Getting started with Finance
The order in which to set up Finance before the first posting, with the menu path for each step.
Before you begin
You need a company administrator account for the setup steps. Day-to-day users need only the permissions for the screens they use; the permission for each task is shown at the top of its guide.
Work through the steps below in order. Later steps depend on earlier ones.
Steps
- Create the chart of accounts. Open Finance as a company administrator. If the company has no accounts yet, press Initialize chart of accounts. To move to the 6-digit GCC reference chart, open Finance > Configuration > Chart of accounts and press Use the GCC reference chart. This can be done once only. See Set up accounts, journals, taxes and dimensions.
- Map the posting accounts. Open Finance > Configuration > Posting accounts and check that each role (cash, bank charges, retained earnings, output tax, input tax, foreign exchange and so on) points at the right account. A posting that needs an empty role is refused.
- Review the journal types. Open Finance > Configuration > Journals. Decide whether manual journals need approval before posting. As shipped, no type needs approval.
- Set the fiscal year. Open Finance > Configuration > Settings and choose the month the Year starts in. Then open Finance > Configuration > Accounting periods, enter the fiscal year and press Generate twelve months.
- Install taxes. Open Finance > Configuration > Taxes, press Install a country's taxes and choose AE for the UAE (SA, BH, OM, QA and KW are also available). Add fiscal positions under Finance > Configuration > Fiscal positions if you sell to exporters or free zones.
- Set up analysis dimensions. Under Finance > Configuration, create the values of the dimensions you will use (Branch, Cost centre, Department, Project, Profit centre). Add account structure rules only when you are ready for them to refuse postings.
- Add bank accounts. Open Finance > Banking > Bank accounts, press New bank account and link each to a ledger account. See Import and reconcile bank statements.
- Enter exchange rates if you deal in foreign currencies. Open Finance > Configuration > Exchange rates; one person enters the rate and a different person approves it. See Foreign exchange and month-end adjustments.
- Load opening balances when you move from another system. See Load opening balances.
- Give people their roles. Assign roles in the Users administration. Keep preparing and approving permissions with different people; the access review lists combinations that conflict, for example preparing journals and posting them.
- Post the first record. Create a small test entry as described in Post a manual journal entry, then check it on Finance > Accounting > Journal items and on the trial balance.
Optional settings to decide early
- Approval on journals. Turn on Needs approval before posting on a journal type if typed entries must be checked.
- Which parts are on. Under Administration > Applications > Finance > Features an administrator can propose switching off parts you do not use; a second administrator approves. Under Fields you can make fields such as the payment reference required.
- Collections policy. Open Finance > Configuration > Collection policy and dunning levels and press Add the standard levels.
- Instrument types. For treasury, press Add the standard types under Finance > Configuration > Treasury instrument types.
What happens next
After setup the dashboard (Finance > Dashboard) shows revenue, expenses, receivables, payables and cash for the period you choose. Invoices and bills raised in Sales and Purchase post their entries automatically; Finance records the receipts and payments that settle them.
Good to know
- A posting is refused until the period it falls in is open and the lock date is behind it.
- Control accounts (receivables, payables and similar) are not available on ordinary manual journals.
- Once an account has posted lines, its class, posting type and subledger link cannot change.