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Entering Business Settings

Tapping the business listed in the Settings screen displays the Business Settings screen, which you can use to change general information about the business, including the financial year end date (P&L consolidation date), VAT details, invoice information, etc.

You can also use the screen to delete the business entirely, but please note that if you do this, all data for that business is also deleted.

The screen contains the following sections:

Business Settings

Business Name

This specifies the name of the business, as listed in the Businesses screen. 

Email Address

Specify an email address for the business. EasyBooks adds the email address to any emails you send from EasyBooks that relate to the business, such as those containing a report, invoice or delivery note. The email address is added to the "To" or "Bcc" field of the email, depending on the type of document you send. 

Currency

This selects the currency used to record transactions in the business. If a specific currency is not selected from the list, EasyBooks uses the selected currency from the Language & Region settings on the device. The currency code is displayed on invoices by default but you can choose to hide it if you prefer. For details about how to do this, see Entering Invoice Settings.

Business Settings

P&L Report

This sets the basis for accounting in the Profit and Loss report. You can choose between the following:

  • Accrual (standard)
  • Cash basis

Most businesses use the standard accrual basis for accounting. This records income and expenses by the date you invoiced or were billed. Some small businesses can choose to use cash basis instead, meaning income and expenses are only reported afterpayment is received for sales and made for purchases.

EasyBooks uses the standard accrual model internally but is able to adjust the Profit and Loss report to show the cash basis figures. To do this, the customer and supplier balances are used to prepare a list of unpaid invoices using the balance-forward method.

The balance-forward method is also used by the Aged Debt reports. Any payments received from a customer account pay off the oldest debt first.

For each unpaid invoice, the amounts shown in the report for income and expenses are reduced. This leaves an overall amount which represents the payments received in the report period.

Next P&L Consolidation

This specifies the date of the next Profit and Loss consolidation. That is, the end date of the financial year. You can use the Profit and Loss Report to perform a Profit and Loss consolidation when the current date is beyond the date shown here. The date is automatically updated when you perform a consolidation.

Reports such as the Profit and Loss Report and Balance Sheet Report use the date to report financial information for the year.

P&L Period (months)

This specifies the length of your financial period (normally 12 months). The setting is used to adjust Next P&L Consolidation when you perform a Profit and Loss consolidation.

VAT

The following settings are available in this section:

VAT Registered?

Choose Yes if the business is registered for VAT. If the business is not registered for VAT, choose No to reduce the number of options, accounts and and other information displayed in EasyBooks.

Scheme

A number of VAT schemes are supported in EasyBooks.

  • Standard Scheme - You are liable for VAT you collect from your sales on the date of your sale. You can reclaim VAT you have paid in your purchases on the date of each purchase. The amount of VAT you pay is not affected by whether you have received payment from your customers for your sales or whether you have paid your suppliers.

  • Cash Scheme - You are liable for VAT you collect from sales only after you have received payment from your customers. Equally, you cannot reclaim VAT paid on your purchases until you have paid your suppliers. EasyBooks applies an adjustment to your VAT return to allow for unpaid sales and purchase invoices at the end of the VAT period.

  • Cash Scheme (Sales only) - Similar to the cash scheme, except you are able to reclaim VAT on purchases as soon as you receive the purchase invoice from your supplier. You do not need to pay the VAT you collect from your sales until after your customers have paid you.

  • Flat Rate (Standard) - If you operate the flat-rate scheme, you should supply your customers with sales invoices containing VAT, but you do not need to account for VAT separately on your purchases. A special VAT account is created for you to record purchase of high-value assets that you are able to reclaim VAT for. You should set the appropriate flat-rate percentage for your business. 

    Note: If your flat-rate changes, EasyBooks will show all your previous VAT reports with the new rate. This does not affect the amount you owe because only the act of filing a return in the VAT Report moves money between your accounts.

  • Flat Rate (Cash) - As above, but you are liable for flat-rate VAT you collect from sales only after you have received payment from your customers.

Standard Rate (%)

Specify the standard VAT rate.

EasyBooks uses the value you specify here as the default VAT rate in the "VAT sale standard" and "VAT purchase standard" accounts, as shown in the Accounts screen. "VAT sale standard" and "VAT purchase standard" determine the VAT content when you choose the standard rate in, for example , the Sales and Purchases screens.

Please refer to "About VAT Accounts" in the Accounts screen for additional information about the accounts set up for VAT.

Next Period End

This specifies the end date of the next VAT return you need to file. You can use the VAT Report to file a VAT return when the current date is beyond the date shown here. The date is updated automatically when you file the return.

 

Period (months)

This specifies the length of your VAT period (normally 3 months). The setting is used to adjust Next Period End when you file a VAT return.

VAT Scheme Name

If you are operating a compatible scheme using a different name, such as GST or IVA, enter the name here. With the exception of account names, EasyBooks changes all instances of "VAT" to the text you specify. You may want to use the Accounts screen to change the names of your VAT accounts too.

Invoices

Use the settings in this section to enter information about the business that will appear in estimates, sales invoices and customer statements. See Entering Invoice Settings for details.

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