sign up with.
- Have the parts of the product your trade needs switched on from the start.
- Settle currency, fiscal year and numbering before anything is posted.
- Bring in your customers, suppliers and products rather than typing them.
- Invite your team and your accountant, each with their own permissions.
- Send your first invoice and see it land in the books.
How it works in practice
Sign up with the right country. It decides the tax you start with: sign up in the Netherlands and you get its VAT codes and its return layout, in India the GST setup, in the US your state’s sales tax. The sign-up form shows you which before you confirm, and warns you if your country has no ready-made tax setup yet. Changing country afterwards doesn’t redo it; switching tax systems later is a deliberate step with its own preview.
Tell us your trade, if you like. The sign-up asks, optionally, what kind of business you are. Retail switches on stock, manufacturing switches on production and stock, construction and engineering switch on projects. Anything else starts with the core and nothing extra, and every part can be switched on or off later (Settings → Company → Extensions).
Then the three decisions that stick (Settings → Company → Company Settings). Your base currency, because it locks the moment anything is posted. Your fiscal year, so periods match your accountant’s. And your numbering, before the first real invoice, because a series that restarts halfway through a year takes explaining. Company settings has the rest, most of which can wait.
Look at the chart of accounts with your accountant. Ten minutes now, against the default or your country’s scheme, saves a conversation after the first quarter. See accounting and bookkeeping.
Bring your records in. Customers, suppliers and products import from a spreadsheet. Old invoices don’t: the usual way across is opening balances as one journal at a date you agree with your accountant, and history left in the old system. See importing and exporting.
Invite people (Settings → Company → Users). Each person gets the permissions their job needs, and your accountant can be given access to your books without being one of your users. See users and companies.
Send the first invoice. Raise it, finalize it, and open the books: the entry is already there. Then register a payment against it, a bit more than it was for, and watch the extra wait as credit on the customer’s account. That’s the quickest way to see how the rest of the system behaves. See invoicing and payments.
Good to know
- The trial is the whole product for a month, every part switched on and no document limit. What you make in it stays yours afterwards, readable on the free plan.
- Emailing documents to customers needs a paid plan. During the trial you can finalize, print, download and send to your own address, which is how you see what a customer would get.
- If you’ll send campaigns, set up your own sender first. Deliverability is easier to get right before the first mailing than after it. See email and your mailbox.
- Nothing here needs doing in one sitting. The currency and numbering do need doing before the first real invoice. Everything else can wait until it’s in your way.