Smart Books
Add your customers, suppliers and accounts
Every customer, supplier, bank and expense you use needs an account. Here is how to add one.
Before you start
Who this is for
Anyone setting up Smart Books, or adding a new customer or supplier before making an entry.
Before you start
- Your company set up in Smart Books.
- The customer’s or supplier’s name, and their GSTIN and address if they are GST registered.
Steps
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Step 1: Open Accounts
In the side menu, open Masters and choose Accounts. The keyboard shortcut is Alt+L.
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Step 2: Add a new account
Choose Add Account and type the Ledger name — the name you want to see on entries and reports.
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Step 3: Put it in the right group
Pick the Primary reporting group. Customers go under Sundry Debtors and suppliers under Sundry Creditors; banks, expenses and income have their own groups.
Tip: The group decides where the account shows up in your Balance Sheet and Profit & Loss, so it is worth getting right.
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Step 4: Add contact and GST details
Under Contact & address, add the phone, email and address. Under Statutory & tax, add the GSTIN, GST registration type and PAN — Smart Books uses these to work out GST on your bills.
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Step 5: Set credit terms (optional)
Under Credit & billing, set Credit days and a Credit limit, and turn on Bill-by-bill if you want to track each invoice separately. For a bank account, fill in Bank details.
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Step 6: Save
Save the account. It is now ready to pick on any sale, purchase, receipt or payment.
What happens next
The account is listed under Masters → Accounts and can be chosen on every entry. Customers and suppliers you add here also appear in Billing’s Parties list, because Billing reads them from Smart Books.
Questions
What is a ledger?
It is simply an account — one page in your books for one customer, supplier, bank or type of income or expense.
Can I add many accounts at once?
Yes. Operations → Imports lets you bring accounts in from a spreadsheet, and Operations → Bulk Update lets you fix addresses, contact details or opening balances for many accounts together.
Where do I add items I sell?
Items are kept in the Inventory app, so stock and prices are maintained in one place. See the Inventory guide on adding an item.
Ready? Try it now.
Open Smart Books in a new tab and follow along.