Question 1

How to build a Products & Services catalog

Accepted Answer

Save the products and services you sell once, then pick them on any invoice or estimate so the line fills itself in, and get sales reporting that groups by the real item. 1. In the sidebar, click Products & Services, then New item. 2. Give it a name, an optional SKU, choose Product or Service, and set a default description, unit price, and tax rate (%). Save. 3. On any invoice or estimate line, use the "pick a saved item" dropdown at the top of the Description cell. It fills in the description, price, and tax from the item. Every field is still editable per line. 4. The line quietly records which item it came from, so the Sales by Item report (Reports → Sales by item) groups revenue by the item — not by whatever free text got typed. 5. To retire an item, click Deactivate. It disappears from the picker but stays on every past invoice, so nothing breaks. Tick "Show deactivated" to bring it back with Reactivate.

Question 2

How to create an invoice

Accepted Answer

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

Question 3

How to email an invoice to a customer

Accepted Answer

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

Question 4

How to record a payment on an invoice

Accepted Answer

Log card, ACH, check, or cash payments (including partial payments) against an invoice. 1. Go to Invoices and open the invoice. 2. Scroll to the Payments section. 3. Enter 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. Click Record payment. The balance drops, and the invoice flips to paid automatically once cash and applied credits cover the total.

Question 5

How to set up automatic invoice numbering

Accepted Answer

Set a prefix once and every new invoice gets the next number in sequence — no duplicates, no gaps. 1. In the sidebar, click Settings. 2. Find the Invoice numbering section. 3. Set your Prefix (for example INV-), the Zero-pad width, and the Next number. 4. Click Save. New invoices left with a blank number field are auto-assigned the next number atomically: two teammates drafting at once never collide.

Question 6

How to send a payment reminder

Accepted Answer

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

Question 7

How to charge a late fee on an overdue invoice

Accepted Answer

Set a finance-charge policy once, then apply it in one click on overdue invoices. The fee is recorded to a ledger and added to the balance due. 1. First set your policy (admin only): go to Settings and open the "Late fees" card. Turn on "Enable late fees", choose Percent-of-balance or Flat, set the rate, a grace period, a minimum balance, and the frequency (Monthly = one fee per calendar month, or Once). A common, defensible policy is 1.5% monthly with a 5-day grace period. 2. Open a sent or overdue invoice that is past its due date + grace period. 3. In the Payments section, click "Apply late fee". The fee is computed on the current balance and recorded; you'll see it added under a "Late fees" line and an amber badge on the balance. 4. The accrued fee now flows through your A/R aging report, the overdue reminder digest, and the customer statement, so amount-due everywhere is total + late fees − payments.

Question 8

How to get paid online with Stripe

Accepted Answer

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

Question 9

How to set up recurring invoices

Accepted Answer

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

Question 10

How to set customer payment terms

Accepted Answer

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

Question 11

How to send a customer statement

Accepted Answer

Email a statement of account to one customer, or to everyone who still owes you: opening balance, activity, and closing balance. Print is still there when you need paper. 1. In the sidebar, click Statements. 2. Pick the customer and the date range, then click Generate. You see the opening balance, every invoice and payment in the period, credits applied, and the closing balance. 3. To email it: click Send statement. The recipient is prefilled from the customer's email (editable); add an optional note, then click Send. The button is disabled with an explanation if the customer has no email on file. 4. To email everyone at month end: click "Send to all with a balance" at the top. You first get a dry-run preview: how many customers will be emailed and how many are skipped (no balance, or no email). Then click Send N to commit. 5. Prefer paper? The Print button still gives you a clean printable statement.

Question 12

How to write off an invoice as bad debt

Accepted Answer

Remove an uncollectible invoice from A/R and book the loss as an expense — reversibly. 1. Open the invoice under Invoices. 2. Click 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. Changed your mind or collected after all? Click Reverse write-off on the same invoice to restore it to open A/R.

Question 13

How to create and send an estimate

Accepted Answer

Quote a customer with the same line items, tax, and totals as an invoice — without touching your books. 1. In the sidebar, click Estimates. 2. Click New Estimate and pick the customer. 3. Add line items exactly like an invoice; totals calculate for you. 4. Save, then use the "Email to customer" action to send it. 5. Track it through draft → sent → accepted → declined → expired using the status selector.

Question 14

How to convert an estimate to an invoice

Accepted Answer

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

Question 15

How to issue a credit note

Accepted Answer

Reduce what a customer owes without deleting history or touching cash. 1. In the sidebar, click Credit notes. 2. Click New Credit Note and pick the customer. 3. Add line items for the amount you are crediting, then save. 4. The credit becomes available customer credit until you apply it to an invoice.

Question 16

How to apply a credit note to an invoice

Accepted Answer

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

Question 17

How to record an expense

Accepted Answer

Log money you have already spent, with vendor, category, and the receipt itself. 1. In the sidebar, click Expenses. 2. Click Record Expense. 3. Enter the vendor, amount, date, and pick one of the built-in categories, then save. 4. Reopen the expense with the pencil icon and drop the receipt file into "Attached documents"; see "How to attach a receipt or document to a record".

Question 18

How to attach a receipt or document to a record

Accepted Answer

Keep the actual receipt, vendor bill, signed W-9, or supporting schedule on the record it belongs to, stored privately in your workspace, not behind a share link that expires before the audit does. 1. Open the record: an expense (Expenses → pencil icon), a bill or invoice detail page, a journal entry, or a vendor (Vendors → pencil icon). Save the record first if it is brand new: a document is attached to a record, so the record has to exist. 2. Find the documents panel and drag a file onto it, or click "Attach a file" / "browse" to pick one. 3. PDF, PNG, JPEG, HEIC, and WebP are accepted, up to 10 MB each. The file is identified by its actual contents, not its extension; renaming something to .pdf will not get it through. 4. Click the open-in-new-tab icon on any row to view a document. Each click issues a fresh download link that expires in about a minute, so a link copied out of your history or a screen-share is already dead. 5. Click the trash icon to remove a document. Deleting removes the stored file for good; it is not a soft delete.

Question 19

How to record a vendor bill

Accepted Answer

Track what you owe, not just what you have spent: bills drive A/P aging and due dates. 1. In the sidebar, click Bills. 2. Click New Bill. 3. Enter the vendor, category, amount, and the due date. 4. Click Record bill. It starts open with its full balance outstanding and flips open → partial → paid as you pay it down.

Question 20

How to record a payment on a bill

Accepted Answer

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

Question 21

How to create a purchase order

Accepted Answer

Authorize vendor spend up front with a pre-bill document that never touches your ledger. 1. In the sidebar, click Purchase orders. 2. Click New Purchase Order. 3. Enter the vendor and line items (same format as a bill, with tax and totals). 4. Save, then track it through draft → sent → received → closed with the status selector.

Question 22

How to convert a purchase order to a bill

Accepted Answer

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

Question 23

How to record and apply a vendor credit

Accepted Answer

Record what a supplier credits back (returns, adjustments, rebates) and apply it to open bills. 1. In the sidebar, click Vendor credits. 2. Click New Vendor Credit, pick the vendor, and enter the credit amount and lines. 3. To 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. The bill flips open → partial → paid as credits cover it; any remainder stays as available vendor credit.

Question 24

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

Accepted Answer

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

Question 25

How to run the year-end 1099-NEC report

Accepted Answer

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

Question 26

How to set up recurring bills

Accepted Answer

Draft rent, SaaS, and payroll bills on schedule so nothing slips past its due date. 1. Go to Bills and click the Recurring button (or use "Make recurring" on a bill row). 2. Click New Schedule: pick the template bill, a frequency (weekly, monthly, quarterly, yearly), and a start date. 3. When runs come due, click "Generate due bills". Vendor, category, currency, amount, and notes copy over, and the net-N due date carries forward.

Question 27

How to import a CSV bank statement

Accepted Answer

Every bank exports a CSV. Upload one and your transactions flow into the same review queue, bank rules and reconciliation report as a live bank feed — no bank connection needed. 1. In the sidebar click Banking, then click "Import CSV" in the top right. 2. Choose which account to import into. If the account does not exist yet, type a name under "Or add a manual account" (e.g. "Chase Business Checking") and click Add — a manual account behaves exactly like a linked one everywhere else in Books. 3. Choose your .csv file. Leave "The first row is a header" ticked unless your export has no header row. Click Continue. 4. Check the column mapping. Books guesses your date, description and amount columns from the header names, and supports either one signed Amount column or separate Debit and Credit columns. Correct anything it got wrong. 5. Read the "Check these read correctly" box. It shows real rows from your file in plain language — "AWS $412.00 will be recorded as money OUT". If a purchase shows as money IN, tick or untick the positive-amount box until it reads correctly. 6. If the date format warning appears, compare a date against your statement and pick MM/DD/YYYY or DD/MM/YYYY. Books only warns when every date in the file could be read either way. 7. Click Import. You get a summary: how many imported, how many were skipped as already imported, and any rows that could not be read. 8. Work the imported transactions from the Unreviewed tab exactly as you would a synced one — match, convert to an expense, or ignore.

Question 28

How to connect a bank account with Plaid

Accepted Answer

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

Question 29

How to review imported bank transactions

Accepted Answer

Work the unreviewed queue: match, expense, or ignore each imported transaction. 1. On the Banking page, use the tabs: unreviewed, reconciled, ignored, all. Unreviewed shows a count. 2. Filter by account or search the feed to find what you need. 3. For 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. Reconciled items are labeled Expensed or Matched; use Unlink to undo, or Restore to un-ignore.

Question 30

How to convert a bank transaction into an expense

Accepted Answer

Turn an imported debit into a categorized expense in one step. 1. On the Banking page, open the unreviewed tab. 2. On an outgoing transaction, click Expense. 3. Confirm the vendor, category, and date, then save. The transaction is marked reconciled and labeled Expensed.

Question 31

How to auto-categorize transactions with bank rules

Accepted Answer

Teach Hitt Books to categorize recurring transactions (or ignore transfers) the moment they sync. 1. On the Banking page, click Bank rules. 2. Create 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. Order rules by priority — the first match wins. Toggle rules on and off any time. 4. Rules run automatically at sync; click "Apply rules" to run them against the current unreviewed queue on demand.

Question 32

How to run a bank reconciliation report

Accepted Answer

Tie cash to the penny against your bank statement: cleared balance, outstanding items, and a difference that must be $0.00. 1. Go to Reports and click Bank Reconciliation. 2. Enter your statement's ending date and ending balance. 3. Review the cleared balance and outstanding items. The report surfaces any unexplained difference for you to investigate; it never books a plug entry. 4. Print the reconciliation for your audit file.

Question 33

How to track inventory and cost of goods sold

Accepted Answer

Turn on stock tracking for a product and Books keeps its quantity on hand and its average unit cost for you, posts the cost of every sale to the ledger, and finally puts Inventory on your Balance Sheet — so your gross margin is computed from what you actually paid, not from a number you typed into a calculator. 1. Click Products & Services in the sidebar and open (or create) a product. Services cannot hold stock, so the option only appears when Kind is Product. 2. Tick "Track stock and cost of goods sold". On a new item you can set the starting unit cost; on an existing one the cost is read-only, because from then on it is the running average Books works out for you. 3. Optionally set a Reorder point. The items list and the Inventory Valuation report flag anything at or below it. 4. Get your existing stock onto the books: go to Reports → Inventory Valuation, click Adjust on the item, enter the quantity you are holding and what it cost you, and give a reason such as "Opening balance". That posts a real entry — debit Inventory — so your Balance Sheet is right from day one. 5. From then on, receive stock by raising a Purchase Order with the item on its lines and marking it Received (or converting it to a bill). Books adds the quantity at the PO price, debits Inventory, credits Accounts Payable, and re-averages the unit cost. 6. Sell it by putting the item on an invoice and issuing it. Alongside the usual revenue, Books posts debit Cost of Goods Sold / credit Inventory at the item’s current average cost, and takes the quantity off the shelf. 7. Read Reports → Inventory Valuation for what you are holding: quantity, average unit cost and value per item, plus the total. Click History on any row for the full movement ledger behind that number. 8. Check the P&L: Gross profit is now revenue minus your posted cost of goods sold.

Question 34

How to track fixed assets and post depreciation

Accepted Answer

Record a machine, vehicle or computer once and Books works out the straight-line schedule and posts each month's depreciation for you, instead of you computing the accumulated total by hand and posting an adjusting entry every month, forever. 1. Click Fixed assets in the sidebar, then New asset. 2. Enter the name, cost, salvage value (what it will be worth at the end of its life; 0 is fine), and useful life in months. Set the In service date: depreciation starts from when the asset was put to work, not when you bought it. 3. Choose what you Paid with: Cash, Loan, or Owner equity. That books the asset's cost into the ledger straight away so it shows up on your Balance Sheet. See "How to get fixed assets onto your Balance Sheet" for the full picture. 4. As you type, the form previews the monthly charge, so a typo in the life or salvage is obvious before you save. 5. Open the asset to see its full schedule: every period's depreciation, the running accumulated total, and the remaining net book value. 6. Click "Post depreciation": on the asset for just that one, or on the register to catch up every asset at once. Each due period posts as a balanced journal entry: debit Depreciation Expense, credit Accumulated Depreciation, dated the period end. Posted periods are highlighted and link straight to the entry. 7. When you get rid of the asset, click Dispose and pick the date. That stops future depreciation and, if the asset's cost was booked, takes it off your Balance Sheet with a balanced derecognition entry.

Question 35

How to schedule a recurring journal entry

Accepted Answer

Your month-end prepaid amortization, rent accrual and payroll accrual are the same entry every period. Set the schedule up once and Books drafts it for you each cycle, so closing the books stops meaning re-typing the same debits and credits. 1. Post (or draft) the entry once the normal way: Journal in the sidebar → New Entry, with the accounts and amounts you want repeated. This becomes the template. 2. Click Recurring entries in the sidebar, just under Journal, then New Schedule. 3. Give the schedule a name you will recognise on the list ("Prepaid insurance amortization", say) and pick that entry under Template Entry. 4. Choose the Frequency (weekly, monthly, quarterly or yearly) and the interval. Interval 1 + monthly is every month; 3 + monthly is every quarter-end. 5. Set the Start / First Run Date. That is when the schedule first comes due, and the Next Run column tracks it from then on. 6. At close, click "Generate due entries". Every active schedule whose run date is today or earlier is copied into a new draft dated today, with the same accounts, debits and credits, and its next run date rolls forward. 7. Go to Journal to review each new draft and post it, exactly as you would a hand-typed entry. 8. Use the pause button on any row to skip a cycle without losing the schedule, and the play button to resume. The document icon opens the entry the schedule generated most recently.

Question 36

How to read the 13-Week Cash Flow Forecast

Accepted Answer

A forward-looking report that projects your bank balance week by week for the next quarter, so you can spot a cash trough before it hits — the short-range radar your P&L can't give you. 1. Go to Reports and click 13-Week Forecast (also linked from Cash Runway). 2. Read the headline card first: if any week is projected to go negative, it names the week and the low point in red; if not, it shows "Clear for 13 weeks". 3. In the week-by-week table, each row is one week: Opening carries from the prior week's Ending, then + A/R (open invoices whose due date falls in that week), − A/P (open bills due), and − Recurring (net of your scheduled recurring bills and invoices) give the Ending balance. 4. Any week that ends negative is highlighted and flagged; that is the week to act on: pull an invoice's due date forward, delay a payable, or line up a buffer. 5. The forecast is projective only: it never posts anything. Opening cash is your depository (bank) balance, the same figure Cash Runway uses.

Question 37

How to get fixed assets onto your Balance Sheet

Accepted Answer

Your Balance Sheet shows Fixed assets, Accumulated depreciation and Net book value, but only once the asset's COST has been booked to the ledger. Registering an asset records what you paid; booking the acquisition is what puts it on the statement. 1. Open Fixed assets in the sidebar. Any asset whose cost is not in the ledger yet carries an amber "Not booked" badge, and a banner at the top totals how much of your cost is missing from the Balance Sheet. 2. Click the asset, then Book acquisition. 3. Choose how you paid for it: Cash (from the bank), Loan (financed), or Owner equity (you put it in). Confirm. 4. Books posts one balanced entry dated the acquisition date: debit Fixed assets for the cost, credit whatever paid for it. The badge and banner disappear. 5. Go to Reports → Balance Sheet. Under Assets you now see Fixed assets at gross cost, Less: accumulated depreciation in brackets, and Net fixed assets. These tie line-for-line to the same rows on the Trial Balance. 6. For new assets you can skip all of this: pick a Paid with option on the New asset form and the cost is booked the moment you save.

Question 38

How to run a Profit & Loss report

Accepted Answer

A comparative P&L generated straight from your invoices and expenses. 1. In the sidebar, click Reports; Profit & Loss is the default report. 2. Set the date range and pick the Basis: cash or accrual. 3. Optionally set a comparison (prior period or same period last year) to get dollar and % variance on every line. 4. Use the Print button for a clean printable statement.

Question 39

How to cost a job and read project profitability

Accepted Answer

Create a project for a job or contract, tag the money that belongs to it, and see what it actually earned and cost. 1. In the sidebar, click Projects, then "New project". Give it a name (and optionally a code like FFX-26), pick the customer, and set start/end dates. 2. Optionally set an Estimated revenue and an Estimated cost. Set them and the report shows an actual-vs-estimate variance; leave them blank and it simply omits the variance rather than comparing against zero. 3. Tag the money as you record it: every invoice, bill and expense form now has a "Project (job costing)" picker. It defaults to none, and leaving it as none is fine — an untagged transaction behaves exactly as it always has. 4. Go to Reports and click "P&L by Project". Set the date range and the basis (cash or accrual) the same way as any other report. 5. Read across each row: revenue, cost, gross margin, margin %, then the variance columns against your estimates. An over-budget cost and a below-estimate revenue are shown in red. 6. Click a project name to see the exact invoices, bills and expenses behind its totals — the date range carries through, so the drill-down adds back to the number you clicked. 7. Use "Download CSV" to export the whole table, same as every other report.

Question 40

How to choose cash vs accrual basis on reports

Accepted Answer

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

Question 41

How to run a Balance Sheet

Accepted Answer

A point-in-time snapshot of assets, liabilities, and equity as of any date. 1. Go to Reports and click Balance Sheet. 2. Set the "As of" date. 3. Review assets, liabilities, and equity (plus the current ratio), computed straight from your invoices, bills, and bank balances. 4. Print it for your records with the Print button.

Question 42

How to read Accounts Payable on your Balance Sheet

Accepted Answer

Your Balance Sheet liabilities include what you owe suppliers (open vendor bills, less any unapplied vendor credits), plus loans and accrued liabilities you have posted by journal entry. Here is where each number comes from and how to check it. 1. Go to Reports and click Balance Sheet, then set the "As of" date. 2. Under Liabilities, read the Accounts Payable line. It is the open balance (amount minus amount paid) on every vendor bill dated on or before your as-of date. Draft and voided bills are excluded, and a fully-paid or overpaid bill counts as zero — never a negative. 3. If you have unapplied vendor credits, a "Less: unapplied vendor credits" line appears in brackets underneath and reduces the total. Record and apply credits under Vendor Credits in the sidebar. 4. Accrued Liabilities and Loans Payable only appear once you have posted a journal entry to those accounts. To book a loan, go to Journal, click New Entry, and post a debit to Cash and a credit to Loans Payable. Your bank balance already reflects the cash, so only the liability side is added. 5. Check the Current Ratio callout at the bottom. It now divides your assets by the corrected liability total, so a ratio below 1.0 is a real liquidity warning rather than an artefact of missing payables. 6. To verify the figures, open Reports → Trial Balance for the same as-of date. The Accounts Payable and Sales Tax Payable credits there match your Balance Sheet line for line, and Reports → A/P Aging breaks the same A/P total out by vendor and age band.

Question 43

How to run a Trial Balance

Accepted Answer

One report that proves your books add up: debits equal credits, at any date. 1. Go to Reports and click Trial Balance. 2. Set the "As of" date and the Basis (cash or accrual). 3. Every 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. Accounts you have posted journal entries to appear here too: Prepaid Expenses, Fixed Assets, Accumulated Depreciation, Accrued Liabilities, Loans Payable, Owner Equity, Owner Draw and Depreciation Expense. 5. Look for the green "Balanced" badge, then print the page for your accountant.

Question 44

How to drill into account activity with the General Ledger

Accepted Answer

Go from any account total straight to the transactions behind it. 1. Go to Reports and click General Ledger. 2. Set the date range and Basis. 3. Each 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. Every line of a posted journal entry appears as its own row, labelled "Journal Entry" with the entry memo, under the account it was posted to. 5. Click Download CSV to export one row per transaction for your accountant.

Question 45

Where your journal entries show up on the Trial Balance and General Ledger

Accepted Answer

Post an adjusting entry (depreciation, an accrual, prepaid amortization, an owner draw) and it flows straight through to both reports. Here is which account each line lands in, and why a few lines are deliberately left off. 1. Post the entry first. In the sidebar click Journal, then New Entry, add your lines, and click Post; only POSTED entries reach the reports. Drafts and voided entries are excluded from both. 2. Open Reports → Trial Balance with an "As of" date on or after the entry date. Lines posted to Prepaid Expenses, Fixed Assets, Accumulated Depreciation, Accrued Liabilities, Loans Payable, Owner Equity, Owner Draw and Depreciation Expense each get their own account row. Revenue and expense-category lines are added to the Revenue and "Expenses — <category>" accounts you already see. 3. Check that Retained Earnings got smaller. It is the balancing plug, and before this it silently swallowed every adjusting entry. Now the plug is what is genuinely left over. 4. Open Reports → General Ledger with a date range covering the entry date. The same lines appear as individual transaction rows, sourced "Journal Entry" and referenced by your line memo (or the entry memo), feeding each account’s running balance and subtotal. 5. Depreciation needs no extra step: click "Post depreciation" on the Fixed Assets register and the balanced entry it books (debit Depreciation Expense, credit Accumulated Depreciation) shows up on both reports immediately.

Question 46

How to post a manual journal entry

Accepted Answer

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

Question 47

How to see your sales tax liability

Accepted Answer

See how much sales tax you have collected by state and period, so remittance is a lookup. 1. Set a tax rate on invoice line items when you bill (the tax field on each line). 2. Go to Reports and click Sales Tax Liability. 3. Set the date range and Basis. 4. Review collected tax broken out by state and period. Each row also shows Remitted and Net Still Owed once you record remittances. 5. Click Download CSV or Print for your remittance file.

Question 48

How to record a sales tax remittance

Accepted Answer

When you file and pay a state, record it here so your Sales Tax Payable liability comes back down instead of growing forever. 1. Go to Reports and click Sales Tax Liability. 2. Scroll to the Remittances card and click Record remittance. 3. Enter the jurisdiction (use the same state code shown in the table above, e.g. CA), the amount you paid, and the date you filed. 4. Set the tax period the payment covers; this is usually earlier than the filed date, which is fine and expected. 5. Optionally add a method, a confirmation number as the reference, and notes. Click Save remittance. 6. The Remitted and Net Still Owed columns update immediately, and Sales Tax Payable drops on the Trial Balance, Balance Sheet and General Ledger too.

Question 49

How to export reports to CSV

Accepted Answer

Hand your accountant clean spreadsheets — no re-keying. 1. Open 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. Set the date range, basis, and filters you want; the export respects what is on screen. 3. Click Download CSV. Files open cleanly in Excel and Google Sheets.

Question 50

How to track budget vs. actual

Accepted Answer

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

Question 51

How to close an accounting period

Accepted Answer

Lock finalized months so backdated edits cannot quietly change reported numbers. 1. In the sidebar, click Periods. 2. Click Close a Period. 3. Pick 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. Add an optional reason and confirm.

Question 52

How to use and verify the audit log

Accepted Answer

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

Question 53

How to invite teammates and manage roles

Accepted Answer

Five scoped roles per organization: Owner, Admin, Accountant, Employee, and Viewer. 1. In the sidebar, click Team. 2. Click 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. Send 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. Change a member's role any time from the Team page; revoke pending invites from the Pending invites list.

Question 54

How to run separate books for multiple organizations

Accepted Answer

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

Question 55

How to manage your subscription

Accepted Answer

Change your card, cancel, or resume — month to month, no lock-in. 1. In the sidebar, click Billing (Owner role required). 2. Review your current plan and renewal date. 3. Update your payment card, cancel the subscription, or resume a pending cancellation — all from this page.

Question 56

How to apply a coupon at checkout

Accepted Answer

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

Question 57

How to set vendor payment terms so bills date themselves

Accepted Answer

Give a vendor their standard Net term once and every new bill from them works out its own due date, instead of you re-doing the same arithmetic on each one. 1. Go to Vendors and open the vendor (or click New vendor). 2. In the Payment terms dropdown pick Due on receipt, or Net 7 / 15 / 30 / 45 / 60 / 90. Leave it on "No term set (Net 30)" if this vendor has no agreed term. 3. Save. The term is stored on the vendor record and shows again next time you edit it. 4. Now create a bill for that vendor and leave the Due date blank; Books fills it in as bill date + the vendor's term (Due on receipt means the same day). 5. Converting a purchase order to a bill picks the term up the same way, unless the PO has an expected date, which wins.

How to get things done in Hitt Books

Invoicing & Getting Paid