Change the active Organisation

Although each user may have access to one or more Organisations, there can only be one active Organisation at any one time. The relevant Sales Invoices, Purchases, Banking and other Organisation-specific information will only be displayed for the active Organisation.

Note that the active Organisation's name is always shown in the top right of the browser window, above your user name.

If you have access to more than one Organisation, then you can change the active Organisation as follows:

• Click the Settings tab, and then Organisations.
• From the Organisation list, select an Organisation and click the Switch button.
• The selected Organisation is now active.

Add or Edit an Organisation

To add a new Organisation, or edit an existing Organisation, perform the following steps:

• Click the Settings tab, and then Organisations.
• To add a new Organisation, click the “Add new Organisation” button.
• To edit an existing Organisation, double click an Organisation's name from the displayed list.
• From the resulting popup enter or amend the following information. Required fields are indicated by a *

 

DETAILS

• Trading Name: The Organisation's trading name.
• Legal Name: The Organisation's legal name.
• Company Registration No.: The Organisation's registration number at Companies House.
• VAT Registration No.: Only required if the Organisation is VAT Registered. See the section on VAT for more information.
• Conversion Date: If you have transferred from another accounting system, then this is the first day that you start entering transactions in AccountsPortal. For more information, see the section on Converting from another accounting system.
• Year End Month: Enter a number from 1 to 12. For example, if the Organisation's last financial year end was 31 December, then enter 12.
• Year End Day:  Enter a number from 1 to 31. For example, if the Organisation's last financial year end was 31 December, then enter 31.
• Auto-create bank import rule: If this option is selected, then a new Import Rule will automatically be created when importing new transactions from a bank statement. See the section on Importing  bank statements for more information .
  

 

CONTACT INFO

• Telephone:  The Organisation's Telephone number. This field will appear on printed invoices
• Trading Address: The Organisation's trading address, city and postcode. These fields will appear on printed invoices.
• Registered Address: The Organisation's registered address, city and postcode.
• Place of Registration: The country or jurisdiction of the registration. This field will appear on printed invoices.

 

LOGO

• Upload new logo: Use the Browse button to select a logo file. The file must be of file type .png .jpeg or .gif. Click on upload once you selected the appropriate file. The logo will appear on customer invoices, credit note and statements if selected in the PDF Options (see below).

 

PDF OPTIONS

These settings only effect PDFs for customer sales invoices, sales credit notes and statements.

• Organisation Name In Header: Select from None, Tading Name, Legal Name, Logo.
• Organisation Address In Header: Select from None, Trading Address, Registered Address.
• Organisation Name in Footer: Select from None, Tading Name, Legal Name.
• Organisation Address in Footer: Select from None, Trading Address, Registered Address.
• Additional text: The default text that will appear at the bottom of all printed customer invoices, credit notes and statements. You may wish to enter a special message to all clients or your banking details, for example. You can also enter the [paypal_link] here (see below for more information).

 

PAYPAL OPTIONS

Including a PayPal link on your PDF sales invoice can assist customers to pay directly to your PayPal account. Clicking the link opens the PayPal website and prompts the customer to make payment. The functionality is managed by adding the tag [paypal_link] to the sales invoice which is replaced during PDF creation.

• Automatic link insertion: Selecting this option ensures the tag [paypal_link] is always inserted in the Memo field of your sales invoices. This tag can be deleted during invoice entry if the link is not required for that instance.
• PayPal Email Address: Insert a valid, existing PayPal email address that you registered to receive payments.
• Organisation Name in Footer: Select from None, Tading Name, Legal Name.
• Link Text: Optional text which will appear as a hyperlink to encourage your customers to pay via PayPal.
• Show PayPal logo: Optional setting to display the link as a PayPal logo.

 

Note that the [paypal_link] tag in the Memo field (or entered in the PDF Options - Additional text) will only be replaced if the PayPal Email Address and one or both of Link Text/Logo have been maintained.

 

INVOICE OPTIONS

• Default Sales Invoice Terms:  The default number of days between the Invoice Date and Due Date for new sales invoices.
• Default Purchase Invoice Terms:   The default number of days between the Invoice Date and Due Date for new purchase invoices. 

 

 

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Additional Notes:

• The user that creates a new organisation will automatically be assigned as the Primary User for the new organisation. For more information, refer to the section on User Roles.
• Each new Organisation will automatically start with a default Chart of Accounts. For more information, refer to the section on Chart of Accounts.
• Each new organisation will automatically start with a default Transaction Sequence starting at 1 for all transaction types. For more information, refer to the section on Transaction Sequences.

Users Details

View Users

To display a list of all users that have have access to the active Organisation, click the Settings tab, and then click the Users tab.

Add or Edit a User

Note that you must have the 'Primary User' role to perform the actions listed below. Users with the 'Authorised User' role will not be able to perform any of these actions.

To add a new User, or edit an existing User, navigate to the Settings tab, and then click on Users.

To add a new User, click the “Add new User” button, and proceed to enter the following information:

• First Name.
• Last Name.
• Email address: This must be a valid email address, otherwise the user will not be able to access AccountsPortal. 
• Disable this user: If you wish to prevent this user from accessing the Organisation's information, then select this option. Note that only the Primary User can specify this option for other users.

 

Note that the only change that a Primary User can make to an Authorised User's profile is to change their enabled/disabled status. Once a user's status has been disabled, then they will no longer be able to access any information for that organisation.

Add or Edit VAT status

PLEASE READ CAREFULLY:

We highly recommend that you speak to your Accountant before editing an existing VAT status. If you know your VAT Status is going to change on a certain date, then you should create the new status well in advance of that date, and prior to entering new transactions.

If the Organisation is already VAT registered, and you are changing to a different VAT scheme or accounting basis, we advise where possible, that you arrange with the HMRC for the new status to be valid from the beginning of a new period/month. This will greatly reduce the complexity of checking the values of the VAT Report before and after the change of status.

If the VAT status for the Organisation has changed, then a New Vat Status should be entered and saved, rather than editing the existing status.

If a new VAT Status is created, any existing transactions with a transaction date on or after the 'Valid From Date' will need to be opened and resaved to pick up the new VAT Status. This step is extremely important as the VAT Status is set in the transaction and referenced during creation of the VAT Report. Alternatively, you can void/delete these existing transactions and re-enter them.

 

To add a new VAT status, or edit an existing status, perform the following steps:

• Click the Settings tab, and then VAT.
• If you have previously entered a VAT status, then this will be shown in the list; otherwise the list will be empty.
• To add a new VAT status, click the 'Add New VAT Status' button.
• To edit an existing VAT status, click the relevant row from the displayed list.
• From the resulting popup enter or amend the following information.  
  • Valid From Date: Enter the date upon which the VAT status became active.
  • VAT Scheme: Choose Standard rate or Flat rate from the drop down list. Alternatively, if you are deregistering from VAT, then you can choose Not Registered from the drop down list.
  • Flat Rate (%): If the Organisation is Flat rate registered, then a flat rate % will also be required.
  • Accounting Basis: Choose Accrual Accounting or Cash Accounting from the drop down list.
  • Reporting Frequency: Choose Monthly, Quarterly or Yearly from the drop down list.
  • Memo: Enter any other optional information.
• Click the Save button.

Delete VAT Status

Note: Changes made to this part of the application can signficantly affect your data. If you are unsure, speak to your Accountant first.

To delete an existing VAT status, perform the following steps:

• Click the Settings tab, and then VAT.
• From the displayed list, click the 'X' image on the right hand side of the relevant row.
• Confirm the action.
• Click the Save button.

 

VERY IMPORTANT NOTE

The deletion will only succeed if there are no existing transactions already saved with the VAT Status being deleted. You have two options if existing transactions were entered with an incorrect VAT Status:

1. Firstly, delete/void all the incorrectly entered transactions. Then change the VAT Status, or delete it and enter a new one. Lastly, re-enter the transactions.

2. Enter a new VAT Status with the correct settings and the same 'Valid From Date' as the existing incorrect record. You will only be able to do this if the date is not included in a saved VAT Report. Any existing transactions with a transaction date on or after the 'Valid From Date' will need to be opened and resaved to pick up the new VAT Status. This step is extremely important as the VAT Status is set in the transaction and referenced during creation of the VAT Report. Alternatively, you can void/delete these existing transactions and re-enter them.

Account Codes

Default Chart of Accounts and Account Codes

A default Chart of Accounts is provided for all new Organisations, and the following numbering scheme is used for Account Codes.

• Assets
  • Fixed Assets: 1000
  • Current Assets: 1400
  • Bank Accounts: 1800
• Liabilities
  • Current Liabilities: 2000
  • Long Term Liabilities: 2500
• Equity
  • Equity: 3000
• Income
  • Revenue: 4000
  • Other Income: 4100
• Expenses
  • Cost of Sales: 5000
  • Operating Expenses: 6000

New Account Codes

The Account Code for new Accounts is typically incremented by 5. For example, if the largest Account Code for Expenses is 6165, then the Account Code for the new Expense will be 6170.

System Accounts

Certain accounts are also automatically designated as System Accounts, which are special accounts that cannot be disabled or modified in any way. The System Accounts are:

• Accounts Receivable: 1400
• Accounts Payable: 2000
• VAT Control: 2100
• Retained Earnings: 3005

Add or Edit an Account

Note: Changes made to this part of the application can signficantly affect your data. If you are unsure, speak to your Accountant first.

To add a new Account, or edit an existing Account, perform the following steps:

• Click the Settings tab, and then Chart of Accounts.
• To add a new Account, click the “Add New Account” button.
• To edit an existing Account, click an Account name from the displayed list.
• From the resulting popup enter or amend the following information.
  • Enabled: If an Account is not Enabled, then it will not appear in any transactions forms (such as a sales invoice, for example).
    
  • Account Name: Specify a Name for the Account. Note that you cannot change the Name for System Accounts.
  • Account Code: The Account Code is automatically assigned by AccountsPortal and cannot be changed for new or existing accounts. For more information, refer to the section on Account Codes.
  • Account Group: Each Account must have an Account Group specified. There are five Groups: Assets, Equity, Expenses, Income and Liabilities. For more information, refer to the section on Account Codes.
  • Account Type:  Each Account must have an Account Type specified. The options displayed are dependant on the Account Group. For more information, refer to the section on Account Codes.
  • Default VAT: Specify the Default VAT that will be applied whenever the relevant Account is selected in a transaction.
  • Display in Sales: If selected, then the Account will appear in all Sales related transactions, such as Invoices and Credit Notes. Note that if an Account is not Enabled, then it will not appear in any transaction, irrespective of the Display in Sales setting.
  • Display in Purchases: If selected, then the Account will appear in all Purchase related transactions, such as Purchase Invoices and Purchase Credit Notes. Note that if an Account is not Enabled, then it will not appear in any transaction, irrespective of the Display in Sales setting.

Conversion Balances

This is fully explained in the section dealing with How to Convert from Another Accounting System.

Enable and Disable Billing

In order to ensure ongoing access to each of your organisations, its is necessary to enable the billing. After billing has been enabled for an organisation, that organisation will be added to the subscription schedule in My Subscriptions.

The first time you enable billing for an organisation, you will be asked to enter payment card details, and for each subsequent organisation you enable the same card details will be used. You can update your card details at any time.

To enable billing, navigate to Settings tab, and then click the Organisations tab. This will list all the organisations that you have access to (for more information on organisations, click here).

• Billing Details: This field contains the current billing status of the organisation.
• Billing Action: The only two options available are Enable Billing or Disable Billing.

 

ENABLE BILLING

Any user can enable billing for an organisation that they have access to. This will add the organisation to your subscription schedule in My Subscriptions.

Click on Enable billing in the Billing Action field.

The Billing Details are transferred from the organisation. They are for viewing only to ensure you selected the correct organisation.

If you are taking advantage of a promotion being run by AccountsPortal, enter the code in the space provided and click the Apply button. Otherwise, this field can be left blank.

Click on Step 2 to enter your payment card details. You will only be asked for these when you enable the billing for your first organisation. If you have previously entered card details, you will only need to agree to the T&C's to proceed.

Enter details for all the fields marked with * (if you select Maestro/Switch/Solo as Card Type, you may have to enter an Issue number if your card has one).

Note that we currently only accept cards registered to a UK address.

You will also need to agree to the AccountsPortal T&C's before saving the settings.

All card details are processed by Optimal Payments and AccountsPortal does not save these at any time.

 

Click Save to complete the billing activation for the organisation. If all your card details are correct, then you will receive confirmation that your records have been successfully updated.

The organisation will now be listed in the subscription schedule in My Subscriptions.

 

DISABLE BILLING

Disabling billing is restricted to the user that initially enabled the billing for an organisation. This action will set the organisation to disabled in your subscription schedule in My Subscriptions. 

Click on Disable billing in the Billing Action field.

Read the warning carefully before clicking OK. Ensure that you have selected the correct organisation to disable billing. Once you have disabled the billing you will no longer be able to access the organisation's information.

 

NOTE

You will only be able to access organisations that have a green tick associated with their billing status.

Organisations that have been disabled for billing may be permanently removed from our database in line with our  T&C's.

To re-enable billing for an organisation which has a status of 'Billing disabled by Joe Bloggs', you will need to raise a support ticket. 

Update Card Details

You can update your card details at any time. You may want to do this, for example, if your card is nearing its expiry date.

Navigate to the Settings tab and then click on the My Subscriptions tab

Click on the Update Card Details link.

All card details are processed by Optimal Payments and AccountsPortal does not save these at any time.

For security reasons, if you are changing any details, you will need to re-enter the Card number and Expiry date (and Issue number if applicable). 

Click Save to update the changes you have made.

 

Please read My Subscriptions and Enable and Disable Billing for more information.