Getting set up
Company details, financial year, bank account and opening balances
The first time anyone opens Financials for a new company, it goes straight to Set up Financials. There are four steps, and progress is worked out from what you've captured, so you can leave and come back. You need to be an Owner or have Financials Admin to save them.
If you'd rather look around first, click Skip for now. Until setup is finished, the dashboard shows Finish setting up Financials under Keep the books moving, which takes you back to the next step.
1. Company details
| Field | Notes |
|---|---|
| Country | Where the company is registered. It sets the ledger currency, the chart of accounts, VAT rates and the reporting frameworks you can choose from. There's no default: you pick it. |
| Company name | Printed on statements and returns. |
| Registration number | Labelled for your country, for example the CIPC number in South Africa or the trade licence in the UAE. |
| Registered for VAT | Tick it if you are. It's not shown for countries without VAT, such as the United States. |
| VAT number | Labelled for your country, for example the TRN in the UAE. |
| VAT cycle | South Africa only: Monthly (category C), or every two months ending in even (A) or odd (B) months. |
These details are the company's details in every Looped app, so changing them here changes them in Manage too. The address and contact details are on the Company page in Manage.
Click Save and continue.
2. Financial year
Pick the month your year starts in (Year starts in) and the First calendar year.
Financials works out the end date and a label such as FY2027, named after the calendar
year it ends in, and shows them before you save. Click Create year and continue.
You can add later years under Settings → Financial years with New financial year.
3. Bank account
Name the account your statements will be uploaded against, for example "FNB Business Cheque", and add the Bank and Account number if you like. Click Save and continue.
To add another bank account later, open Chart of accounts, click New account and tick Bank account — statements can be imported into it.
4. Get started
Choose where your books start:
- Upload a bank statement: start from your bank. See Bank statements.
- Import from previous financials: bring the closing balances over from your old books as one opening entry.
For opening balances, set Balances as at to the day before your first year starts, add a row per account with its balance, and click Post opening balances. Assets post as debits, and liabilities and equity as credits. If the two sides don't agree, the difference goes to Retained Earnings (or Owner's equity if you have no Retained Earnings account) so the entry balances. The line under the table shows the debits, credits and the difference before you post.
Click Finish when you're done. The dashboard shows "Financials is set up" once every step is complete.
Opening balances after setup
You can also capture opening balances later: open Journal and click Opening balances, or choose Capture opening balances in the ⌘K palette. Anyone who can post journals, Bookkeepers included, can use it. It lists every asset, liability and equity account with a box for its balance, and an As at date. The Balancing entry figure shows what will go to equity if the sides don't agree, and which account it goes to. Posting takes you to the balance sheet so you can check it.
Dates before your first financial year can always be posted to, so opening balances never land in a locked period.
The chart of accounts
Your chart of accounts is created from your country's defaults the first time you open Chart of accounts. Each account has a code, a name and a type (Asset, Liability, Equity, Income or Expense). Add your own with New account. You can archive accounts you no longer use, and Show archived brings them back into view.
If your chart is missing some of the defaults, for example because it was created before they were added, Add missing defaults adds them without changing anything you already have.
Reporting framework and preparer
Under Settings → Company, the Financial statements card holds:
- Statements prepared by: printed on the cover of the annual financial statements.
- Reporting framework: sets the statements' titles, which statements are included and the notes a new financial year starts with. The choices depend on your country; see the list on the overview.
Notes you've already edited are never replaced when you change framework, and a finalised pack keeps the framework it was prepared under.
Are you an AI? Visit llms.txt — these docs as plain markdown.