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How to get things done in Hitt Books

Step-by-step guides for every workflow — invoicing, bills and 1099s, bank feeds, journal entries, reports, and the controls that keep your books audit-ready.

43 guides across 7 categories

Invoicing & Getting Paid

10 guides

How to create an invoice

Bill a customer with line items, tax, and a due date calculated from their payment terms.

  1. 1In the dashboard sidebar, click Invoices.
  2. 2Click New Invoice (you need at least one customer first — add one under Customers).
  3. 3Pick the Customer. Their default payment terms fill the Terms and Due date fields automatically.
  4. 4Leave Invoice number blank to auto-assign the next number in your sequence, or type an explicit number.
  5. 5Add Line items: description, quantity, unit price, and an optional tax rate per line. Totals calculate as you type.
  6. 6Add optional Notes, then click Save. The invoice starts as a draft until you send it.

Tip: Use the status selector on any invoice row to move it through draft, sent, paid, overdue, or void.

How to email an invoice to a customer

Send a clean HTML invoice with line items and totals straight from Hitt Books.

  1. 1Go to Invoices and open the invoice (or stay on the list).
  2. 2Click the envelope icon labeled "Email to customer" (on the invoice detail page it is the Email button).
  3. 3The email goes to the address on the customer record. If you have generated a Stripe pay link, it is included.
  4. 4Sending a draft flips its status to sent, and the status change lands in the audit log.

Tip: Need a PDF instead? Open the invoice and use the Print button — the print view saves cleanly as PDF from your browser.

How to record a payment on an invoice

Log card, ACH, check, or cash payments — including partial payments — against an invoice.

  1. 1Go to Invoices and open the invoice.
  2. 2Scroll to the Payments section.
  3. 3Enter the payment date, the amount (defaults to the remaining balance — use the shortcut button to fill the full balance), the method (card, ACH, check, or cash), and an optional reference like a check number.
  4. 4Click Record payment. The balance drops, and the invoice flips to paid automatically once cash and applied credits cover the total.

Tip: Recorded a payment by mistake? Use "Reverse payment" next to the entry in the payment history — never edit history by hand.

How to set up automatic invoice numbering

Set a prefix once and every new invoice gets the next number in sequence — no duplicates, no gaps.

  1. 1In the sidebar, click Settings.
  2. 2Find the Invoice numbering section.
  3. 3Set your Prefix (for example INV-), the Zero-pad width, and the Next number.
  4. 4Click Save. New invoices left with a blank number field are auto-assigned the next number atomically — two teammates drafting at once never collide.

Tip: You can still type an explicit invoice number on any individual invoice when you need to.

How to send a payment reminder

Nudge a customer about a sent or overdue invoice with one click.

  1. 1Go to Invoices and find the sent or overdue invoice.
  2. 2Click the "Send payment reminder" bell icon on the row (or the Remind button on the invoice detail page).
  3. 3The email leads with the balance still due, the original due date, and days past due — plus a pay link when you have one.
  4. 4Each send is timestamped on the invoice so you can see when you last nudged.

How to get paid online with Stripe

Generate a hosted payment page for any invoice balance using your own Stripe account.

  1. 1Connect your Stripe account first: in the sidebar, click Insights and use Connect Stripe.
  2. 2Open a sent invoice and scroll to the Payments section.
  3. 3Click Get paid online. Hitt Books creates a hosted Stripe payment page for the remaining balance.
  4. 4Click Copy link to share it, or email the invoice — the pay link rides along automatically.
  5. 5When the customer pays, the payment is recorded against the invoice through the payments ledger automatically.

Tip: When the Stripe payout lands in your bank, use Reconcile Stripe on the Banking page to match it to the deposit so income is never double-booked.

How to set up recurring invoices

Define a schedule once and generate each invoice on demand when it is due.

  1. 1Go to Invoices and click the Recurring button (or navigate to Recurring Invoices).
  2. 2Click New Schedule.
  3. 3Pick the template invoice to copy, a frequency (weekly, monthly, quarterly, or yearly), and a start date.
  4. 4When a run is due, generate it — each run creates a fresh draft invoice you can review before sending.

How to set customer payment terms

Assign each customer standard terms so every new invoice dates itself automatically.

  1. 1In the sidebar, click Customers.
  2. 2Click Add Customer, or the edit icon on an existing customer.
  3. 3Set the Payment terms field: Due on receipt, or Net 7 / 15 / 30 / 45 / 60 / 90.
  4. 4Save. New invoices for this customer compute the due date as issue date + term (org default is Net 30).

Tip: The due date is still yours to override on any individual invoice.

How to generate a customer statement

Produce a printable monthly statement with opening balance, activity, and closing balance.

  1. 1In the sidebar, click Statements.
  2. 2Pick the customer and the date range.
  3. 3Click the generate button. You get a printable view with the opening balance, every invoice and payment in the period, and the closing balance.
  4. 4Print or save as PDF from your browser to send it along.

How to write off an invoice as bad debt

Remove an uncollectible invoice from A/R and book the loss as an expense — reversibly.

  1. 1Open the invoice under Invoices.
  2. 2Click Write off (shown on open invoices). This removes the invoice from your A/R aging and books the loss as a bad-debt expense on your P&L.
  3. 3Changed your mind or collected after all? Click Reverse write-off on the same invoice to restore it to open A/R.

Estimates & Credit Notes

4 guides

How to create and send an estimate

Quote a customer with the same line items, tax, and totals as an invoice — without touching your books.

  1. 1In the sidebar, click Estimates.
  2. 2Click New Estimate and pick the customer.
  3. 3Add line items exactly like an invoice; totals calculate for you.
  4. 4Save, then use the "Email to customer" action to send it.
  5. 5Track it through draft → sent → accepted → declined → expired using the status selector.

Tip: An estimate is a sales document only — it never touches your P&L, A/R aging, or payments until you convert it.

How to convert an estimate to an invoice

Turn an accepted estimate into a draft invoice in one click — no re-keying.

  1. 1Go to Estimates and open the estimate (or stay on the list).
  2. 2Click Convert to invoice.
  3. 3Confirm. Hitt Books creates a draft invoice with the same lines and links the estimate to it.
  4. 4The estimate flips to converted (terminal — it can no longer be edited) and shows a link to the invoice it created.

How to issue a credit note

Reduce what a customer owes without deleting history or touching cash.

  1. 1In the sidebar, click Credit notes.
  2. 2Click New Credit Note and pick the customer.
  3. 3Add line items for the amount you are crediting, then save.
  4. 4The credit becomes available customer credit until you apply it to an invoice.

Tip: Every issue, apply, and void is hash-chained in the audit log. Voiding a credit note restores the invoice balances it touched.

How to apply a credit note to an invoice

Apply available credit against any open invoice and watch the balance drop.

  1. 1Go to Credit notes and open the credit note (the "Open / apply" action on the row).
  2. 2In the "Apply credit to an open invoice" panel, pick the invoice and the amount to apply.
  3. 3Click Apply credit. The invoice balance drops — and flips to paid once cash plus credits cover it.
  4. 4Any unapplied remainder stays as available customer credit.

Expenses, Bills & Vendors

9 guides

How to record an expense

Log money you have already spent, with vendor, category, and an optional receipt link.

  1. 1In the sidebar, click Expenses.
  2. 2Click Record Expense.
  3. 3Enter the vendor, amount, date, and pick one of the built-in categories.
  4. 4Attach a receipt link if you have one, then save.

Tip: For money you owe but have not paid yet, record a Bill instead — that is what drives A/P aging and due dates.

How to record a vendor bill

Track what you owe, not just what you have spent — bills drive A/P aging and due dates.

  1. 1In the sidebar, click Bills.
  2. 2Click New Bill.
  3. 3Enter the vendor, category, amount, and the due date.
  4. 4Click Record bill. It starts open with its full balance outstanding and flips open → partial → paid as you pay it down.

Tip: Rent or SaaS bill that repeats? Use the "Make recurring" action on a bill row to turn it into a schedule under Recurring Bills.

How to record a payment on a bill

Pay a bill in full or in part by card, ACH, check, or cash.

  1. 1Go to Bills and open the bill.
  2. 2Click the pay button (shown on any bill that is not fully paid).
  3. 3Enter the date, amount, method, and an optional reference, then click Record payment.
  4. 4The bill status flips open → partial → paid as the balance falls; every payment shows in the Payment history.

Tip: Backdated payments into a hard-locked period are blocked — reopen the period or date the payment correctly.

How to create a purchase order

Authorize vendor spend up front with a pre-bill document that never touches your ledger.

  1. 1In the sidebar, click Purchase orders.
  2. 2Click New Purchase Order.
  3. 3Enter the vendor and line items — same format as a bill, with tax and totals.
  4. 4Save, then track it through draft → sent → received → closed with the status selector.

Tip: A PO never touches your P&L, A/P aging, or vendor spend until you convert it to a bill.

How to convert a purchase order to a bill

Turn a received PO into a vendor bill in one click, completing your procure-to-pay cycle.

  1. 1Go to Purchase orders and find the PO (typically in received status).
  2. 2Click the "Convert to bill" action and confirm.
  3. 3Hitt Books creates the bill with the same vendor and totals, and links the PO to it.
  4. 4The PO flips to converted and shows a "View the bill" link; it can no longer be edited.

How to record and apply a vendor credit

Record what a supplier credits back — returns, adjustments, rebates — and apply it to open bills.

  1. 1In the sidebar, click Vendor credits.
  2. 2Click New Vendor Credit, pick the vendor, and enter the credit amount and lines.
  3. 3To use it, click the "Apply to a bill" action on the credit, pick an eligible open bill, and apply part or all of it.
  4. 4The bill flips open → partial → paid as credits cover it; any remainder stays as available vendor credit.

Tip: Vendor credits are non-cash: they lower what you owe without touching cash or inflating 1099 and vendor-spend totals.

How to add a vendor and track W-9 / 1099 details

Keep W-9 details on file and flag which vendors get a 1099-NEC at year end.

  1. 1In the sidebar, click Vendors.
  2. 2Click Add Vendor.
  3. 3Fill in the Tax / W-9 section: legal name as shown on the W-9, TIN/EIN, address, and a default expense category.
  4. 4Check "1099-eligible vendor (issue a 1099-NEC at year end)" for contractors.
  5. 5Link bills and expenses to the vendor record so every dollar rolls up to the right payee.

Tip: Tax IDs are masked everywhere except the vendor's own detail form and are never written to logs.

How to run the year-end 1099-NEC report

A filing-ready 1099 summary totaling every payment to each 1099-eligible vendor.

  1. 1Go to Vendors and click 1099 Summary (or open Reports → 1099 Summary).
  2. 2Pick the tax year. The report totals expenses plus paid bills per vendor, counted by payment date.
  3. 3Vendors crossing the $600 1099-NEC threshold are flagged; contractors over the threshold with no W-9 on file get a warning.
  4. 4Click Download CSV to hand your accountant a clean file — tax IDs export masked.

How to set up recurring bills

Draft rent, SaaS, and payroll bills on schedule so nothing slips past its due date.

  1. 1Go to Bills and click the Recurring button (or use "Make recurring" on a bill row).
  2. 2Click New Schedule: pick the template bill, a frequency (weekly, monthly, quarterly, yearly), and a start date.
  3. 3When runs come due, click "Generate due bills". Vendor, category, currency, amount, and notes copy over, and the net-N due date carries forward.

Banking & Reconciliation

5 guides

How to connect a bank account with Plaid

Securely link your bank through Plaid to import transactions automatically.

  1. 1In the sidebar, click Banking.
  2. 2Click "Connect a bank" and follow the Plaid flow to sign in to your institution.
  3. 3On success, your accounts appear with balances and the first batch of transactions imports immediately.
  4. 4New and changed transactions then arrive automatically; use "Sync all" (or the sync icon on one bank) any time you want a manual pull.

Tip: You can link multiple institutions and accounts per workspace. Tokens are encrypted at rest. If a card shows "login required", click Reconnect.

How to review imported bank transactions

Work the unreviewed queue: match, expense, or ignore each imported transaction.

  1. 1On the Banking page, use the tabs: unreviewed, reconciled, ignored, all. Unreviewed shows a count.
  2. 2Filter by account or search the feed to find what you need.
  3. 3For each transaction, click Match to reconcile it to an existing expense or invoice (with amount/date suggestions), Expense to convert it, or the eye-slash icon to Ignore it (internal transfers, for example).
  4. 4Reconciled items are labeled Expensed or Matched; use Unlink to undo, or Restore to un-ignore.

How to convert a bank transaction into an expense

Turn an imported debit into a categorized expense in one step.

  1. 1On the Banking page, open the unreviewed tab.
  2. 2On an outgoing transaction, click Expense.
  3. 3Confirm the vendor, category, and date, then save. The transaction is marked reconciled and labeled Expensed.

How to auto-categorize transactions with bank rules

Teach Hitt Books to categorize recurring transactions — or ignore transfers — the moment they sync.

  1. 1On the Banking page, click Bank rules.
  2. 2Create a rule: match on merchant or description (contains / equals / starts with), then either set an expense category and default vendor, or flag the transaction as ignored.
  3. 3Order rules by priority — the first match wins. Toggle rules on and off any time.
  4. 4Rules run automatically at sync; click "Apply rules" to run them against the current unreviewed queue on demand.

Tip: Fastest path: click the sparkles icon on any transaction in the feed to create a rule pre-filled from it — "always categorize AWS as Software". Rules only touch unreviewed items, so decisions you already made are never overwritten.

How to run a bank reconciliation report

Tie cash to the penny against your bank statement — cleared balance, outstanding items, and a difference that must be $0.00.

  1. 1Go to Reports and click Bank Reconciliation.
  2. 2Enter your statement's ending date and ending balance.
  3. 3Review the cleared balance and outstanding items. The report surfaces any unexplained difference for you to investigate — it never books a plug entry.
  4. 4Print the reconciliation for your audit file.

Tip: If the difference is divisible by 9, the report hints at a transposition error — check for swapped digits.

Accounting & Reports

9 guides

How to run a Profit & Loss report

A comparative P&L generated straight from your invoices and expenses.

  1. 1In the sidebar, click Reports — Profit & Loss is the default report.
  2. 2Set the date range and pick the Basis: cash or accrual.
  3. 3Optionally set a comparison — prior period or same period last year — to get dollar and % variance on every line.
  4. 4Use the Print button for a clean printable statement.

How to choose cash vs accrual basis on reports

Most reports run on either basis — pick the one that matches how you file.

  1. 1Open any basis-aware report (Profit & Loss, Trial Balance, General Ledger, Sales Tax Liability, Income by Customer, Sales by Item, Budget vs. Actual).
  2. 2Use the Basis selector: cash counts revenue and expenses when money actually moves (payment dates); accrual counts them when invoices and bills are issued.
  3. 3Reports recalculate immediately when you switch.

Tip: Pick one basis and stay consistent within a filing period — cash-basis P&L entries are dated to the day the money actually landed.

How to run a Balance Sheet

A point-in-time snapshot of assets, liabilities, and equity as of any date.

  1. 1Go to Reports and click Balance Sheet.
  2. 2Set the "As of" date.
  3. 3Review assets, liabilities, and equity — plus the current ratio — computed straight from your invoices, bills, and bank balances.
  4. 4Print it for your records with the Print button.

How to run a Trial Balance

One report that proves your books add up — debits equal credits, at any date.

  1. 1Go to Reports and click Trial Balance.
  2. 2Set the "As of" date and the Basis (cash or accrual).
  3. 3Every account — Cash, A/R, A/P, Sales Tax Payable, Revenue, Expenses by category, Retained Earnings — lays out in a two-column Debit / Credit ledger that must net to zero.
  4. 4Look for the green "Balanced" badge, then print the page for your accountant.

Tip: Cash, A/R, and Sales Tax Payable tie out exactly to your Balance Sheet, so the numbers agree across statements.

How to drill into account activity with the General Ledger

Go from any account total straight to the transactions behind it.

  1. 1Go to Reports and click General Ledger.
  2. 2Set the date range and Basis.
  3. 3Each derived account — Revenue, A/R, A/P, Sales Tax Payable, Cash, and Expenses by category — lists its individual invoices, payments, expenses, and bills with a running balance and per-account subtotal.
  4. 4Click Download CSV to export one row per transaction for your accountant.

Tip: Subtotals tie out exactly to your Trial Balance — "Software $4,210" is one click from the rows that make it up.

How to post a manual journal entry

Real double-entry adjusting and opening-balance journals — depreciation, accruals, owner equity.

  1. 1In the sidebar, click Journal.
  2. 2Click New Entry.
  3. 3Pick an entry type (adjusting, opening balance, reclass, or general) and a date.
  4. 4Add two or more lines, choosing accounts from the built-in list, with a debit or credit per line.
  5. 5Watch the live balance indicator — it turns green only when debits equal credits, and the entry cannot post until it balances.
  6. 6Post the entry. Posting and voiding are both hash-chained in the audit log.

Tip: Backdating into a closed period is blocked. Post an owner contribution and equity stops being a plug figure.

How to see your sales tax liability

See how much sales tax you have collected by state and period, so remittance is a lookup.

  1. 1Set a tax rate on invoice line items when you bill (the tax field on each line).
  2. 2Go to Reports and click Sales Tax Liability.
  3. 3Set the date range and Basis.
  4. 4Review collected tax broken out by state and period; click Download CSV or Print for your remittance file.

How to export reports to CSV

Hand your accountant clean spreadsheets — no re-keying.

  1. 1Open a CSV-enabled report: General Ledger, Vendor Spend, 1099 Summary, A/R Aging, A/P Aging, Income by Customer, Sales by Item, Sales Tax Liability, or Budget vs. Actual.
  2. 2Set the date range, basis, and filters you want — the export respects what is on screen.
  3. 3Click Download CSV. Files open cleanly in Excel and Google Sheets.

How to track budget vs. actual

Set an annual budget by expense category and read your real numbers next to plan.

  1. 1Go to Settings → Budget (or Reports → Budget vs. Actual) and set an annual budget per expense category plus a revenue target.
  2. 2Open Reports → Budget vs. Actual.
  3. 3Review dollar and % variance on every line, computed from the same P&L engine on your cash or accrual basis.

Controls & Team

4 guides

How to close an accounting period

Lock finalized months so backdated edits cannot quietly change reported numbers.

  1. 1In the sidebar, click Periods.
  2. 2Click Close a Period.
  3. 3Pick the date the period ends on and choose a Lock type: Soft (warns, and admins can reopen) or Hard (blocks backdated changes outright; owner-only to reopen).
  4. 4Add an optional reason and confirm.

Tip: Backdated payments and journal entries into a hard-locked period are blocked across the app.

How to use and verify the audit log

Every change is hash-chained; one click cryptographically verifies the entire history.

  1. 1In the sidebar, click Audit log.
  2. 2Filter by resource or action, and click any row to see the full before/after detail.
  3. 3Click "Verify integrity" to cryptographically check the whole hash chain end to end — any tampering breaks the chain and is reported.

Tip: The log is tamper-evident by design: never "fix" history — post a corrective entry instead, and the correction is itself logged.

How to invite teammates and manage roles

Five scoped roles per organization: Owner, Admin, Accountant, Employee, and Viewer.

  1. 1In the sidebar, click Team.
  2. 2Click Invite Member, enter the teammate's email, and pick a role: Admin (everything except billing and workspace deletion), Accountant (customers, invoices, expenses, reports), Employee (submit own expenses, read own data), or Viewer (read-only).
  3. 3Send the invite — the link works even if they have no account yet; signing up through it drops them into your organization with the right permissions.
  4. 4Change a member's role any time from the Team page; revoke pending invites from the Pending invites list.

Tip: Roles gate the sidebar too — for example, Banking needs Accountant or above, and Billing is Owner-only.

How to run separate books for multiple organizations

Keep separate entities in separate workspaces and switch between them.

  1. 1Use the organization switcher at the top of the dashboard sidebar.
  2. 2Pick another organization to switch, or create a new one to start a separate set of books.
  3. 3Every record — invoices, bills, banks, reports — is isolated to its organization, enforced server-side.

Billing & Plans

2 guides

How to manage your subscription

Change your card, cancel, or resume — month to month, no lock-in.

  1. 1In the sidebar, click Billing (Owner role required).
  2. 2Review your current plan and renewal date.
  3. 3Update your payment card, cancel the subscription, or resume a pending cancellation — all from this page.

Tip: No active subscription yet? The Billing page links you to Pricing to pick a plan.

How to apply a coupon at checkout

Redeem a promo code when you subscribe.

  1. 1Pick a plan on the Pricing page and continue to checkout.
  2. 2On the review step, find the "Have a coupon?" field.
  3. 3Enter your code and apply it — the discount shows before you pay. Coupon links from promotions pre-fill the code automatically.

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