# fiscal50: full product reference Source: https://www.fiscal50.com/ | Updated: 2026-11-11 fiscal50 is AI-powered bookkeeping and accounting software for small businesses and bookkeepers. It syncs bank and credit card feeds, recommends and explains every categorization, posts double-entry journal entries, reconciles accounts and produces financial statements, with invoicing, bills, inventory, fixed assets, 1099s and month-end close in one place. ## Company fiscal50, Inc, doing business as fiscal50. 6009 W Parker Rd, Ste 149-1248, Plano, TX 75093, United States. Founded 2023. Email support@fiscal50.com. Sister company: Maven Systems (https://www.mavensystems.us), which offers bookkeeping courses and Maven PMP practice management. ## Pricing (USD) ### Starter: $5.50 per month, or $59.50 per year For owners who want clean books without the busywork. 1 user. Fifty: unlimited Instant Answers, 25 AI Assist questions a month. First month free. No credit card required. - Bank integration through Plaid for 1 bank or credit card, Excel import and AI recommendations - Fifty, AI accountant: unlimited Instant Answers and 25 AI Assist questions a month - Invoices in 2 formats, bills and journal entries - Pre-configured chart of accounts, or create your own - Inventory and asset tracking - Financial reports - fiscal50 Academy lessons, guides and quizzes; e-mail support ### Business: $19.50 per month, or $210.50 per year Auto-reconciliation, online payments, 1099 and tax export. Up to 3 users. Fifty: unlimited Instant Answers, 50 AI Assist questions a month, tasks from the chat. - Everything in Starter - Bank integration for up to 5 banks and credit cards - Auto-reconciliation, month after month - Fifty runs tasks from the chat; 50 AI Assist questions a month - Online payments and more invoice formats - Check printing with a live preview - 1099-NEC: Copy B and CSVs for Track1099, Tax1099 and TaxBandits - Tax software export for TaxAct and Intuit - Operational and summary reports, Excel exports - Batch automation: recurring invoices, deferrals, depreciation, reminders ### Business Pro: $30.50 per month, or $329.50 per year More people, locations and companies, plus checkout pages and proposals. Up to 10 users. Fifty: unlimited Instant Answers, 100 AI Assist questions a month, tasks from the chat. - Everything in Business - Bank integration for up to 10 banks and credit cards - Checkout pages: payment links and QR codes, one-time or recurring - Proposals with online approval and progressive invoicing - Add and switch between companies - Prior-year balance sheets and year-over-year comparisons - Up to 10 users, multiple locations and special categories - App integrations (up to 2 apps) - 100 AI Assist questions a month ### Plan comparison (Starter | Business | Business Pro) Bank transactions to books: - Import transactions from Excel or CSV: included | included | included - AI recommendations: included | included | included - Live bank and card feeds through Plaid: included | included | included - Banks and credit cards you can connect: 1 | Up to 5 | Up to 10 - Auto-reconciliation of bank, card and loan accounts: not included | included | included Fifty, AI accountant: - Instant Answers from the fiscal50 guides: Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited - AI Assist questions a month: 25 | 50 | 100 - Tasks from the chat (create invoices, bills, payments): not included | included | included Accounting and bookkeeping: - Invoicing and income: included | included | included - Invoice formats: 2 formats | Multiple formats | Multiple formats - Bills and expenses: included | included | included - Online payments: not included | included | included - Checkout pages: payment links and QR codes: not included | not included | included - Proposals with online approval and progressive invoicing: not included | not included | included - Check printing with live preview: not included | included | included - 1099-NEC tracking, Copy B and e-file CSV exports: not included | included | included - Chart of accounts: pre-configured or your own: included | included | included - Journal entries: included | included | included - Inventory management: included | included | included - Asset tracking: included | included | included - Financial reports: included | included | included - Prior-year balance sheets and comparisons: not included | not included | included - Tax software export (TaxAct and Intuit): not included | included | included - Operational and summary reports: not included | included | included - Export report data to Excel: not included | included | included Batch processing automation: - Recurring invoices: not included | included | included - Deferred income and expenses: not included | included | included - Automatic asset depreciation: not included | included | included - Payment email reminders: not included | included | included - App integrations: not included | not included | Up to 2 apps Access and permissions: - Users: 1 user | Up to 3 users | Up to 10 users - Approval workflow: included | included | included - Locations: Single location | Single location | Multiple locations - Special categories: not included | not included | included - Add and switch between companies: not included | not included | included - Bookkeeper login: included | included | included Support and learning: - Email support: included | included | included - fiscal50 Academy: lessons, guides and quizzes: included | included | included Bookkeepers and accounting firms use the fiscal50 Bookkeeper Workspace (register free: https://bookkeepers.fiscal50.com/register/?plan=connect). Plans: Connect (free, 1 seat (the owner)), Practice ($15.50/month, or $13.95/month billed yearly, $167.40 a year, 10% less, up to 4 seats (owner + 3)), Firm ($49.50/month, or $44.55/month billed yearly, $534.60 a year, 10% less, up to 11 seats (owner + 10, contact us for more)). Client fiscal50 licenses at partner prices: retail less 15% to 30% depending on licenses held. Partner program: 20% revenue share for 12 months per referred or client-paid company, 25% for Gold partners with 10+ active clients, paid through Stripe Connect. ## Bookkeeping and banking ### Banks to Books (https://www.fiscal50.com/automated-bookkeeping/) Banks to Books is the fiscal50 workflow that records your bank and credit card transactions in your books. You connect accounts through Plaid (or add them manually and upload transaction files), and each transaction waits as Pending on the Deposits or Withdrawals tab with an AI recommendation already selected, such as an Income Entry, an Expense Entry or a payment against an existing invoice or bill. You confirm or change the recommendation, open its explanation to see why the AI chose it, and post one transaction, a page, or a queued batch. Anything posted can be corrected later from the Recorded to fiscal50 tab, one transaction at a time or in bulk with Editable Mode. - Connect accounts with Plaid or by file: Sync Bank / Credit Card links bank and credit card accounts through Plaid, and fiscal50 creates a Chart of Accounts entry for each one. Accounts that aren't on Plaid can be added manually and fed with a Web Connect file, the bank's Excel export, a QuickBooks IIF export or the fiscal50 CSV. - AI recommendation on every transaction: For every deposit and withdrawal, the AI suggests the customer or vendor, the income service or expense category, the matching invoice or bill, and the account. Entry suggestions come from how you recorded similar transactions before; invoice, bill and check matches compare the transaction's date, description and amount. - See why the AI chose it: Every recommendation comes with its explanation: the reason, a confidence score and the evidence behind it, such as 8 prior transactions. Check it before you override a suggestion. - Learns from your corrections: Every recording and every changed recommendation is a signal the engine learns from in the background. Click Refresh to re-run the AI so a correction on one transaction reaches similar pending transactions. - Bulk work: multiple-apply, splits and batch posting: The multiple-apply button sets one transaction type and category or account on all selected rows. A single transaction can be split across several accounts or categories, and you can post one row, the whole page, or queue the selection for the next batch. - Credit cards work the same way: A credit card is another account on the Banks tab, with Expenses and Refund/Other Deposits tabs. Card payments made from your bank are detected and marked Auto Record, so they aren't recorded twice. - Fix posted transactions in bulk: On the Recorded to fiscal50 tab, Editable Mode lets you filter, assign a new category or account to many transactions, and click Update Bookkeeping. Edit Transaction changes one item's entry type, category, account, split lines, location, special category or date. - Two kinds of delete: Delete Transaction removes the entry from your books and returns the transaction to Pending so you can record it again. Delete From Bank Feed removes a duplicate or test entry from fiscal50 completely. How it works in fiscal50: 1. Connect or add accounts: Click Sync Bank / Credit Card to link an account through Plaid, or use the down arrow and choose Add Bank Account, then Upload Bank Transactions. fiscal50 creates the Chart of Accounts entries. 2. Pick the month: On the Banks tab, choose All Months or a specific month in the Pending Transactions dropdown, or click the calendar button for a month summary. Transactions arrive as Pending deposits and withdrawals. 3. Review and categorize: On the Deposits and Withdrawals tabs, check the option pre-selected under Add Transaction As and the details under Add Transaction Details. Check the explanation when unsure, change the row if needed, then click Refresh. 4. Post: Click the green Post button on a row, post all selected transactions on the page with the top-right Post button, or choose Queue for next batch. Posted transactions move to Recorded to fiscal50. 5. Correct if needed: On the Recorded to fiscal50 tab, use Editable Mode or Edit Transaction to modify, Delete Transaction to send an item back to Pending, or Delete From Bank Feed to remove it. In the books: Nothing posts until you click Post. Then each transaction becomes a balanced entry against the bank or card account. Statuses: Pending; Auto Record. Rules and limits: - Plaid-linked accounts fetch transactions automatically at regular intervals; manually added accounts get transactions only when you upload a file. - New transactions sync from the point you link an account with Plaid; earlier periods are brought in with Upload Bank Transactions. Uploading a period the sync already covers creates duplicates. - Upload Bank Transactions accepts four formats: the bank's Web Connect file, the bank's Excel export, a QuickBooks IIF transactions export, and the fiscal50-format CSV. A PDF statement is not accepted. - Recommendations are pre-selected but never posted for you; nothing reaches your books until you click Post, post the page or queue a batch. - Manually Logged is never recommended by the AI; you choose it when a transaction was already recorded elsewhere in fiscal50. - Reconcile Check / ACH is used only when the payment was first recorded in fiscal50 as an outstanding item (for withdrawals, a check written through fiscal50 check printing); otherwise use Other Deposits or Other Withdrawals. - Split amounts must total the bank transaction. - Refresh only changes suggestions on pending transactions; it never changes posted transactions. - Only Income Entry, Expense Entry, Other Deposits and Other Withdrawals can be modified after posting. Payment for an Already Created Invoice, Payment for an Already Created Bill and Reconciled Check / ACH payments must be deleted (back to Pending) and recorded again. - Editable Mode changes only the category or account; Assign fills the New Category column and the books change only when you click Apply or Update Bookkeeping. - Delete From Bank Feed is permanent inside fiscal50: the transaction never returns to Pending and can't be recorded again. Q: How do I categorize my bank transactions? A: Click Banks, pick a month (or All Months) in the Pending Transactions dropdown and open the Deposits and Withdrawals tabs. On each row, check the AI-recommended option in Add Transaction As and the details in Add Transaction Details, adjust if needed, then click the green Post. Fix anything posted later from the Recorded to fiscal50 tab. Q: Is the AI recommendation posted automatically? A: No. Recommendations are pre-selected on each row, but nothing is recorded until you click Post, post the page, or queue a batch. Q: Can I change the recommended option? A: Yes. Pick any option in Add Transaction As; the AI learns from your choice. Click Refresh so similar pending transactions pick up the correction. Q: How far back will my bank transactions sync? A: New transactions sync from the point you link the account with Plaid. Bring earlier periods in with Upload Bank Transactions (Web Connect, the bank's Excel export, QuickBooks IIF or the fiscal50 CSV), and avoid overlapping periods so you don't get duplicates. Q: What is the difference between Delete Transaction and Delete From Bank Feed? A: Delete Transaction removes the recording and returns the transaction to Pending so it can be recorded again. Delete From Bank Feed removes it from fiscal50 completely; it never reappears as Pending and can't be recorded again. Q: Do credit cards work like bank accounts in Banks to Books? A: Yes. A credit card is another account on the Banks tab with the same transaction list, AI recommendations, options, splits, posting and corrections. Only the tab names differ (Expenses and Refund/Other Deposits), and card payments from your bank are marked Auto Record. ### Bank reconciliation (https://www.fiscal50.com/automated-bank-reconciliation/) fiscal50 reconciles your bank, credit card and loan accounts for you. Auto-reconciliation predicts each period’s ending balance from your books and the bank feed and checks it against the bank: the balance verdict. When they agree, fiscal50’s AI agents clear the matching transactions, reconcile the period and move straight on to the next one, month after month, until every account is up to date or something needs you, such as an ending balance that doesn’t agree or a transaction that isn’t recorded yet. They stop on that period and tell you exactly why. You can also reconcile any period yourself: enter the statement balance, review what cleared, and complete it when the Difference is 0. - Auto-reconciliation: AI agents reconcile each account period by period without you starting every month, and keep going until every account is current or one needs your attention. - Balance verdict first: Before a period is reconciled, fiscal50 predicts its ending balance from your books and checks it against the bank, so nothing is marked reconciled unless the numbers agree. - Stops with a reason: When it can’t go on, such as a charge that isn’t recorded or a balance that differs, it stops on that period and shows why. Fix it and auto-reconciliation picks up from there. - Automatic clearing: When reconciliation starts, fiscal50 runs an algorithm on each transaction and clears the ones that are correctly recorded and matched on amount, date and account. You only review the exceptions: Pending items to record and Uncleared items to investigate. - Bank, credit card and liability accounts: Bank accounts reconcile by calendar month, credit cards by statement period generated from the card's closing day, and loans or lines of credit by the lender's period. Loans connected through Plaid appear on the Banks tab automatically; others are added with Add Liability Account. - Clear status on every transaction: Each transaction in the period is marked Cleared, Uncleared or Pending, so you can see what is matched, what hasn't reached the bank yet, and what still needs recording. - Locked chain of balances: Periods reconcile in sequence, and each opening balance is locked by the previous completed period. Completing a period marks it Reconciled, unlocks the next one and carries the ending balance forward. - Details and Summary reports: Completed periods get a Details Report (beginning, clearing, uncleared and ending balances plus every cleared and uncleared deposit and withdrawal) and a Summary. Both export to Excel. Reconcile a period yourself: 1. Open Reconciliation: Go to the Banks tab, click the three-dot menu next to the bank, credit card or liability account and select Reconciliation. A summary screen lists each period with its status. 2. Enter the ending balance: Select the month or statement period, type the ending balance from the statement, and click Start Reconciliation (Resume Reconciliation on later visits). Changes save automatically. 3. Work the exceptions: fiscal50 auto-clears matched transactions. Record Pending items from the Deposits or Withdrawals screen, and tick Select for clearing for Uncleared items that are on the statement. 4. Complete the period: When the Difference is 0, Complete Reconciliation becomes active. Click it to mark the period Reconciled and unlock the next one. 5. Open the reports: On the summary screen, click the icon under Details Report or Summary for a completed period, and use the Excel button at the top right to export it. In the books: Reconciliation posts nothing by itself. Clearing only marks transactions as matched; a Pending item posts when you record it from Deposits or Withdrawals. Statuses: Not started; In progress; Completed; Cleared; Uncleared; Pending. Rules and limits: - Periods reconcile in sequence: the previous month, statement or period must be Completed first. - The first month of a financial year needs the previous year's reconciliation completed. - Bank Opening Balance is locked by the previous completed period; a wrong opening balance can only be fixed in the one-time first-time setup (No → correct balance → Save → upload previous uncleared transactions). - Auto-clearing needs amount, date and account to match; anything else stays Uncleared until it is fixed or ticked in Select for clearing. - Pending transactions (in the feed but not recorded in fiscal50) must be recorded from Deposits or Withdrawals before they can clear. - Complete Reconciliation is active only when the Difference is 0. - The credit card closing day is set once per card; individual statement dates can still be edited. - For a loan, only the principal portion of a payment reduces the liability and clears against the lender's statement. - Details Report and Summary icons appear only for completed periods. - Reconciliation posts nothing by itself: clearing only marks transactions as matched, and recording Pending items posts them through Deposits or Withdrawals. Q: What does auto-reconciliation do? A: For each account, fiscal50 predicts the period’s ending balance from your books and checks it against the bank. When they agree, its AI agents clear the matching transactions, reconcile the period and move on to the next, month after month, until the account is up to date or something needs you. Q: Why did auto-reconciliation stop? A: It stops on the first period where the books and the bank don’t agree yet, for example an ending balance that differs or a bank transaction that isn’t recorded in fiscal50. It shows the period and the reason; fix it and it carries on from there. Q: How do I reconcile my bank account? A: Banks tab › the bank's three-dot menu › Reconciliation. Pick the month, enter the ending balance from the bank statement, click Start Reconciliation, record Pending items and tick Uncleared ones on the statement until the Difference is 0, then click Complete Reconciliation. Q: What is automatic transaction clearing? A: When reconciliation starts, fiscal50 runs an algorithm on each transaction and clears the ones that are correctly recorded and matched, so you only review exceptions: Pending items to record and Uncleared items to investigate. Q: Why wasn't a transaction cleared automatically? A: Auto-clearing needs amount, date and account to match. A different date, a rounding difference or a wrong account keeps it Uncleared. Fix the recording, or tick Select for clearing if it is on the statement. Q: Do I have to reconcile months in order? A: Yes. You must complete the previous month before moving to the next, because each month's opening balance is locked by the month before it. The first month of a financial year needs the previous year's reconciliation completed. Q: How do I reconcile a credit card? A: Banks tab › the credit card's three-dot menu › Reconciliation. The first time, select the card's closing day so fiscal50 can generate the statement periods. Then select the statement period, enter the statement ending balance, Start Reconciliation, clear or record until the Difference is 0, and Complete Reconciliation. Q: Does reconciliation post anything to the books? A: No. Clearing only marks transactions as matched. Recording Pending items posts them through Deposits or Withdrawals, and completing a period locks its ending balance. Q: Can a bookkeeper see reconciliation status for every client? A: Yes. In the fiscal50 Bookkeeper Workspace, the reconciliation view shows a month-by-month grid for each client’s banks and cards and flags anything posted or deleted after a reconciliation. Open the client’s books with Log in to finish a period. ### Register (https://www.fiscal50.com/account-register/) The Register shows every transaction in one account, such as a bank account, a credit card or another account in your chart of accounts, in date order with the balance after each one and the account’s ending balance at the top. Pick the account from the dropdown, or open it from the Register link in Chart of Accounts. Each row shows the date, the type with its check or reference number, the name with its account and the memo, and the amount under Deposit (DR) or Payment (CR). Add a transaction straight into the list with Quick entry or open the full form with + Add Entry, search, sort and filter the list, and use the menu on any row to open and edit that transaction. - Any account, one dropdown: Choose the bank, credit card or other account at the top of the page. Its number and name stay in the header next to the ending balance. - A running balance on every row: Each transaction shows the account balance after it, so you can see exactly when the account went up or down. Negative balances show in red brackets. - Deposits and payments side by side: Money in sits under Deposit (DR) and money out under Payment (CR), with the date, type, check or reference number, name, account and memo on the same row. - Quick entry: Click + Quick entry to type a transaction straight into the register: date, type, check number, name, account, memo and amount. Save it and it takes its place in date order. - The full form when you need it: + Add Entry opens the full entry form for a transaction that needs more detail. - Edit from the row: The ⋮ menu on each row opens that transaction so you can change it. The register and its running balance update after you save. - Search, sort and filter: Search any text, sort by date, type, deposit or payment, choose how many rows to show, and use the filter to narrow the list. - Room to work: Full screen gives the register the whole window when you are working through a long month. Add a transaction with Quick entry: 1. Open the Register: Click Register in the top menu, or the Register link next to an account in Chart of Accounts. 2. Pick the account: Choose the bank, credit card or other account in the dropdown at the top. 3. Click + Quick entry: A new row opens at the top of the register. 4. Fill in the row: Enter the date, type, check or reference number, name, account, memo and the deposit or payment amount. 5. Save: The transaction drops into date order and every balance after it is recalculated. Q: What is the Register? A: A list of every transaction in one account in date order, with the balance after each one and the account’s ending balance at the top. It works like a checkbook register for any account. Q: Which accounts have a register? A: Bank accounts, credit cards and the other accounts in your chart of accounts. Pick the account in the dropdown, or use the Register link next to the account in Chart of Accounts. Q: What do Deposit (DR) and Payment (CR) mean? A: Deposit (DR) is a debit to the account, such as money coming into a bank account. Payment (CR) is a credit, such as money going out. The Balance column adds them up row by row. Q: What is the difference between Quick entry and + Add Entry? A: Quick entry adds a transaction in a row right inside the register. + Add Entry opens the full entry form for transactions that need more detail. Q: Can I edit a transaction from the register? A: Yes. Open the ⋮ menu on its row to open the transaction and change it. The running balance updates when you save. Q: How do I find a transaction? A: Type any text into Search, sort a column such as Date or Payment (CR), or use the filter button to narrow the list. ### Journal entries (https://www.fiscal50.com/journal-entries/) Add Journal Entry is where you post anything that isn’t an invoice, bill or payment: accruals, depreciation adjustments, reclassifications, owner contributions and corrections. Each entry has a Document No., Transaction Date and Memo, an optional Payee and Ref/Check No., and as many account lines as you need, each with a debit or a credit. The totals at the bottom show whether debits equal credits before you save, and you can attach the document behind the entry. View Journal Entries lists what you’ve posted so you can open and edit an entry, and entries can also be imported in bulk, including bank journal entries. - The basics, every time: Document No., Transaction Date and Memo are required on every entry, so each one can be found and explained later. - Payee and reference: Name the payee and add a Ref/Check No. when the entry relates to someone you pay or a specific document. - As many lines as you need: Pick an account on each line and enter its debit or credit. The + button adds another line for a split entry. - Find the account fast: The filter button beside each account box narrows the list, so the right account is a few clicks away even in a long chart of accounts. - Totals before you save: Debit and credit totals add up at the bottom of the entry. An entry posts only when the two are equal. - Attach the backup: Click to upload a file attaches the invoice, estimate or schedule behind the entry, so the reason stays with the numbers. - A new account without leaving: + Add Chart of Accounts at the top adds a missing account while you are writing the entry. - View, edit and import: View Journal Entries lists every entry so you can open and edit it. Import Journal Entries and Import Bank Journal Entries bring many in at once. Post a journal entry: 1. Open Add Journal Entry: Go to Journal › Add Journal Entry. The Document No. is filled in for you. 2. Fill in the header: Set the Transaction Date and type a Memo; add a Payee and Ref/Check No. if they apply. 3. Add the lines: Pick an account on each line and enter its debit or credit. Click + for more lines. 4. Check the totals: The Debit and Credit totals at the bottom must match. 5. Attach and save: Attach the supporting document if you have one, then click Save. In the books: A journal entry posts exactly the lines you enter. Here, October’s utilities are accrued before the bill arrives. Q: When should I use a journal entry? A: For anything that isn’t an invoice, bill or payment: accruals, depreciation adjustments, reclassifications between accounts, owner contributions and corrections. Q: Do debits have to equal credits? A: Yes. The totals at the bottom of the entry show both, and an entry posts only when they are equal. Q: Which fields are required? A: Document No., Transaction Date and Memo. Payee and Ref/Check No. are optional. Q: Can I edit a journal entry after saving it? A: Yes. Open it from View Journal Entries, make the change and save. Q: Can I import journal entries? A: Yes. Import Journal Entries brings many entries in at once, and Import Bank Journal Entries brings in bank journal entries. Q: Where do journal entries show up? A: In the general ledger, the Journal report and the register of every account the entry touches, and in your financial statements. ### Fifty, AI accountant (https://www.fiscal50.com/ai-bookkeeping-assistant/) Fifty is the assistant built into fiscal50. Ask it how to do something and it answers from fiscal50's own user guides, with numbered steps, a link to the lesson and a Take me there button that opens the screen. It can also run tasks from the chat, such as creating an invoice, entering a vendor bill or recording a payment, and shows a summary for you to confirm before anything is created. Curated Instant Answers are free and unlimited; AI Assist answers have a monthly allowance that depends on the plan. - Answers from the fiscal50 guides: Instant Answers come from about 6,900 answers prepared from the fiscal50 user guides and lessons. They are free and unlimited. - AI Assist: On plans that include it, AI Assist is the default mode: each question gets an answer written from the fiscal50 guides, marked as an AI answer with the guides it is based on, and counted against a monthly allowance. Switch to Instant for free curated answers. - Take me there: Answers about a screen carry a button that opens that screen in fiscal50, for example "Add customer invoice". Most fiscal50 screens have one. - Tasks from the chat: Fifty can create records for you: create and e-mail an invoice or an invoice reminder, add a customer, vendor, payee, product, service, expense category or chart-of-accounts account, enter a vendor bill, record a customer or vendor payment, write a check, create a checkout page or a proposal, upload a bill or receipt, add a journal entry, send a vendor bill payment reminder, and record an asset sale, write-off or depreciation. - Confirm before anything is saved: Fifty asks for what it needs one question at a time, then shows a summary. Nothing is created until you confirm it. - Reports and answers about your books: Ask for figures such as profit for a period, revenue, expenses, receivables, payables, bank balance, a balance sheet, a trial balance or an income statement, and Fifty reads them from your books. - Lessons in the same place: Answers about a screen link to its Academy lesson and user guide, so you can learn the screen properly when you need to. In the books: Fifty posts nothing on its own. A task saves the record through the normal fiscal50 screen, after you confirm, so the entry is that screen’s own. Rules and limits: - Instant Answers are free and unlimited on every plan. - AI Assist questions per monthly period: Starter 25, Business 50, Business Pro 100, bookkeeper and multi-company accounts 100, trial accounts 20. The period starts on the day the account was created and rolls month to month. - When the AI Assist allowance is used up, Fifty switches to Instant Answers for the rest of the period. - Tasks from the chat are available on Business, Business Pro and bookkeeper accounts, with no monthly cap on completed tasks. They are not available on Starter or multi-company accounts. - Every task that creates something shows a summary and waits for you to confirm it. - Fifty never posts or approves anything from the Bookkeeper Workspace; there it only reads and suggests. Q: What is the difference between Instant Answers and AI Assist? A: Instant Answers are prepared answers taken from the fiscal50 guides; they are free and unlimited. AI Assist, the default on plans that include it, writes each answer from the guides, shows the guides it used and counts against your plan's monthly allowance. You can switch between the two in the chat. Q: How many AI Assist questions do I get? A: Per monthly period: 25 on Starter, 50 on Business and 100 on Business Pro (bookkeepers 100). When they run out, Fifty switches to Instant Answers until the period resets. Q: Can Fifty change my books without asking? A: No. For every task, Fifty collects the details, shows a summary and waits for you to confirm before anything is created. Q: What does Take me there do? A: It opens the fiscal50 screen the answer is about, so you can do the task straight away. Q: Which tasks can Fifty do? A: Create and e-mail invoices and invoice reminders, add customers, vendors, payees, products, services, expense categories and chart-of-accounts accounts, enter bills, record payments in and out, send vendor bill payment reminders, write checks, create checkout pages and proposals, upload bills and receipts, add journal entries, and record asset sales, write-offs and depreciation. It can also answer questions about your figures and run reports. ### Integrations (https://www.fiscal50.com/integrations/) fiscal50 connects to the services your money already runs through. Link bank, credit card and loan accounts through Plaid and their transactions sync into Banks to Books. Connect Stripe to take card and bank payments on invoices and checkout pages, and to record every Stripe payment, fee and payout in your books automatically. Bring payroll in from Gusto’s CSV report, move from QuickBooks Online or Desktop by uploading its exports as they are, including customers, vendors, items and the chart of accounts, and upload Web Connect, Excel or IIF bank files for any bank. - Stripe syncs and posts automatically: Once Stripe is connected and your recording preferences are set, fiscal50 syncs your Stripe transactions and posts them to your books; there is nothing to import by hand. Transactions that can't post automatically wait as pending and are recorded from a monthly summary. - You choose the Stripe accounts: Recording Preferences maps Stripe Balance to an asset account, Stripe Fees to an expense account and Stripe Income to an income account. You can change them at any time; new choices apply to transactions posted from then on. - Secure Stripe sign-in: You sign in on Stripe's own window at connect.stripe.com, so fiscal50 never sees your Stripe password. - Gusto payroll from one CSV: Upload Gusto's Full Summary Report with Import Payroll. fiscal50 lists each employee's wages, taxes, net pay, deductions and reimbursements and builds the payroll journal entry for you. - Preview before you post: Record opens a Journal Entry preview showing every account and amount; nothing reaches your books until you click Verify & Post. - Payroll clears without double-counting: When net pay and tax payments leave your bank, fiscal50 recognizes payroll payments and recommends the clearing or liability account, so the withdrawal is never recorded as a second expense. - Bank and credit card feeds through Plaid: Sync Bank / Credit Card links accounts through Plaid, and fiscal50 creates a Chart of Accounts entry for each. Transactions are fetched automatically at regular intervals. - File upload when there's no live connection: Manually added accounts accept the bank's Web Connect file, the bank's Excel export, a QuickBooks IIF transactions export, or the fiscal50 CSV format. How it works in fiscal50: 1. Open App Integrations: Click Apps in the main menu. If you already have apps connected, click Add External Apps to see the Stripe card. 2. Connect Stripe: Click + Add on the Stripe card, enter your Stripe account's email address, click Continue, then sign in and authorize the connection in Stripe's window. 3. Set recording preferences: In the Stripe row, click Recording Preferences, choose the asset, expense and income accounts for Stripe Balance, Stripe Fees and Stripe Income, and click Apply. 4. Let transactions sync: fiscal50 syncs and posts Stripe transactions automatically. When Total Transactions and Transactions Recorded match, everything is posted. 5. Record anything pending: Click Pending Transactions in the Stripe row and use the Record pending Transactions icon for any month with pending transactions. In the books: Stripe activity posts to the accounts you choose in its recording preferences. Gusto payroll posts when you review and post the preview. Statuses: Active. Rules and limits: - Stripe sign-in happens on connect.stripe.com; allow pop-up windows for fiscal50 if the window doesn't open. - Stripe requires the business owner or someone with significant management responsibility to complete its setup. - Stripe recording preferences apply to transactions posted from the time you set or change them, so set them straight after connecting. - Stripe transactions can't be edited from the list; delete only tests or duplicates. Deleting removes the journal entry but doesn't touch Stripe. - A Stripe payout arriving in the bank is recorded against Stripe Balance, not as income. - Gusto payroll is imported from Gusto's Full Summary Report in CSV format. Saving it parks it in Pending Payrolls; Record, then Verify & Post, puts it in your books. - Remove Payroll is for an uploaded payroll that hasn't been recorded; Delete Payroll deletes a recorded payroll and its journal entry. - Payroll bank withdrawals are recorded as Other Withdrawals against the clearing or liability account, never as an expense. - Plaid-linked accounts fetch transactions automatically at regular intervals, starting from the point you link; earlier periods are uploaded from files. - Bank transaction upload accepts four formats: Web Connect, the bank's Excel export, QuickBooks IIF and the fiscal50 CSV. Q: Do I need to import Stripe transactions? A: No. Once Stripe is connected and your recording preferences are set, fiscal50 syncs and posts your Stripe transactions automatically. Q: Does fiscal50 see my Stripe password? A: No. You sign in on Stripe's own window at connect.stripe.com and authorize the connection; fiscal50 never receives the password. Q: How do I record a Stripe payout to my bank? A: When the payout appears in Banks › Deposits, record it against the Stripe Balance account. The income was already recorded when the payment synced. Q: Which Gusto report should I upload? A: The Full Summary Report for the payroll, in CSV format. Upload it with Import Payroll in the Gusto CSV row on the App Integrations screen. Q: Why shouldn't I record payroll withdrawals as expenses? A: The expense was already recorded when you posted the payroll entry. Recording the withdrawal against the clearing or liability account avoids counting it twice. Q: My bank isn't in the Plaid list. What can I do? A: Add the account manually (the down arrow next to Sync Bank / Credit Card › Add Bank Account) and bring transactions in with Upload Bank Transactions. You can try Link with Plaid later. ## Sales and getting paid ### Invoicing (https://www.fiscal50.com/invoicing-software/) fiscal50 invoices are built in a live template editor: choose the customer, add product or service lines, and the sales tax fills in from your Sales Tax Setup for that item in the customer's state. An invoice can be Normal, Recurring (generated on a schedule, with optional approval) or Deferred Income (revenue spread over 1 to 60 accounting months), and a Normal invoice can be a retainer billed in advance. When you save, fiscal50 debits Accounts Receivable and credits revenue and sales tax payable, and it can email the customer a Pay Invoice Now button and a no-login invoice page. Payments are recorded against one or several invoices, with partial payments, overpayments kept as customer credit, discounts and tax withheld. - Live invoice templates: Choose Classic Emerald, Indigo Night, Golden Ledger or Pearl Minimal; Golden Ledger and Pearl Minimal each offer four colors. The template and color are saved with the invoice and used in the editor, email, hosted page, PDF and previews. - Automatic sales tax: When you pick an item or change the customer, fiscal50 looks up your Sales Tax Setup for that product in the customer's state and fills in the Tax % on the line. You can override it on any line. - Recurring invoices with optional approval: A Recurring invoice generates invoices on a Daily, Weekly, Monthly or Yearly schedule, up to 500 invoices. With Approval Required, each generated invoice waits for your review in Alerts and transactions. - Deferred income: A Deferred Income invoice posts now and spreads the income evenly across 1 to 60 accounting months, recognized at the start, mid or end of each month. - Retainer invoices: Switch on Retainer invoice to bill a client in advance. The invoice gets one locked line with your Retainer service and posts to your retainer liability account instead of income. - Pay Invoice Now and a hosted invoice page: Once Online Payments Setup is complete (Stripe status Active and the Stripe accounts mapped), Send payment link adds a Pay Invoice Now button to the email (card or US bank account). View Invoice opens a no-login page that shows the latest version and paid status, and marks the invoice Viewed. - Flexible customer payments: Record one payment against several invoices as one deposit, take partial payments, keep overpayments as customer credit, and apply discounts or tax withheld. - Every invoice in one list: View All Invoices filters by status and date, searches with an exact-match option, exports to Excel, and offers edit, delete, receive payment, reminders, PDF download, replicate, refunds, returns and attachments per row. How it works in fiscal50: 1. Open Create Invoice and pick a template: Click Sales, then Invoices, then Create Invoice. Hover a thumbnail in the template gallery to preview it, then click it (or Use this template) to open the editor in that design. 2. Choose the invoice type: Normal is a one-time invoice. Recurring generates invoices on a schedule, and Deferred Income spreads the income over the accounting months you choose. Recurring and Deferred Income accept services only. 3. Choose the customer, dates and number: Under Bill To choose the customer; their billing address, email and saved terms fill in. The invoice date defaults to today, the terms calculate the due date, and the suggested invoice number can be changed if it stays unique. 4. Add line items: Click + Add Line and pick an item from your catalog, grouped by category and tagged Product or Service. Rate, description and quantity prefill, and the Tax % fills in from Sales Tax Setup for the customer's state. 5. Choose delivery, preview and save: Turn on Email this invoice on save and, once Online Payments Setup is complete, Send payment link. Check the Invoice, Email and PDF previews, then Save, Save & Receive Payment or Save & New. In the books: Saving an invoice books the receivable. Cash moves only when the payment is recorded. Statuses: Invoice status (View All Invoices): Pending; Invoice status (View All Invoices): Paid; Invoice status (View All Invoices): Partially Paid; Invoice status (View All Invoices): Deleted; Invoice status (View All Invoices): Incomplete; Invoice status (View All Invoices): Refunded; Invoice status filter (View All Invoices): Overdue; Due Date marker (View All Invoices): Overdue; Due Date marker (View All Invoices): Due today; Customer opened the hosted invoice page: Viewed; Income status: Pending; Income status: Paid; Income status: Partially Paid; Income status: Pending Clearance; Scheduled invoice status: Active; Scheduled invoice status: Pending; Scheduled invoice status: Deleted; Payment status: Active; Payment status: Pending Clearance; Payment status: Incomplete; Payment status: Deleted; Payment status: Refunded. Rules and limits: - Rate: $0.00 to $999,999,999.99. Shipping, line amount and invoice total: up to $999,999,999.99. - Qty / Hrs: whole numbers, 1 to 100,000 (flat-rate services fixed at 1). Tax %: 0 to 100. - Lines per invoice: up to 100. Line description: up to 1,000 characters. Memo and addresses: 500 characters each. Terms & conditions: 2,000 characters. - Invoice number: 1 to 20 characters (letters, digits, - _ /), unique. - Invoice date: 01/01/2000 to one year from today. Due date: on or after the invoice date, within 2 years of it. - Recurring: start date tomorrow or later; a schedule generates at most 500 invoices; services only. A schedule can be deleted only while Occurrences Completed is 0, and edits apply only to invoices created from then on. - Deferred Income: 1 to 60 accounting months, limited by your open periods; services only. Completed realization months cannot be canceled or deleted. - Retainer invoices: Normal invoices only, exactly one line locked to your single active Retainer service. - Email recipients: up to 5 addresses per field (To / Cc / Bcc). Send payment link is available once Online Payments Setup is complete: Stripe status Active and the Stripe Balance and Stripe Fees accounts mapped. - Saved invoices never re-fetch tax rates until you change the customer or an item. No state on the customer, or no active rate, means 0% tax. - Only active and pending invoices can be edited or deleted; deleted invoices are marked Deleted and may be recovered. Paid invoices can't be edited or deleted — use Refund. Refund is for paid and partially paid invoices; Regular and Damaged Return for item invoices only. - Payments can only be recorded for active invoices. A payment's Customer and Bank can't be changed after saving; deleting a payment makes its invoices unpaid again. Q: How do I record deferred revenue on an invoice? A: Use the Deferred Income invoice type on Create Invoice. The invoice posts normally and the income is spread evenly across the accounting months you choose — 1 to 60, limited by your open periods — recognized at the start, mid or end of each month. Deferred Income invoices accept services only. Q: What do the invoice statuses mean? A: Pending: created, awaiting payment. Overdue: past the due date. Paid: fully paid. Partially Paid: some payment recorded, balance due. Deleted: nullified (recoverable). Incomplete: not finished yet. Refunded: a paid or partially paid invoice that was refunded. Q: Can I record a payment from the invoice itself? A: Yes. Click Receive Payment in the invoice's row, or choose Save & Receive Payment when creating the invoice. Q: Why don't I see the Send payment link toggle? A: Online Payments Setup isn't complete yet: Stripe must show Active and its accounts must be mapped under Sales › Invoices › Online Payments Setup. Q: Can a retainer invoice be recurring? A: No. Retainers are Normal invoices only. For a repeat retainer, use Replicate in the invoice's Action menu on View All Invoices and update the dates. Q: What happens if a customer pays too much? A: The extra amount appears in Credits/Over Payment and stays on the customer's account as a credit for future invoices. ### Proposals (https://www.fiscal50.com/proposal-software/) A fiscal50 proposal lists the products and services you plan to deliver, with prices, tax, shipping and a total, and your customer approves or declines it online. The customer opens it from an email, confirms their identity with a verification code, and needs no fiscal50 login. Once a proposal is approved, you create one-time, progressive or recurring invoices straight from it, and fiscal50 tracks how much has been invoiced and how much is still pending. A proposal is a quote, so nothing posts to your books until you create invoices from it. - Online approval, no customer login: fiscal50 emails the customer a secure review link. They enter a verification code sent to their email, review the proposal and attachments, then approve or decline it. They never need a fiscal50 account. - One-time or recurring proposals: One-time proposals cover a single engagement or purchase and can include products and services. Recurring proposals cover an ongoing service billed on a schedule and include services only. - Optional customer edits: Switch on Customer can edit when approving to let the customer change product quantities, change hours on hourly services and remove lines. They can never change rates or tax percentages. - Attachments and comments: Attach engagement letters, scopes of work or other files the customer can open while reviewing, and add comments that appear on the proposal page. - Responses in the Alerts and transactions bell: Approvals and declines, with the customer's comments, appear in the Alerts and transactions bell and in the Needs your attention card on your dashboard. Clicking one opens the Proposals list at that proposal. - Progressive invoicing: Bill a one-time proposal in several installments. You choose which lines, and how much of each, go on every invoice, and fiscal50 tracks what is pending. - Invoices that match what was approved: Create Invoice opens the normal invoice screen pre-filled from the proposal. The customer and each line's item, rate, quantity or hours and tax are locked; only descriptions can change. - Proposal Invoices tracking: One list shows every invoice created from proposals, with Installment N of M, Pending on proposal and Shipping incl. How it works in fiscal50: 1. Open Create Proposal and pick the customer: Go to Sales → Proposals and click + Create Proposal. Choose the Customer and check the email shown underneath, because the review link and verification code go there. 2. Choose the proposal type: Choose One-time for a single engagement or purchase (products and services), or Recurring for an ongoing service (services only). Switching to Recurring removes product lines. 3. Add the lines: Click + Add line for each item and pick it in Product / service. Products are quantity × rate, flat-rate services are the rate (quantity stays 1), and hourly services are hours × rate. Set tax % per line and add a description. 4. Set edits, attachments, comments and shipping: Decide whether the customer can edit when approving, attach any documents, write comments for the customer and enter any shipping charge. fiscal50 calculates the Subtotal, Sales tax and TOTAL as you type. 5. Save & Send for Approval: Save keeps the proposal without emailing it. Save & Send for Approval saves it and emails the customer a secure review link. In the books: A proposal is a quote, so nothing posts until you create invoices from it. Each invoice then posts like any other. Statuses: Sent; Approved; Declined. Rules and limits: - A customer and the customer's email are required to send; every proposal needs at least one line. - Recurring proposals can include services only; switching to Recurring removes product lines. - The review link expires 7 days after it is sent; re-send the proposal to issue a new link. - Customers must enter a verification code before seeing the proposal. - A comment is required to decline and optional to approve. - Each proposal gets one decision; re-send it to ask again. - With customer edits on, the customer can change product quantities and hourly-service hours and remove lines; rates and tax are always read-only. - Only approved proposals can be invoiced; Create Invoice is active only then. - One-time proposals give one-time or progressive invoices; recurring proposals give recurring invoices only, starting tomorrow or later. - Invoice lines from a proposal are locked except their descriptions, the customer is locked, and tax comes from the proposal rather than automatic state sales tax. - Each line is capped at what is pending, the total invoiced can never exceed the proposal total, and shipping is billed exactly once. - A proposal does not post to the books; nothing posts until you create invoices from it. Q: Does my customer need a fiscal50 account to approve a proposal? A: No. They open the proposal from the email link and confirm with a verification code. Q: What is the verification code? A: A one-time code fiscal50 emails to the customer's address, which they must enter before seeing the proposal. The address is partly hidden on screen, and Resend code sends a fresh one. Q: Can my customer change my prices? A: No. Rates and tax percentages are always read-only for the customer. If you allow edits, they can only change product quantities, change hours on hourly services and remove lines. Q: What is progressive invoicing? A: Billing a one-time proposal in several invoices. You choose which lines and how much of each go on each invoice, and fiscal50 tracks what is pending. Q: Can I invoice more than the proposal total? A: No. Each line is capped at what is pending, and the total invoiced can never exceed the proposal total. Q: Does a proposal affect my books? A: No. A proposal is a quote; nothing posts until you create invoices from it. ### Checkout and online payments (https://www.fiscal50.com/online-payments-and-checkout/) fiscal50 takes online payments through Stripe: in Online Payments Setup you connect Stripe, wait for Stripe to verify your account (Pending, then Active), and map a Stripe Balance asset account and a Stripe Fees expense account. Once that is done, invoices can carry a Pay Invoice Now button and you can create checkouts — payment pages you share as a link or QR code, or open on your own screen to take payment in person. The customer pays by card or US bank account without a fiscal50 login and gets a printable receipt. fiscal50 then records the payment, creates a paid invoice with the same items and posts it to the account mapped to Stripe, so there is no invoice to prepare and no payment to record by hand. - Shareable payment pages: Share a checkout as a payment link by email, text or chat, let the customer scan its QR code, or click Take Payment Now to take the payment on your own screen in person. - Paid invoice and posting done for you: When a payment succeeds, fiscal50 records it against the checkout, creates a paid invoice with the same items, amounts and tax, and posts it to the account mapped to your Stripe account. - Products, flat-rate and hourly services: Add as many items as you need: products are quantity × rate, flat services are one fixed fee, and hourly services are hours × rate. - Recurring checkouts: Switch on Charge on a schedule and choose Weekly, Monthly or Yearly. The customer pays the first charge on the page, then the card is charged automatically, and each renewal gets its own paid invoice. - Payment page options: Require a phone number or billing address, and optionally let the customer change quantities or hours. Rates and tax can never be changed by the customer. - Guided Stripe setup: A red, amber or green banner on Online Payments Setup tells you the next step, and fiscal50 checks with Stripe automatically until your account moves from Pending to Active. - Stripe payouts for bank reconciliation: View Payouts lists each transfer Stripe sent to your bank with its date, amount and statement descriptor, so you can match Stripe deposits when reconciling. - One list for every checkout: Sales › Checkouts shows Collected, Payments, Online and Paid cards, status and date filters, search, and Actions to share, edit, turn offline or online, and delete. How it works in fiscal50: 1. Connect Stripe: Go to Sales → Invoices → Online Payments Setup and click Connect. Complete Stripe's form (business details and tax ID, owner or representative, payout bank account) and submit. The status shows Pending until Stripe verifies the account, then Active. 2. Map your Stripe accounts: Once the status is Active, click COA Mapping, choose an asset account for Stripe Balance and an expense account for Stripe Fees, and click Apply. The banner turns green: "You're all set!" 3. Create a checkout: Go to Sales → Create Checkout. Enter a Checkout title, choose a customer or leave it blank for a walk-in, and add items with + Add item, checking Qty/Hrs, Rate and Tax %. 4. Set options and save: Set the payment page options, switch on Recurring if needed, write a Success message, and click Save & Share. 5. Share and get paid: In the Share window copy the payment link, show the QR code, or click Take Payment Now. After payment, fiscal50 records it and creates the paid invoice. In the books: When a customer pays, fiscal50 creates the paid invoice and records the payment to the Stripe Balance account you mapped. Statuses: Online Payments Setup status: Pending; Online Payments Setup status: Active; Online Payments Setup banner (green): You're all set!; Checkout status: Online; Checkout status: Offline; Checkout status: Paid; Customer receipt label: PAID. Rules and limits: - Checkouts and Send payment link need Stripe status Active and accounts mapped in Online Payments Setup; checkouts also need products and services set up. - Status is Pending from Connect until Stripe verifies the account; fiscal50 checks with Stripe automatically — no refresh or support needed. - COA mapping is available only once the status is Active; Stripe Balance takes an asset account and Stripe Fees an expense account, and the list shows only accounts of the right type. - Maximum single payment: $999,999.99 (Stripe's limit). - Product quantity on the payment page: whole numbers from 1 to 999. Hours: 0.25 to 999, up to two decimal places. - Item description: up to 500 characters. - Payment methods: card or US bank account; recurring checkouts are card only, because bank-account payments cannot be charged automatically. - One-time checkouts can be paid once, then are marked Paid; Turn Online reopens them. - Rates and tax are set by you; customers can never change them. - The link and QR code always open the latest version of the checkout; editing and saving puts a checkout back online. - Deleting a checkout removes it from the list; payments already received and their invoices stay in your books. - A payout is usually less than customers paid (Stripe deducts its fees) and may combine several payments, e.g. $100 paid − $3.20 fees = $96.80. Q: Does my customer need a fiscal50 account to pay a checkout? A: No. They open the link, pay securely and get a receipt without logging in. Q: How can my customer pay? A: By card or US bank account. Recurring checkouts accept cards only. Q: Do I need to create an invoice or record the payment after a customer pays? A: No. fiscal50 creates a paid invoice automatically with the same items and amounts, and posts the payment to the account mapped to your Stripe account. Q: Why is my Online Payments Setup status Pending? A: Either your Stripe setup is not finished, or Stripe is still verifying your account. After you submit Stripe's form, fiscal50 checks with Stripe automatically and changes the status to Active once Stripe verifies it. Q: Why is my Stripe payout less than what my customers paid? A: Stripe deducts its processing fees before sending the payout, and it may group several payments into one transfer to your bank. Q: Can a checkout link be paid more than once? A: A one-time checkout can be paid once; it is then marked Paid and the page shows it is already paid. Turn Online reopens it. A recurring checkout charges the customer's card automatically weekly, monthly or yearly. ### Customer management (https://www.fiscal50.com/customer-management-software/) fiscal50 keeps your customers in one Customers list with each one’s credits, current balance and status. Icons on every row open that customer’s dashboard, ledger and timeline, and the Action menu creates an invoice, receives a payment or sends an invoice reminder e-mail. The Customer Dashboard shows monthly and annual revenue, pending invoices, total credits and the amount due, with monthly sales and the items bought. Money a customer pays before you invoice them is kept as credit and applied to their next invoice or payment. Add customers one at a time with a quick or detailed form, or import many at once. - One list with credits and balances: One row per customer with DOJ, Credits, Current Balance and Status. Sort by Current Balance to see who owes you the most. - A dashboard for every customer: Monthly Revenue, Annual Revenue, Pending Invoices, Total Credits and Total Amount Due, monthly sales for the year and the items they buy, with All Income and Invoices tabs. - Timeline and ledger: The Timeline shows invoices, advances and payments in date order from the day the customer was created. The Ledger lists every transaction with the running balance. - Everyday actions from the row: The Action menu creates an invoice, receives a payment, opens Advance Transactions or sends an invoice reminder e-mail without leaving the list. - Advances become credit: Record money paid before you invoice with Receive Advance. It shows in the customer’s Credits and can be applied on their next invoice, up to the credit available, or on their next payment. - Quick or detailed add, plus import: Add a customer in seconds with the quick form or capture contact details, addresses and terms with the detailed form. Import Customers brings in many at once. - Sales tax from the customer’s state: The customer’s State fills in sales tax on their invoices automatically when you have a sales-tax rule for that state. - Receivables in one place: The Receivables Dashboard, A/R Aging, Sales by Customer and the Customer Statement show what is owed, how old it is and who your best customers are. Add a customer: 1. Open Add Customer: Go to Sales › Customers and click + Add Customer for the quick form, or the arrow next to it for the detailed form. 2. Name the customer: Choose Company or Individual, enter the company and contact names, and pick or type the Display name used in lists and on invoices. 3. Set terms and state: Choose Terms (Due on Receipt, Net 15, Net 30 or Net 60) and the customer’s State, so sales tax fills in on their invoices. 4. Add an opening balance: Enter what the customer already owed you when you started with fiscal50; it becomes the opening balance in their ledger. 5. Save and invoice: Click Save. The customer appears in the list, and Create Invoice in the Action menu starts their first invoice. Q: What is the difference between a customer’s Credits and Current Balance? A: Credits is money the customer has available to use, such as advances or overpayments. Current Balance is the amount the customer currently owes you. Q: What does the Customer Dashboard show? A: Monthly Revenue, Annual Revenue, Pending Invoices, Total Credits and Total Amount Due for that customer, a chart of their monthly sales, the items they buy, and All Income and Invoices tabs. Q: How do I record money a customer pays before I invoice them? A: Use Receive Advance on the customer’s row. The amount is kept as credit and can be applied on their next invoice, up to the credit available, or on their next payment. Q: Can I import my customers? A: Yes. Import Customers brings many customers in at once, including a customer list exported from QuickBooks. Q: What happens to an overpayment? A: An amount received beyond the invoices you selected on Receive Payment becomes customer credit, ready to use on a later invoice. Q: Can I send a customer a statement? A: Yes. The Customer Statement report lists a customer’s invoices, payments and balance for the dates you choose, and exports to Excel or PDF. ## Expenses and payables ### Bills and expenses (https://www.fiscal50.com/expense-tracking-software/) fiscal50 tracks expenses from the vendor bill to the payment. You record bills on one Create Vendor Bill screen — regular expense, capital asset, accrued, deferred, recurring or inventory — with each line posted to the expense account its category is mapped to. Bills and receipts can be uploaded from a computer or phone, or e-mailed in; fiscal50 reads the vendor, date, amount and document number and attaches each document to the matching bill, payment or bank feed transaction. You pay one or more of a vendor's bills in a single payment by cash, check, ACH or card, with discounts, tax withheld, partial payments and overpayments handled, and the Payables Dashboard shows what you owe, what is overdue and your days payables outstanding (DPO). - Six kinds of bill on one screen: Regular expense, capital asset, accrued, deferred, recurring and inventory bills are all created on Create Vendor Bill. A bill can be Recurring, Accrued or Deferred, but only one of these at a time. - Accrued and deferred timing: Record an accrued bill as an estimate at month-end and correct the amount when you pay it. A deferred bill holds a prepayment as a prepaid expense and moves an equal share to expense each month. - Recurring bills and schedules: Switch Recurring Bill? to Yes and choose Daily, Weekly, Monthly or Yearly with start and end dates; fiscal50 creates each bill automatically and lists the schedule on Scheduled Bills, where you can view, edit or cancel it. - Bill and receipt capture: Upload PDF, JPG, JPEG, PNG, HEIC or HEIF files (up to 5 MB each), or e-mail them in from your registered address. fiscal50 reads the vendor, date, amount and document number and attaches receipts to payments or bank feed transactions and bills to bill records. - Link what didn't match: For an unmatched document, attach it to an existing payment, or choose Record bill payment & attach receipt to record a payment for a bill from the receipt's details. - Pay several bills in one payment: Tick any number of one vendor's unpaid bills and record one payment by Cash, Check, ACH or Credit/Debit Card, with Discount Applied per bill, Tax Withheld, partial payments and overpayments kept as vendor credit. - Expense categories mapped to accounts: Every sub-category maps to an expense account in your chart of accounts, so each bill or payment line posts to the right account; add categories from the bill with + Add New Expense Category. - Payables Dashboard: Total Vendors Payables, Total Bills, Payment Due and Overdue Payment cards, a monthly DPO chart, Expense and Inventory Payables by vendor, and a Payment Due list with a Payment button on each bill. How it works in fiscal50: 1. Enter the bill header: Go to Expenses › Bills › Create Bill, keep Expenses selected, and fill in Vendor, Number, Issue Date, Terms, Due Date and Memo; set Expense Type or Recurring Bill? if needed. 2. Add the lines: Click Next, then Add Items › Regular Expenses (category, description, amount) or Capital Assets Expenses (category, description, QTY, rate). Attach the vendor's bill with Click to upload a file. 3. Save the bill: Click Save, or use the arrow for Make Payment or Save & New. The bill appears on the Bills screen, ready to pay. 4. Capture the receipt: Upload the receipt on Expenses › Bill & Receipt Uploads or e-mail it in; fiscal50 matches it, or you link it from the Action column. 5. Pay the vendor: On Expenses › Payments click + Make Vendor Payment, choose the vendor, date, method and bank, tick the bills, then Save and Confirm. In the books: Each bill line posts to the expense account its category is mapped to; paying the bill clears the payable. Statuses: Bill status: Pending; Bill status: Paid; Bill status: Partially Paid; Bill status: Overdue; Bill status: Deleted; Bill status: Incomplete; Payment status: Active; Payment status: Pending Clearance; Payment status: Approval Pending; Payment status: Closed. Rules and limits: - Vendor, Number, Issue Date, Terms, Due Date and Memo are required on a bill; Next unlocks the lines. - A bill can be Recurring, Accrued or Deferred — only one of these at a time. Deferred bills apply to expense categories only. - Only pending bills can be edited or deleted; paid bills are locked. The vendor and bill type can't be changed after saving. Deleted bills move to the Deleted filter. - On a deferred bill, months already recognized can't be cancelled or deleted. - Cancelling a recurring schedule stops future bills; bills already created stay. - Uploads and e-mails: PDF, JPG, JPEG, PNG, HEIC, HEIF; 5 MB per file when uploading, 5 MB per e-mail when e-mailing. - Bills and receipts can also be e-mailed in. They must come from the user's registered fiscal50 e-mail address, and the receiving address (one for receipts, one for bills) sets the document type. - Uploading a bill does not create the bill, and uploading a receipt does not record a payment by itself; documents attach to records that exist (or use Record bill payment & attach receipt). - One payment covers one vendor; tick as many of that vendor's bills as you like. Only unpaid (active) bills can be paid. - A smaller Amount Paid leaves a bill Partially Paid; an overpayment becomes vendor credit applied to later bills. - Changing a category's account mapping doesn't move amounts already recorded. - DPO = (Accounts Payable ÷ Cost of Goods Sold) × days in the period. Q: Can a bill be both recurring and deferred? A: No. A bill can be recurring, accrued or deferred — only one at a time. Q: How do I correct an accrued bill when the real bill arrives? A: Pay the accrued bill and adjust the amount when you record the payment so it matches the actual bill. fiscal50 adjusts the expense for any difference. Q: Which file formats can I upload, and how large? A: PDF, JPG, JPEG, PNG, HEIC and HEIF. The limit is 5 MB per file when uploading, and 5 MB per e-mail when e-mailing. Q: Can I pay several bills at once? A: Yes, for one vendor. Tick each of that vendor's bills on the payment screen and fiscal50 applies the payment to each bill and records it as one payment from your bank. Pay a second vendor separately. Q: What happens if I pay more than the bill? A: The extra shows in Credits/Over Payment and stays as a credit with the vendor, applied to later bills until it is used up. ### Vendor and payee management (https://www.fiscal50.com/vendor-management-software/) fiscal50 keeps your vendors in one Vendors list with each one’s credits, current balance and status. Icons on every row open that vendor’s dashboard, ledger and timeline, and the Action menu creates a bill, makes a payment or opens Advance Transactions. Advances paid to a vendor are held as credit and applied when their bill arrives. Vendors can be marked for 1099 tracking, and a vendor’s SSN is encrypted when saved and shown masked. Payees are everyone else you pay directly, such as employees, tax agencies and landlords, each with a type, their own transaction list and 1099 tracking; every vendor is also available as a payee. - One list with credits and balances: One row per vendor with DOJ, Credits, Current Balance and Status. Sort by Current Balance to see which vendors you owe the most. - A dashboard for every vendor: What you spend with the vendor by month and year, their pending bills, your credit with them and the amount due, with All Expenses/Other Transactions and Bills tabs. - Ledger and timeline: The Ledger lists every transaction with the vendor and the running balance; the Timeline shows bills, advances and payments in date order. - 1099 tracking per vendor: Tick Track payments for 1099 and the vendor always appears in 1099 Filings with a 1099 badge. Tracking never changes their bills or payments. - Protected SSN field: A vendor’s SSN is encrypted before it is stored, kept in a secure vault and shown masked. The full number is used only when you generate the Form 1099. - Vendor advances as prepayments: Pay a deposit with Pay Advance. It is recorded as a prepayment and held as credit with the vendor, then applied when their bill arrives. - Payees for direct payments: Employees, tax agencies, landlords and one-off contractors you pay without a bill, each with a type: Vendor, Employee, Tax Agency / Government or Other / General Payee. - Payee transactions and 1099: Payee Transactions lists every payment to a payee with its journal entry, and 1099 tracking works for payees too. Add a vendor: 1. Open Add Vendor: Go to Expenses › Vendors and click + Add Vendor for the quick form, or the arrow next to it for the detailed form. 2. Name the vendor: Choose Company or Individual, enter the company and contact names, and pick or type the Display name used in lists, on bills and on checks. 3. Enter the tax ID: Enter an EIN for a company or an SSN for an individual. You can skip it for now and add it before you file the vendor’s Form 1099. 4. Set terms and opening balance: Choose Terms (Due on Receipt, Net 15, Net 30 or Net 60) and any Opening Balance you already owed. The detailed form also takes the address and bank details. 5. Turn on 1099 tracking and save: Switch on 1099 tracking if you may need to file a Form 1099 for the vendor, then click Save. In the books: A vendor advance is kept as a prepayment until the bill arrives, then applied to it. Q: What is the difference between a payee and a vendor? A: A vendor sends you bills to pay later. A payee is anyone you pay, usually directly without a bill, such as an employee, a tax agency or a landlord. Every vendor is also available as a payee. Q: What payee types are there? A: Vendor, Employee, Tax Agency / Government and Other / General Payee. Payee Transactions lists every payment to a payee with its journal entry. Q: Is a vendor’s SSN kept secure? A: Yes. It is encrypted when saved, stored separately in a secure vault and shown masked. Lists and reports show only the last 4 digits; the full number is used only when you generate the vendor’s Form 1099. Q: Do I need a vendor’s SSN or EIN to add them? A: No. It is only needed before you file their Form 1099. Collect it on a Form W-9. Q: Is a vendor advance an expense? A: Not yet. It is recorded as a prepayment asset. The expense is recorded when the vendor’s bill arrives, and the advance is applied to that bill. Q: Where do I upload a vendor’s bills and receipts? A: On Expenses › Bill & Receipt Uploads, or by e-mailing them in. fiscal50 reads each document and attaches it to the matching bill, payment or bank transaction. See Bill and receipt uploads. ### Bill and receipt uploads (https://www.fiscal50.com/bill-and-receipt-uploads/) Every bill and receipt lands on Expenses › Bill & Receipt Uploads. Upload PDF, JPG, JPEG, PNG, HEIC or HEIF files up to 5 MB each from a computer or a phone, or e-mail them in from your registered fiscal50 address. fiscal50 reads the vendor, date, amount and document number and attaches each document to the matching record: receipts to payments or bank feed transactions, bills to bill records. A document that didn’t match waits in the list with nothing under Attached To. Choose what to do with it in the Action column, pick the record under Link to Record and click Record Transaction. - Upload from a computer or phone: PDF, JPG, JPEG, PNG, HEIC or HEIF, up to 5 MB each. A phone photo of a receipt can be uploaded as it is. - Or e-mail it in: Send bills and receipts from your registered fiscal50 e-mail address. The envelope button shows the addresses, and the one you send to tells fiscal50 whether it is a bill or a receipt. - Read for you: The vendor, date, amount and document number are read from the document, so you don’t type them. - Attached where it belongs: Receipts attach to payments or bank feed transactions; bills attach to bill records. Attached To shows Payment Record or Bill Record. - One click to the transaction: The eye icon under View Transaction opens the payment or bill the document is attached to. - Nothing left behind: A document that didn’t match waits in the list. In Action, map it to an existing transaction or record a payment against a vendor bill, pick the record in Link to Record, then click Record Transaction. - Find any document: Search by file name, filter with Status & Type and switch the year. The download icon next to each file name gives you the original. - Bills and receipts, both: File Type shows Bill or Receipt for every document, whether it was uploaded or e-mailed in. Upload a receipt and match it: 1. Open the uploads list: Go to Expenses › Bill & Receipt Uploads. 2. Upload the file: Click Upload, choose the file and set its type to Receipt (or Bill). Or e-mail it in from your registered address. 3. Let fiscal50 read it: fiscal50 reads the vendor, date, amount and document number and attaches the receipt to the matching payment or bank transaction. 4. Check Attached To: Payment Record or Bill Record means it is filed; the eye icon opens that transaction. 5. Finish any that didn’t match: Pick an option in Action, choose the record in Link to Record (the eye icon previews it) and click Record Transaction. In the books: Uploading a bill or receipt posts nothing by itself; the bill or payment it is attached to carries the entry. When you record a payment from an unmatched receipt, that payment posts like any other. Q: Which files can I upload, and how large? A: PDF, JPG, JPEG, PNG, HEIC and HEIF. The limit is 5 MB per file when uploading and 5 MB per e-mail when e-mailing. Q: How do I e-mail documents in? A: Click the envelope button on Bill & Receipt Uploads to see the addresses, then send the document from your registered fiscal50 e-mail address. The address you send it to tells fiscal50 whether it is a bill or a receipt. E-mails from other addresses can’t be linked to your account. Q: Does uploading a bill create the bill? A: No. Uploading a bill attaches it to an existing bill record, and uploading a receipt attaches it to an existing payment or bank transaction. For a receipt with no payment yet, record the payment from the Action column. Q: Why wasn’t my document matched? A: The payment or bill may not be recorded yet, the details may be hard to read, or the type may be wrong. It waits in the list; match it yourself from the Action and Link to Record columns. Q: Can I upload from my phone? A: Yes. Open fiscal50 in your phone’s browser and upload the photo as it is; HEIC, JPG and PNG are supported. Q: Where can I see the document later? A: On Bill & Receipt Uploads, where the download icon gives you the original, and on the transaction it is attached to. ### Check printing (https://www.fiscal50.com/check-printing-software/) fiscal50 prints vendor checks onto pre-printed laser check stock straight from your recorded payments. You create one check setup per bank account, choosing one of three supported US Letter templates and fine-tuning where the date, payee name, amount, amount in words and memo print. Any bill payment or Make Other Payment recorded with Check as the payment method can then be previewed with its real details and printed, either one at a time or as a batch from one bank account in a single PDF with one check per page. Your bank details, MICR line and signature line stay on the pre-printed stock; fiscal50 prints only the payment details. - Three supported check layouts: Templates for Middle Multi-Purpose Laser Computer Checks (CDM489), Laser Top QuickBooks Checks without Lines and Laser Top QuickBooks Checks with Lines, all on US Letter paper. - One check setup per bank account: Each setup holds the check template and the exact position of every printed field for one bank account, so an operating account and a payroll account each get their own layout. - Field positions in inches with a live preview: Move the Date, Payee name, Amount (numeric), Amount in words and Memo by X and Y in inches, up to 0.25 inch from the template default; the Live preview updates as you type. - Test print on plain paper: Test print (PDF) creates a sample check to print on plain paper, lay over a real check and hold up to the light, so you can check alignment without wasting check stock. - Checks from bill payments or other payments: Any payment with Check as the payment method can be printed: a vendor bill payment, or a Make Other Payment for spending with no bill behind it. - Preview with the real payment details: The Print Check window shows the check on the stock image with this payment's real date, payee, amount, amount in words and memo before you print. - Batch printing in one PDF: Filter the Payments list by bank, tick the checks and click Print selected checks to get one PDF with one check per page, in list order. - Amount in words in US format: The amount in words is written as dollars in words followed by the cents as NN/100, for example "One thousand two hundred thirty-four and 56/100", and long text wraps to fit the line. How it works in fiscal50: 1. Create the check setup: Go to Expenses › Checks › Check Print Setup, enter a Setup name and choose the Bank the checks are drawn on. 2. Choose the template and test print: Choose the Check template that matches your check stock; its default positions fill in. Click Test print (PDF), print on plain paper and lay it over a real check. 3. Fine-tune and save: If one field is slightly out of place, adjust its X or Y in inches, watch the Live preview, test again, then click Save. 4. Record the payment by check: Pay a bill with Check as the payment method, or use Make Other Payment with Payment Method Check, entering the Bank and the Check No. printed on the stock you will load. 5. Print one check or a batch: In the Payments list click Print Check in the payment's row, or choose a bank in the bank filter, tick several checks and click Print selected checks; choose the template, click Print and print the PDF at actual size. In the books: Printing a check posts nothing by itself. The check is the payment, and the payment carries the entry. Statuses: Payment status: Active; Payment status: Pending Clearance. Rules and limits: - One check setup per bank account. - Choosing a template fills default positions; changing the template resets them to that template's defaults. - Each field can move up to 0.25 inch in any direction from the template's default; make small steps (0.05 inch) and re-test. - Only the payment details print (Date, Payee name, Amount, Amount in words, Memo); bank details, the MICR line and the signature line must be pre-printed on the stock. fiscal50 cannot print on blank check paper. - All three templates are laser check stock on US Letter paper; print on a laser printer at actual size (100%), portrait, with Fit to page / Shrink to fit turned off. - Print Check appears only on payments made with Check as the payment method. - Batch printing is per bank account: checkboxes appear only after a bank is chosen in the bank filter. - A batch prints as one PDF, one check per page, in list order. - Issue Date prints as the check date, Memo on the memo line, and the vendor's display name as the payee. - Check cleared? stays No until the bank pays the check, then Yes. Q: What check stock can I use? A: Laser checks matching one of three templates: Middle Multi-Purpose Laser Computer Checks (CDM489), Laser Top QuickBooks Checks without Lines, or Laser Top QuickBooks Checks with Lines, all on US Letter paper. Q: Does fiscal50 print the bank account and routing numbers? A: No. These are pre-printed on your check stock, along with the signature line. fiscal50 prints onto pre-printed check stock only, not blank check paper. Q: Do I need a separate setup for each bank account? A: Yes. Each check setup is linked to one bank account. Q: How do I print several checks at once? A: Filter the Payments list by bank, tick the checks, click Print selected checks, choose the template and click Print. You get one PDF with one check per page, in list order. Q: Why are my checks misaligned? A: Usually because the PDF was scaled. Print at actual size (100%) and make sure the paper guides are snug. If a single field is off, adjust its X or Y; if everything is badly out of place, choose the right template. Q: Which payments can I print checks for? A: Payments made with Check as the payment method: bill payments and payments made with Make Other Payment. ### 1099 tracking (https://www.fiscal50.com/1099-tracking-software/) fiscal50 prepares Form 1099-NEC from the payments you have already recorded. For the tax year you choose, it adds up each recipient's non-card payments by payment date, compares them with the year's threshold ($2,000 for payments made in 2026, $600 for earlier years), and flags anyone with a missing TIN, address or vendor name. You can print recipient copies (Copy B) on plain paper, download a 1099 Detail report in Excel or PDF, and export a CSV in a Generic, Track1099, Tax1099 or TaxBandits column layout to upload to your 1099 filing service. fiscal50 prepares your 1099 information but does not file it with the IRS for you. - Mark vendors and payees for 1099: Tick Track payments for 1099 on a vendor (or switch on the 1099 toggle on the quick form); payees have the same SSN, EIN and 1099 tracking fields. Tracked recipients always appear in 1099 Filings with a green 1099 badge. - Protected SSNs: A vendor's SSN is encrypted before it is stored, kept in a secure vault apart from the vendor record, shown masked to the last 4 digits, and unlocked only when you generate the vendor's Form 1099. - Box 1 totals by payment date: Box 1 — Nonemployee comp. is the total paid by check, ACH or cash in the tax year, counted by payment date. Card payments are shown separately and left out of Box 1 because card processors report them on Form 1099-K. - Threshold and issue checks: Each recipient gets a status: Ready to file, Below threshold, Missing TIN, Missing address or Missing vendor name. Recipients with an issue can't be printed until it is fixed. - Summary cards and filters: Tracked for 1099, Above threshold, Needs attention and Reportable total cards sit above the list, and the filter narrows it to groups such as Ready to file or Needs attention, each with a count. - 1099 Detail report: Download every payment behind each vendor's total in Excel (.xlsx) or PDF, with Type, Date, Ref #, Payment Method, Card? and a running Balance, and each total split into non-card and card amounts. - Print Copy B: Print one recipient's Copy B from their row, or Print All for one PDF covering every recipient at or above the threshold with no issues. - CSV export for e-filing: Export CSV in a Generic layout or the column layout of Track1099, Tax1099 or TaxBandits, with a field-mapping guide, to upload to your 1099 filing service, which files Copy A with the IRS. How it works in fiscal50: 1. Set up each recipient: On each contractor's vendor or payee record, set Vendor Type, enter the EIN (NN-NNNNNNN) or SSN (NNN-NN-NNNN), the mailing address, and tick Track payments for 1099. 2. Add your payer details: Open Expenses › 1099 Filings. If the Payer details banner says your EIN is missing, type it in the Payer EIN box and click Save. 3. Choose the tax year and fix issues: Choose the Tax year, filter to Needs attention, and edit each vendor or payee to add a missing TIN, address or name, then return to 1099 Filings. 4. Check the numbers: Click 1099 Detail and download the Excel or PDF report to see every payment behind each total. 5. Deliver and file: By January 31, Print or Print All to produce Copy B for recipients, and Export CSV in your filing service's format to e-file Copy A. In the books: 1099 Filings is a report and an export. It posts nothing, and tracking a vendor changes none of their bills or payments. Statuses: Ready to file; Below threshold; Missing TIN; Missing address; Missing vendor name. Rules and limits: - Threshold: $2,000 for payments made in 2026; $600 for earlier years. The screen shows the threshold for the selected year. - Payments count in the year they were paid, not the year of the bill. - Card payments are excluded from Box 1 (reported on Form 1099-K) unless Include credit card payments in Box 1 is turned on in the CSV export; it is off by default. - One TIN per recipient: an SSN for individuals or an EIN for businesses; shown masked to the last 4 digits. - A recipient appears in the list when 1099 tracking is on, or when their non-card payments reach the year's threshold. - Recipients with an issue (Missing TIN, Missing address, Missing vendor name) can't be printed until it is fixed. - Print All and the CSV include only recipients at or above the threshold with no issues. - fiscal50 prints Copy B only, on plain paper. Copy A must be e-filed (through a filing service using the CSV) or printed on official red-ink forms. fiscal50 does not file with the IRS. - The CSV cannot be uploaded directly to the IRS IRIS system, which uses its own template. - Each PDF starts with a disclaimer page; remove it before sending forms to recipients. - An SSN or EIN is not needed to add a vendor or record bills and payments; turning on 1099 tracking without one shows a reminder but still saves. - 1099 tracking does not change any bills or payments; it only controls how the vendor is treated in 1099 Filings. - Usual federal deadline: January 31 of the year after the tax year; a weekend or holiday moves it to the next business day. State rules vary. Q: Does fiscal50 file my 1099s with the IRS? A: No. It prepares recipient copies and a CSV you upload to a 1099 filing service, which files with the IRS. Q: What is the 1099-NEC threshold? A: For payments made in 2026, $2,000. It was $600 for earlier years. The screen shows the threshold for the selected year. Q: Why are credit card payments not in Box 1? A: Card processors report those payments on Form 1099-K, so they are excluded to avoid double reporting. You can include them in the CSV by turning on Include credit card payments in Box 1; it is off by default. Q: Which year does a payment count in? A: The year it was paid, not the year of the bill. A bill dated in December and paid in January counts in January's year. Q: Which CSV formats are available? A: Generic, which works with most importers, and column layouts for Track1099, Tax1099 and TaxBandits. Choose Generic if your filing service isn't listed. Q: Is the vendor's SSN kept secure? A: Yes. It is encrypted when saved, stored separately in a secure vault, and shown masked. Lists and reports show only the last 4 digits; the full number is used only when you generate the vendor's Form 1099. ## Inventory and fixed assets ### Inventory (https://www.fiscal50.com/inventory-management-software/) fiscal50's inventory module follows your products from the vendor bill to the customer invoice. Every vendor bill with product lines becomes a vendor order that adds stock when you mark it received, and every customer invoice with products becomes a sales order tracked for shipping, payment and returns. Current Inventory shows each product's sales price, average cost, re-stock threshold, stock on hand, quantities to be shipped and still pending, and lets you adjust stock for shrinkage or advertising against the purchase it came from. Reports value your stock at average unit cost and show every movement behind a product's quantity. - Inventory Dashboard: Orders to be shipped, orders to be received, total orders, your five top-selling items, a monthly Stock In vs. Stock Out chart, and a table of every product with quantities and prices. - Add or import products: Add a product with its category, SKU, description, units on hand and cost price (the opening balance is calculated), or import many from an Excel file in the QuickBooks® item list layout. - Re-stock thresholds: Set a re-stock threshold per product; when Current Inventory runs down to it, the cell turns red so you can see what to re-order. - Stock by purchase and adjustments: See which vendor bill each unit on hand came from, and reduce stock with Shrink Inventory (lost, damaged, stolen, expired) or Advertising (samples, displays, giveaways) at that purchase's unit cost. - Sales orders and returns: Every customer invoice with products appears as a sales order with shipping and payment status. Record a Normal Return (back into stock) or a Damaged Return (expensed); the customer is credited automatically. - Receive vendor orders: Every vendor bill with products appears as a vendor order; Receive Inventory with the arrival date adds the products to stock and clears them from Pending (Yet to be received). - Inventory Value Report: Total and available stock per product as quantities and dollar values at average unit cost, for any period you choose, with export to Excel. - Item Stock History: Every movement behind a product's quantity — Opening Entry, Purchased, Sold, Normal Return — with the customer or vendor and invoice number. How it works in fiscal50: 1. Add your products: On Inventory › Dashboard click + Add Items and enter Category, SKU, Description, the Unit on hand, Cost Price and Sales price/rate — or use Import Items with the QuickBooks® sample file layout. 2. Buy stock with an inventory bill: Record a vendor bill with product lines (Expenses › Bills › Create Bill, Inventory selected). It appears on Inventory › Vendor Orders as Pending. 3. Receive the goods: When the delivery arrives, click Receive Inventory on the vendor order, set the Date it arrived and click Save; the units join Current Inventory. 4. Sell and ship: Invoice the customer with product lines; the sale appears on Inventory › Sales Orders. Answer Yes when fiscal50 asks whether the order has shipped. 5. Handle returns and value your stock: Record Normal or Damaged Returns from the order's Action menu, and use the Inventory Value Report to value stock on hand at period end. In the books: Stock is bought on a bill and its cost moves to Cost of Goods Sold when the items sell. Statuses: Pending; Paid; Received; Active; Inactive. Rules and limits: - Required when adding a product: Category, SKU and Description. - Opening Balance = Unit × Cost Price (50 × $20.00 = $1,000.00). - Current inventory = Total qty. − quantity sold (120 added, 51 sold → 69). - Import file: Excel in the QuickBooks® item list layout (download the sample). - Only vendor bills with product lines become vendor orders; a purchase recorded as a regular expense adds no stock. - Receive Inventory records the whole order with one date; partial receipts aren't described. Receiving updates stock only — pay the bill separately. - Shipping is recorded on the customer invoice, not on the Sales Orders list. - Normal Return puts goods back into stock; Damaged Return treats them as an expense. Paid invoice → credit applied to the customer; unpaid invoice → credit note applied to the invoice. - Return Amount = Return Quantity × Rate. - Adjust against the purchase the units actually came from, so the value removed matches what you paid. - Inventory values use average unit cost: Total Inventory = Total Qty. × Average Unit Cost; Available Inventory = Available Qty. × Average Unit Cost. - Exports contain exactly what you are viewing (search and filters applied). Q: What is the difference between Total qty. and Current inventory? A: Total qty. is the total quantity added to stock. Current inventory is what you have on hand now — the total quantity minus the quantity sold. Q: Why is a product's Current Inventory shown in red? A: Its stock has run down to its re-stock threshold. It is time to re-order. Q: What happens when I receive a vendor order? A: Its status changes to Received and its products are added to your Current Inventory. Use the date the goods actually arrived. Q: What is the difference between a Normal Return and a Damaged Return? A: A Normal Return is for goods that can be sold again — they go back into your inventory. A Damaged Return is for goods that can't be sold again — they are treated as an expense instead. Q: How is the customer credited for a return? A: If the invoice is already paid, a credit is applied to the customer. If it isn't paid yet, a credit note is issued and applied to the original invoice amount. Q: How is the inventory value calculated? A: The quantity multiplied by the Average Unit Cost — never the Sales Price. ### Fixed assets (https://www.fiscal50.com/asset-management-software/) fiscal50 keeps a fixed asset register that is filled from your purchase bills: each bill line with an asset (capital expense) category becomes an asset, with the bill date and amount carried over. You set up each asset with straight-line depreciation (Class Life, Total Basis, Salvage Value, Monthly or Annually), then let fiscal50 create the entries on schedule for approval (Auto) or post them yourself (Manual), one asset or a batch at a time. From the same register you record regular or capital maintenance, sell an asset with the gain or loss worked out, write it off, and review every transaction posted against it. The Depreciation Report lists every posted depreciation entry by asset and category, with totals and a category breakdown. - Assets created from bills: An asset is created when you record the bill for buying it, using an asset (capital expense) category on the bill line, so the purchase and the asset stay linked from the start. Each asset-category line becomes its own asset. - Straight-line depreciation setup: Set Class Life, Total Basis and Salvage Value per asset and choose Monthly or Annually. Yearly depreciation = (Total Basis − Salvage Value) ÷ Class Life; monthly = yearly ÷ 12. - Auto or Manual posting: With Auto, fiscal50 creates depreciation entries on schedule and sends them for approval in Needs your attention; with Manual, you post depreciation yourself from the Fixed Assets screen. - Batch depreciation: Tick several assets, check or change each Depreciation amount, then click Apply depreciation and choose the date to post it for. - Regular or capital maintenance: Record repairs paid straight from a bank account: regular maintenance is expensed to the category you choose, capital maintenance is added to the asset's value. - Sell with gain or loss: Record a sale with the sale amount, quantity, date and Deposit to account; the asset's cost and accumulated depreciation come off the books and the difference from its remaining value is recorded as a gain or loss. - Write off: Write off an asset that is damaged beyond repair, lost or scrapped: its remaining value is recorded as a loss, and it is marked as disposed and no longer depreciated. - Depreciation Report: Every posted depreciation entry by asset and category, with Total depreciation, a By category bar and breakdown with each category's share, and Category and Date filters that work together. How it works in fiscal50: 1. Record the purchase bill: Go to Expenses › Bills, click + Add Bill, and add a line with an asset (capital expense) category, a description and the amount. Save the bill; the asset appears in the register. 2. Set up the asset: On Assets › Asset Management, click Setup (Edit) in the asset's row, enter Class Life, Total Basis and Salvage Value, choose Monthly or Annually and Auto or Manual, then click Apply. 3. Post depreciation: Tick the assets, check the Depreciation amounts and click Apply depreciation, or use ⋮ › Depreciation on one asset and click Save depreciation. Auto entries post once approved. 4. Record maintenance: Click ⋮ › Maintenance, enter the date, choose Regular or Capital maintenance, the Payment method and Bank account, add expense lines, check the Total and save. 5. Sell or write off: Click ⋮ › Sell to record the sale amount, Sale date and Deposit to account, then Record sale; or ⋮ › Write off, enter the Write-off date and click Write off asset. In the books: Depreciation moves no cash. A sale takes the asset and its accumulated depreciation off the books and posts the gain or loss. Rules and limits: - Assets are created only by a vendor bill line with an asset (capital expense) category; Date added = bill date, Invoice value = bill amount. There is no add button on the Fixed Assets screen. - An asset must be set up (Setup (Edit) → Apply) before depreciation, maintenance, sale or write-off; until then an asset setup alert shows in Needs your attention. - The only depreciation method is Straight-Line Depreciation. - Straight-line: yearly = (Total Basis − Salvage Value) ÷ Class Life; monthly = yearly ÷ 12. - Auto depreciation entries appear as Depreciation items in Needs your attention and on the All alerts and transactions screen, and post only once approved. - Apply depreciation becomes available once at least one asset is ticked. - Writing off marks the asset as disposed and stops its depreciation. - Entries in an asset's Transactions window are locked; correct them at the source (such as the bill) or with a journal entry. - The Depreciation Report lists posted depreciation only — not maintenance, sales or write-offs. Its date filter offers only preset periods (Past 3, 6 or 9 months, Past year, All dates). - The register exports to Excel. Q: How do I add a new asset? A: Record the bill for buying it: Expenses › Bills › + Add Bill, with a line that uses an asset category. The asset then appears in the asset register. Q: Why can't I depreciate, sell, or write off an asset? A: The asset hasn't been set up yet. Click its Setup (Edit) button, complete the Configuration set up window, and click Apply. Q: What is the difference between Auto and Manual depreciation? A: With Auto, fiscal50 creates depreciation entries on schedule and sends them for approval. With Manual, you post depreciation yourself from the Fixed Assets screen. Q: What is the difference between regular and capital maintenance? A: Regular maintenance is upkeep and is recorded as an expense. Capital maintenance improves the asset and is added to its value. Q: What happens when I sell an asset? A: Its cost and accumulated depreciation are removed from your books, and any difference between the sale price and its remaining value is recorded as a gain or loss. Q: Why isn't my asset's depreciation in the Depreciation Report? A: Depreciation appears only once it is posted. If the asset is set to Auto, the entry may be waiting for approval in the Needs your attention list. If it is set to Manual, post it from the Fixed Assets screen. ## Reports and closing ### Financial reports (https://www.fiscal50.com/financial-reporting-software/) fiscal50 prepares its financial reports from your books each time you open one or apply a filter, so the Balance Sheet, Income Statement, Trial Balance and Cash Flow always show what is posted. You choose the dates by date range, month or fiscal year, and the Balance Sheet, Income Statement and Trial Balance switch between Cash and Accrual with one click. The Balance Sheet, Income Statement, Trial Balance and Cash Flow can show periods side by side in up to 60 columns of years, quarters, months, weeks or dates; the Balance Sheet, Income Statement and Cash Flow add the change in dollars and percent. The statements export to Excel or PDF and the General Ledger to Excel, and clicking an account name opens its ledger, where a transaction can be corrected. - Main statements one click apart: The Balance Sheet, Income Statement, Trial Balance, Cash Flow and Historical sit as tabs under every report title, with More statements, Accountant, Receivables, Payables and Analysis menus for the rest. The dates, accounting method and columns you chose come with you to most reports you open from there. - Cash or Accrual: Reports open with your company's accounting method, and the Cash | Accrual switch reloads the report at once. The Cash Flow uses the indirect method, starting from accrual net income, so it has no Cash / Accrual choice. - Compare periods in columns: Choose Multiple columns and a Display type of Years, Quarters, Months, Weeks or Dates; a report holds at most 60 columns. With 2 to 6 columns, the Balance Sheet, Income Statement and Cash Flow add Change $ and Change %, comparing each column with the one before it. - Income statement by location and special category: The Income Statement by Location & Special Category splits income, cost of goods sold, expenses and Net Earnings into up to 12 columns, each a location, a special category or both. Its All column is the company total and equals the Income Statement for the same dates and method. - Drill down and correct: Clicking an account name opens its ledger in fiscal50, with every transaction and the running balance. Edit, then Update, corrects the transaction; apply the filter again to see the change in the report. - Excel and PDF exports: Export uses the filters you applied: Detailed keeps every line, Summary leaves out only the sub-ledger accounts so the totals match. Excel keeps the first column and headings frozen, and a wide PDF turns to landscape. - Receivables, payables and analysis: A/R Aging and A/P Aging show what is owed by Current, 1–30, 31–60, 61–90 and Over 90, while the Analysis menu holds the common-size statements, Financial Ratios, Cash Position and the working capital reports. - Historical balance sheets: Upload prior-year trial balances or balance sheets (Excel or CSV) for years before your books start. They are kept as locked snapshots outside the general ledger and appear as (Historical) years in the Historical Comparison and in the Years view of the Balance Sheet and Income Statement (the Income Statement only for years uploaded as a trial balance). How it works in fiscal50: 1. Open the report: Click Reports in the main menu, open the group that holds the Balance Sheet and click Balance Sheet. It opens as of today, in one column, with your company's accounting method. 2. Open the filter panel: Click Filter to set the Accounting Method, Filter by, Display By and the dates. Changes in the panel wait for Apply filter. 3. Choose the time: Set Filter by to Date, Month or Fiscal Year, then pick a ready-made range in Select date range or type the dates as mm/dd/yyyy. 4. Compare periods in columns: Set Display By to Multiple columns, choose a Display type such as Months and a range such as Last 3 months, then click Apply filter. Change $ and Change % show with 2 to 6 columns. 5. Export or drill down: Click Export for Excel or PDF, Detailed or Summary, or click an account name to open its ledger and correct a transaction. In the books: Reports post nothing. They are prepared from your posted books each time you open one, and a correction made from a ledger posts through that transaction. Statuses: New; No data; (Historical); Locked; Matched; Unmatched; Warning. Rules and limits: - Reports are prepared from the books each time they are opened or a filter is applied. - Total Assets always equals Total Liabilities & Stockholder's Equity, and Total Debit must equal Total Credit on the Trial Balance; if either ever differs, a message shows above the report. - A report holds at most 60 columns; Change $ and Change % show only with 2 to 6 columns. - The Income Statement by Location & Special Category holds up to 12 columns; columns can overlap, so they don't add up to All. - Income and expense accounts start at zero each financial year; earlier years' profit is in Retained Earnings, and this year's profit shows as Net Income in equity. - The Trial Balance leaves out closing entries. - The Cash Flow uses the indirect method and has no Cash / Accrual choice; its Net income is the Income Statement's accrual Net Earnings for the same dates. - Exports use the applied filters; Summary leaves out only the sub-ledger accounts, so totals match the Detailed file. - Reports never change the books; only Edit → Update in the ledger does. - The report window closes 30 minutes after the report was last prepared, 8 hours after it was opened, or at sign-out. - A report window prepares up to about 30 reports or files a minute, a few at a time. - Historical snapshots: only fiscal year-ends before the books start date, one year per upload, Excel or CSV up to 10 MB / 5,000 rows; more than 10 unmatched rows blocks the import; snapshots are locked after import. - Historical snapshots are stored outside the general ledger — no journal entries, no change to opening balances or the books start date. Q: What is the difference between Cash and Accrual on the reports? A: Accrual counts income and expenses when they are earned or incurred, so unpaid invoices and bills are included and receivables and payables show. Cash counts them only when money is received or paid. Switch with Cash | Accrual on the report, or under Accounting Method in the filter panel. Q: How do I compare the last three months on the Balance Sheet? A: Open Filter, choose Multiple columns, Display type Months and Select date range Last 3 months, then click Apply filter. Last 3 months counts this month so far and the 2 before it. Q: Why don't Change $ and Change % show? A: The change columns show only when the report has 2 to 6 columns. They are also hidden when Show the change, which is ticked at first, has been unticked in the filter panel. Q: How do I see the transactions behind an amount? A: Click the account's name. Its ledger opens in fiscal50 with every transaction and the running balance: the General Ledger for a ledger account, or its own ledger for a sub-ledger account. Q: Why doesn't Downtown + Airport + Online equal All on the Income Statement by Location & Special Category? A: Some lines have no location, such as a deposit straight to interest income or a bill entered without one, so they show only in the All column. Columns can also overlap when you mix locations and special categories. Q: Do historical snapshots change my books? A: No. They are stored separately from your general ledger. They don't create journal entries or change your opening balances or books start date. ### Month-end close (https://www.fiscal50.com/month-end-close-software/) fiscal50 closes your books month by month, or a whole fiscal year at once, from Configuration › Month End Closing and Year End Closing. Before a period can close, a Pre-Closing Verification checklist confirms that every bank and credit card transaction for the period is recorded and every bank and credit card account is reconciled. It also flags anything else still pending, such as invoices, asset depreciation, transactions waiting for approval or inventory. When every item is cleared, Start Process closes the period: its status changes from Open to Closed, nothing dated in it can be created, edited or deleted, and reports for it still run with figures that no longer change. - Pre-Closing Verification checklist: Each period opens a checklist that shows Action needed until each item is resolved, with a cleared counter (for example 0 of 2 cleared) and a progress bar. Start Process stays faded until every item is cleared. - Bank checks built in: Bank Transactions checks for bank and credit card transactions not yet recorded, and Bank Reconciliation checks that every bank and credit card account is reconciled for the period. Review opens the pending items so you can resolve them. - Flags anything else that's pending: Extra checklist items appear only when something else is pending for the period, such as invoices, asset depreciation, transactions waiting for approval, or inventory. - Locked periods: Once a month or year is closed, no transactions dated in it can be created, edited or deleted, so the figures you reported on can't change. - Month by month or a whole year: Month End Closing closes one completed month at a time. Year End Closing closes every month of a completed fiscal year in one step, after the same checklist. - Closes in order: Close Month appears only on the next month due, and the next month becomes available once it has ended. The Close Date records when each month was closed. - Reconciliation that feeds the close: Bank accounts reconcile month by month, credit cards statement by statement, and loans period by period. fiscal50 auto-clears matched transactions, so you handle only the exceptions until the Difference is 0. How it works in fiscal50: 1. Open Month End Closing: Click the Configuration (gear) icon at the right end of the main menu, then Month End Closing. The Closing Process screen lists the completed months of the selected fiscal year. 2. Click Close Month: Click Close Month on the next month due. The Start Process screen opens with the Pre-Closing Verification checklist for that month. 3. Clear each item: Click Review next to Bank Transactions and record each pending transaction, complete the bank reconciliation for every bank and credit card account, and resolve any other item. The note under Start Process says what is still blocking. 4. Start Process: When every item is cleared, click Start Process and confirm. You may be asked to enter your fiscal50 password again. 5. Check the month is closed: On the Closing Process screen the month's Status reads Closed and its Close Date is filled in. In the books: Closing posts nothing and moves no balances to Retained Earnings. It locks the period, so nothing dated in it can be created, edited or deleted. Statuses: Open; Closed; Action needed. Rules and limits: - Only completed periods can be closed: a month after it has ended, a year after the fiscal year has ended. The current and future periods can't be closed. - Periods close in order: February can be closed only after January is closed; an earlier year must be closed before a later one. - Bank reconciliation is mandatory: every bank and credit card account must be reconciled for the period before it can be closed. - Every checklist item must be cleared before Start Process becomes available. - Closed periods are locked: transactions dated in them can't be created, edited or deleted. - Reports still run for closed periods, and their figures don't change. - Confirming Start Process may ask you to re-enter your fiscal50 password. - Sub users need the matching feature access to close months. Q: Does closing a month post an entry to Retained Earnings? A: No. Closing posts nothing and moves no balances. It locks the period so nothing dated in it can be created, edited or deleted. Income and expense accounts start at zero each financial year, and earlier years’ profit shows in Retained Earnings. Q: Can I add or edit transactions in a closed month? A: No. A closed month or year is locked. Transactions dated in that period can't be created, edited or deleted. Q: Can I close the current month? A: No. A month can be closed only after it has ended. Only completed months appear on the Closing Process screen. Q: Can I skip a month? A: No. Months are closed in order. The Close Month button appears only on the next month due to be closed. Q: Is bank reconciliation required before closing? A: Yes. Every bank and credit card account must be reconciled for the period before it can be closed. Q: Why is the Start Process button faded? A: At least one checklist item still shows Action needed. The note under the button tells you what must be done first. Q: Does closing change my reports? A: No. Every report still runs for closed periods, and their figures no longer change. ### Tax software export (https://www.fiscal50.com/tax-software-export/) fiscal50 exports your year-end books in formats for TaxAct and Intuit tax software. Exports cover C corporations, S corporations, LLCs and sole proprietorships, so the figures you or your tax preparer enter come straight from reconciled, closed books. - TaxAct and Intuit: Exports shaped for the tax software small businesses and preparers already use. - Entity aware: C corporation, S corporation, LLC and sole proprietorship exports. - From closed books: Close the year first and export figures that will not change underneath you. Q: Which business types are supported? A: C corporations, S corporations, LLCs and sole proprietorships. ## Control and scale ### Approvals and user access (https://www.fiscal50.com/approvals-and-user-access/) fiscal50 holds transactions for approval in two cases: automated entries such as recurring invoices, deferred income or expense and depreciation, and user-entered invoices, bills and payments whose transaction type has an approval workflow. Everything waiting shows under Needs your attention in the header and on the All alerts and transactions screen, where you review the details and approve, disapprove or edit before approving. Workflows are set per transaction type with Approver 1, Approver 2 and so on, and each approver sees an item when it reaches their turn. Sub users sign in with their own email and see only the modules, features, reports and tools you give them. - Needs your attention, from any screen: The approvals icon in the header shows a dot when items are waiting and opens the Needs your attention list, one row per type and date. The list refreshes automatically every few minutes and also appears as a card on your dashboard. - One screen for every approval and alert: All alerts and transactions groups the items of one type raised on one date. Filter by Category, Type, Status or Date (the last 3, 6, 9 or 12 months) to work through one type at a time. - Approve one, many or a whole row: Approve or disapprove a single transaction in the details window, every pending transaction with Approve All or Disapprove All, or a whole row from the main screen. Approved transactions are processed; disapproved ones are not. - Edit before you approve: For types that can be edited, such as recurring customer invoices, Modify opens the transaction so you can change dates, rates, quantities or lines, Preview it and Update. Changes apply to the invoices the schedule generates. - Multi-level approval workflows: In Configuration › Settings › Approvals, set the number of approvers and Approver 1, Approver 2 and so on for Customer Invoice, Customer Invoice Payment, Vendor Invoice and Vendor Invoice Payment. A transaction is completed only after the final approver approves it. - Approval for automated entries: Recurring invoices and automated deferred income or expense entries can be set to wait for review before they are processed, and depreciation entries wait before they are posted. - Sub users with their own sign-in: Add an employee, bookkeeper or accountant in three steps — Details, Access and Review. Each sub user signs in with their own email and password, so you never share yours. - Feature-level permissions: On the Transactions tab each feature has two permissions, Add and View, edit & delete; on the Reports & tools tab each report, dashboard or tool is switched on or off. A sub user adding others can give only the access they have themselves. How it works in fiscal50: 1. Add the people: Open Configuration › Sub Users › Add User, enter their name and the email they sign in with, choose their access, then click Create user and send invite. 2. Set up the approvers: In Configuration › Settings › Approvals, click the gear on a transaction type, choose Select no. of approvers, pick Approver 1, Approver 2 and so on, and click Save. 3. Open Needs your attention: Click the approvals icon in the header. Click a row to jump straight to it, or click See all alerts and transactions. 4. Review the details: Click View Details on a row to see every transaction in the group; use Modify on a pending item that needs changes, then Update. 5. Approve or disapprove: Click Approve or Disapprove on each transaction, or use Approve All or Disapprove All. Approved transactions are processed and show Approved. In the books: Approval posts nothing extra. An approved item is processed as normal and posts its own entry; until then it waits. Statuses: Pending; Approved; Full access; No access; Not available; Draft; Invite sent; Created; User created; Available. Rules and limits: - User-submitted transactions go for approval only when an approval setup exists for their transaction type; types without one are recorded straight away. - Approvers review in order — Approver 1, then Approver 2 and so on; each sees the item when it reaches their turn, and the transaction is completed only after the final approver approves it. - Approvers are chosen from the users on the account, including sub users. - Recurring invoices and deferred income or expense entries wait for approval when Approval required is Yes; depreciation entries wait before they are posted. - Approved transactions are processed; disapproved transactions are not processed. - Approve All and Disapprove All act on every pending transaction in the window; approved items have no further action. - Edits to a recurring invoice apply to the invoices its schedule generates, not only to this occurrence. - Alerts (asset setup pending, asset depreciation pending) clear once the underlying item is resolved. - General Settings apply to the whole company; Reports Configuration and Batch Job save as you change them, approval setups save with Save. - No Approvals section on the Settings page means your user access doesn't include approval setup. - Sub user names: letters (including accented), spaces, apostrophes, periods and hyphens, up to 50 characters, starting with a letter; email up to 254 characters and new to fiscal50. - Nothing is saved until Create user and send invite; at least one permission, module or Reports & tools switch is required. - A sub user can give only the access they have themselves; anything else is greyed out (Outside your own access). Q: Why is a recurring invoice waiting for approval? A: Approval required is on for recurring invoices, so each invoice the schedule creates waits for approval before it is processed. Q: Will a transaction go for approval if no approvers are set up? A: No. A transaction goes for approval only when an approval setup exists for its transaction type. Otherwise it is recorded straight away. Q: Can I approve everything at once? A: Yes. In the details window, click Approve All. You can also approve a whole row from the All alerts and transactions screen. Q: Does disapproving delete the transaction? A: No — it simply isn't processed. Automated items stay unprocessed; user-submitted ones can be corrected and resubmitted. Q: Can more than one person use my fiscal50 account? A: Yes — add each person as a sub user under Configuration (gear) › Sub Users › Add User. They work in your books with their own email and password and see only the modules, features, reports and tools you turn on. Q: Why are some checkboxes greyed out when I add a sub user? A: You're a sub user yourself, and those items are outside your own access. You can only give access you have; ask the account owner if the person needs it. ### Multiple companies (https://www.fiscal50.com/multi-company-accounting/) fiscal50's Companies module lets the main user of an account add other businesses to the same login, each with its own books, address and subscription on the main company's plan and billing cycle. You add a company from Settings › Companies with its name and United States address, see the price, any multi-company discount, the sales tax and the amount charged today, and pay with the saved card or a new one. The switch-company icon in the top bar then moves you between companies, and sub users get the same access in a new company as in the main one. Added companies can later be cancelled, deactivated, reactivated or removed from their cards on the Companies screen. - One login, several sets of books: Every company you add gets its own books, its own address and its own subscription. After you switch, everything you open — transactions, reports and settings — belongs to that company. - Switch from the top bar: The switch-company icon next to the fiscal year lists your companies, the current one in bold with a tick. Each browser tab works in one company, and a tab left behind shows "You switched company in another tab" with a button to reload it. - Clear price before you pay: The Subscription for this company panel shows the plan, any multi-company discount, the sales tax for the new address and Charged today, with the renewal amount underneath. The total is worked out again when you pay, and a changed total must be confirmed. - Saved card or a new card: Pay with the card saved for your main company, or use a new card for that company's subscription only. The secure card form is drawn by the card processor, so fiscal50 never sees the card number. - Guided setup for each new company: After the payment the new company opens on its configuration screen — business type, industry and fiscal year. Until it is finished, it carries a Setup pending badge and a Finish setup button. - Cancel, deactivate, reactivate or remove: Cancel subscription keeps a company open until the paid-through date; Deactivate closes it at once and keeps the books; Reactivate is free until the paid-through date; Remove is final and needs REMOVE typed. - Sub users carry over: Sub users you have when you add a company get the same access in it as in your main company, and a sub user who can open two or more companies switches between them the same way you do. How it works in fiscal50: 1. Open the Companies screen: Log in with the main user of the account, click Settings in the main menu, then click Companies. 2. Enter the name and address: Click + Add Company, type the Company name (2 to 60 characters), start typing the street in Address line 1 and pick the suggestion; check City, State and ZIP. 3. Check the price panel: Read the plan, any multi-company discount, the sales tax for the new address and Charged today, with the renewal amount underneath. 4. Pay: Keep the saved card and click Pay and add company, or choose Use a new card and click Continue to card payment. Wait for "Company added". 5. Finish the setup: The new company opens on its configuration screen: complete the business type, industry and fiscal year so it is ready to use. In the books: Each company has its own books. Adding, switching or deactivating a company posts nothing to any of them. Statuses: Main company; Main; Active; Will not renew; Deactivated; Ended; You are here; Setup pending; Company added; Payment received; Your company is ready. Rules and limits: - Only the main user of the account sees Companies and adds or manages companies; sub users and bookkeeper sessions cannot. - Add Company requires the main company to have an active paid subscription with a saved card. - An added company is on the main company's plan and billing cycle; it cannot be on a different plan. Changing the plan in Billing changes only the main company. - Only US addresses are accepted; sales tax is worked out from the new company's address, on the price after the discount. If the tax can't be worked out, nothing is charged. - A card is never charged twice for the same company. - The secure card form stays open 35 minutes. - The switch-company icon appears once a login can open two or more companies; each browser tab works in one company. - The main company is never switched off or removed on the Companies screen; its plan and card are in Billing. - Cancel subscription: open until the paid-through date, then closes; Resume subscription before that date. - Deactivate: closed right away for everyone, no renewal, books kept; free reactivation until the paid-through date. - Reactivating after the paid-through date or for an Ended company starts a new subscription at the full plan price plus tax on the main company's saved card; the multi-company discount does not apply again. - Remove cancels the subscription at once with no refund and can't be undone from the screen; it needs REMOVE typed. - No action refunds unused time. Q: Can an added company be on a different plan or billing cycle? A: No. Every added company is on the same plan and billing cycle as your main company. Q: Why is the sales tax different from my main company's? A: The tax is worked out for the address of the new company, not for the address of your main company. Q: Can my sub users switch companies? A: Yes, between the companies they have access to, using the switch-company icon. They cannot add or manage companies. Q: What is the difference between Cancel subscription and Deactivate? A: Cancel keeps the company open until the end of the paid period and then closes it. Deactivate closes it right away. Neither refunds anything, and both can be undone until the paid-through date. Q: What does reactivating cost? A: Nothing before the paid-through date. After it, or for an Ended company, a new subscription is started at the plan price plus tax, charged to the main company's saved card, and the amount is shown before you confirm. Q: Can a bookkeeper add or manage companies? A: No. The Companies module isn't available in a bookkeeper session; the business owner adds and manages companies from their own login. ### Setup and migration (https://www.fiscal50.com/quickbooks-migration/) fiscal50 sets up a new company from QuickBooks in two parts: the Configuration Agent for your accounts and opening balances, and the import screens for your lists. You upload two QuickBooks Online or QuickBooks Desktop exports, your chart of accounts and your trial balance or balance sheet as of the day before your books start date. The agent matches each account by name, checks that debits equal credits, and shows a preview with errors and warnings before anything is saved. After you click Approve & Import, fiscal50 creates the chart of accounts, sets up your bank and credit card accounts, and records your opening balances in one opening journal entry. Customers, vendors, products/items and the chart of accounts can also be imported in the exact format QuickBooks exports them, using the QuickBooks template on each import screen. - Accounts and balances in one step: The Configuration Agent reads your QuickBooks chart of accounts and trial balance or balance sheet, matches your accounts, checks your balances and shows a preview. Nothing is imported until you click Approve & Import. - Reads QuickBooks exports as they are: The agent detects each file's layout and finds the header row and the name, number, type and amount columns, even in QuickBooks exports with indented, grouped rows. - Clear matching rules: Accounts are matched by name, never by number. Accounts that match a fiscal50 system account or one of your existing accounts are mapped to it, and everything else is created as a new account. - Errors and warnings before you import: Each issue is flagged red (error) or amber (warning) with a hint on how to fix it. Errors such as a missing account type or an unmatched balance line block the import; warnings don't. - Bank accounts ready for Plaid: Accounts typed Bank or Credit Card are set up as bank and credit card accounts, leaving out clearing, petty cash, investment and group-heading accounts. Finalize & Link Banks with Plaid continues straight to connecting them. - Lists in QuickBooks format: Customers, vendors, products/items and the chart of accounts import with Template Type set to QuickBooks. Each record is validated, and a summary shows how many were imported and which rows were skipped. - Guided start with fiscal50's own accounts: If you'd rather use fiscal50's chart of accounts, the Opening Entries page walks through bank accounts, partners, vendors, customers, assets, inventory and other balances, with a status icon on each row and a live Balance Sheet button. How it works in fiscal50: 1. Choose to import your own accounts: On the Setup screen, click Import my Accounts and confirm. This choice can't be changed later. 2. Upload your two QuickBooks files: Click Import COA and Trial Balance/Balance Sheet, choose your chart of accounts export and your trial balance or balance sheet export, and click Analyze My Files. 3. Review and fix: Check the status banner and the chart of accounts and balance previews. Use Errors & warnings only to find each issue, and fix it with the Account Type, Map to or account picker controls. 4. Approve & Import: When no errors remain and debits equal credits, click Approve & Import. fiscal50 saves the chart of accounts, sets up bank and credit card accounts, and records one opening journal entry. 5. Finalize: Review the Chart of Accounts, Balance Sheet and Trial Balance links, then click Finalize Configuration, or Finalize & Link Banks with Plaid. In the books: The Configuration Agent records your balances as of the day before your books start in one opening journal entry. Transaction history is not imported. Statuses: Ready to import; Errors to fix; Re-upload required. Rules and limits: - Opening balances are always as of the day before the books start date (for a 01/01/2026 start, use balances as of 12/31/2025). - The books start date can be today, the start of your fiscal year, or a date you pick up to two years back. - The Configuration Agent accepts QuickBooks Online (QBO) and QuickBooks Desktop (QBD) exports only, as Excel or CSV files, each under 10 MB. Both files are required. - A trial balance (recommended) imports balances for all accounts including income and expenses; a balance sheet imports asset, liability and equity balances only. - Errors block Approve & Import; warnings don't. A file that doesn't balance, or more than 10 errors, requires a re-upload. - The choice between importing your own accounts and using fiscal50's accounts can't be changed later. - Fiscal year and books start date should be treated as final when you submit the questionnaire; contact fiscal50 Support if they must change. - List imports cover customers, vendors, products/items and the chart of accounts, one Excel file per data type; import the chart of accounts first, then customers and vendors, then products/items. - List imports don't migrate balances or transaction history; balances come across as opening balances during setup. - On the Opening Entries page, partners' capital shares should total 100%; otherwise a new partner holding the remaining capital is added automatically at Finalize. Q: Which files do I need? A: Your chart of accounts and your trial balance or balance sheet, both exported from QuickBooks Online or QuickBooks Desktop, as Excel or CSV files under 10 MB each. Q: What date should my balances be as of? A: The day before the date fiscal50 starts recording your transactions. For example, for a 01/01/2026 start, use balances as of 12/31/2025. Q: Is anything saved when I click Analyze My Files? A: No. The agent only analyzes your files and shows a preview. Nothing is saved until you click Approve & Import. Q: Why do I have to re-upload my files? A: The agent found an error that can't be fixed on screen, such as a trial balance that doesn't balance, or more than 10 errors. Correct the files in QuickBooks and upload them again. Q: Does this migrate my transaction history? A: No. The QuickBooks import tools cover four lists: customers, vendors, products/items and the chart of accounts. Your financial position comes across as opening balances, on the Opening Entries page or with the Configuration Agent. Q: Can I upload files from other accounting software? A: Not at the moment. The Configuration Agent accepts QuickBooks Online and QuickBooks Desktop exports. ## Bookkeeper Workspace fiscal50 Bookkeeper Workspace is a free-to-start practice workspace for bookkeepers and accounting firms that keep books in fiscal50. Every client company sits in one login, whichever way the client works with the firm: the firm buys the client's fiscal50 license at partner prices; the client pays fiscal50 directly and the firm earns a revenue share; or the business invites the firm with a connect code. From one dashboard the firm sees every client's bank feeds, Banks to Books backlog, reconciliations and month-end status. It runs a cross-client work queue, onboarding and migration checklists and integration health, and opens any client's fiscal50 books in one click with no shared password. Connect (free) covers all of that. Practice adds month-end close with checklists, automatic checks and reviewer sign-off, client document requests through the client portal with reminders, quality checks, health scores, recurring work, client AI memory, practice metrics and assigning clients to team members. Firm adds the practice CRM, time tracking, firm billing with service packages, profitability, exception detection (duplicates and unusual amounts), custom permission profiles, white-label and priority support. Plans: Connect (free, 1 seat (the owner)), Practice ($15.50/month, or $13.95/month billed yearly, $167.40 a year, 10% less, up to 4 seats (owner + 3)), Firm ($49.50/month, or $44.55/month billed yearly, $534.60 a year, 10% less, up to 11 seats (owner + 10, contact us for more)). Client fiscal50 licenses at partner prices: retail less 15% to 30% depending on licenses held. Partner program: 20% revenue share for 12 months per referred or client-paid company, 25% for Gold partners with 10+ active clients, paid through Stripe Connect. Security: two-step sign-in on every account, 30-minute idle sign-out, single-use recorded links to open client books, read-only access to fiscal50 data, and access levels (Full, Standard, View only) that the client controls and can end at any time. ### Bookkeeper Workspace plan comparison (connect | practice | firm) Clients and workspace: - Client companies: license partner, client-paid and client-invited: Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited - Team seats: 1 seat (the owner) | Up to 4 seats (owner + 3) | Up to 11 seats (owner + 10, contact us for more) - Multi-client dashboard and one-click client switching: included | included | included - Cross-client work queue: included | included | included - Getting started checklists, integration health and client timeline: included | included | included - Two-step sign-in for every user: included | included | included - Learning, Academy guides and Academy certification: included | included | included - Ask Fifty for reports and analyses: included | included | included Month-end close and client collaboration: - Month-end close manager with reusable checklists: not included | included | included - Reviewer sign-off and month-end close packages: not included | included | included - Bookkeeping quality checks: negative and suspense balances, old uncleared items: not included | included | included - Predictive close readiness: not included | included | included - Client document requests and the client portal: not included | included | included - Automated client reminders: not included | included | included - Recurring service plans and templates with roll-forward: not included | included | included - Custom close checklists: not included | not included | included Insights and reports: - Client health scores and daily priorities: not included | included | included - Portfolio reports with Excel and PDF export: not included | included | included - Practice metrics: not included | included | included - Client-specific AI memory: not included | included | included - Exception detection: duplicates and unusual amounts: not included | not included | included - Team workload report: not included | not included | included - Audit log export: not included | not included | included - Service profitability: not included | not included | included Practice management: - Practice CRM: not included | not included | included - Time tracking: not included | not included | included - Firm billing with service packages: not included | not included | included Team and permissions: - Assign clients to team members: not included | included | included - Custom permission profiles: not included | not included | included - White-label client reports and portal: not included | not included | included Licenses, partners and support: - Partner program: included | included | included - License volume discounts: included | included | included - Priority support: not included | not included | included ## fiscal50 Academy https://www.fiscal50.com/academy/ (sign in at https://academy.fiscal50.com/login/ with your fiscal50 username and password). Included with every fiscal50 plan; there is no separate sign-up. Totals: 126 tutor-led lessons (1953 slides, 357 quick checks), 126 user guides, 6103 quiz questions, 25 topic paths, about 19.5 hours of lessons. Lessons: one fiscal50 screen each; slides explain an idea, show the clicks to make in fiscal50, give tips or ask a quick check; a "Fields on this screen" table lists every field with its purpose, whether it is required, its rules and default; an Ask box answers from the fiscal50 guides. Quizzes: up to 15 questions per attempt drawn at random from the screen's bank (8 to 103 questions), pass mark 80%, unlimited retakes, an explanation for every answer. Practice quiz builder: pick screens and 5, 10, 15 or 20 questions. Bookkeeping from zero: 8 stages for owners new to bookkeeping (Accounting in plain English; Set up your books; Money coming in; Money going out; Banks to books — your weekly habit; Close the month; Read your reports; Year-end and your accountant). Certification: Banks to Books, Bank and card reconciliation, Journals and adjustments, Reports for month-end review, Month-end close; AI review (Fifty) for bookkeepers coming soon. Pass mark 80%, valid 24 months, verifiable at a public link. AI Assist questions a month: Starter 25, Business 50, Business Pro 100, bookkeeper and multi-company accounts 100, trial 20. Instant Answers are unlimited. Modules: - Getting Started (https://academy.fiscal50.com/modules/getting-started/): Sign up, configure the account, bring in your opening balances — with fiscal50's accounts or your own — and migrate your lists from QuickBooks. 4 lessons, 262 quiz questions, about 44 minutes. - Getting Around (https://academy.fiscal50.com/modules/getting-around/): Your dashboards, the header bar — fiscal year, approvals and alerts — and your profile menu. 6 lessons, 278 quiz questions, about 53 minutes. - Sales (https://academy.fiscal50.com/modules/sales/): Customers, invoices, payments in, proposals and checkout — everything under the Sales menu. 27 lessons, 540 quiz questions, about 158 minutes. - Expenses (https://academy.fiscal50.com/modules/expenses/): Vendors, bills, payments out, checks, payees, receipts and 1099s — the Expenses menu. 24 lessons, 1167 quiz questions, about 221 minutes. - Journal (https://academy.fiscal50.com/modules/journal/): Manual journal entries and the full transaction list. 3 lessons, 180 quiz questions, about 32 minutes. - Inventory (https://academy.fiscal50.com/modules/inventory/): Products, stock levels, sales and vendor orders, inventory reports. 8 lessons, 368 quiz questions, about 70 minutes. - Assets (https://academy.fiscal50.com/modules/assets/): Fixed assets and depreciation. 2 lessons, 126 quiz questions, about 21 minutes. - Banks (https://academy.fiscal50.com/modules/banks/): Bank and card accounts, the bank feed, AI categorization, posting and corrections (Banks to Books). 11 lessons, 655 quiz questions, about 122 minutes. - Apps (https://academy.fiscal50.com/modules/apps/): Third-party app integrations — Gusto payroll and Stripe payments. 2 lessons, 106 quiz questions, about 22 minutes. - Register (https://academy.fiscal50.com/modules/register/): The account register — one account's transactions with a running balance, quick entries and full entries. 1 lessons, 67 quiz questions, about 10 minutes. - Reports (https://academy.fiscal50.com/modules/reports/): Financial statements, comparisons, aging, statements and analysis reports. 28 lessons, 1720 quiz questions, about 311 minutes. - Configuration (https://academy.fiscal50.com/modules/settings/): Company setup, chart of accounts, users, locations, historical data, closing and your other companies. 9 lessons, 577 quiz questions, about 92 minutes. - Bookkeeper (https://academy.fiscal50.com/modules/bookkeeper/): For bookkeepers and firms: the bookkeeper login — licenses, clients, their books and yours. 1 lessons, 57 quiz questions, about 12 minutes. ## Comparisons Competitor prices are US list prices checked 11 November 2026 on each vendor's own pricing page. ### Xero alternative (https://www.fiscal50.com/xero-alternative/) On Xero’s Early plan you can send 20 invoices and enter 5 bills, and auto-reconcile is a $5.00 a month add-on. fiscal50 recommends how to book every bank transaction, tells you why, and reconciles your accounts on its Business plan. - Xero, starting price: Early $27, Growing $59, Established $97 a month - Xero, what the entry plan limits: Early: quotes and 20 invoices, and 5 bills - Xero, auto-reconciliation: Optional $5.00 a month add-on on Early; included on Growing and Established - Xero, users and accountant access: No per-user license fees - Source: https://www.xero.com/us/pricing/ ### Wave alternative (https://www.fiscal50.com/wave-alternative/) Wave’s free Starter plan doesn’t import bank transactions automatically; that and admin, editor and viewer users come with Pro at $19 a month. Every fiscal50 plan includes a live bank feed through Plaid and AI that books each transaction. - Wave, starting price: Starter $0; Pro $19 a month or $190 a year - Wave, what the entry plan limits: Starter: no automatic bank import; receipt scanning is an add-on - Wave, bank feeds on the entry plan: Not on Starter; Pro auto-imports bank transactions - Wave, users and accountant access: Starter: payroll manager and tax pro roles; admin, editor and viewer users need Pro - Source: https://www.waveapps.com/pricing ### FreshBooks alternative (https://www.fiscal50.com/freshbooks-alternative/) FreshBooks plans set how many clients you can bill, 5 on Lite and 50 on Plus, and extra team members are $11 a person a month. fiscal50 plans are set by features and users, with complete double-entry books and AI bank feeds on every plan. - FreshBooks, starting price: Lite $23, Plus $43, Premium $70 a month; Select custom-priced - FreshBooks, what the entry plan limits: Billable clients: 5 on Lite, 50 on Plus, unlimited on Premium - FreshBooks, auto-reconciliation: Bank reconciliation on Plus and Premium - FreshBooks, users and accountant access: Extra team members $11 a person a month; accountant access on Plus and Premium - Source: https://www.freshbooks.com/pricing ### Zoho Books alternative (https://www.fiscal50.com/zoho-books-alternative/) Zoho Books’ Free plan is for businesses with up to $50K in yearly revenue and doesn’t include bank feeds, which start on Standard at $20 a month. Every fiscal50 plan includes a live bank feed and AI recommendations that explain each entry. - Zoho Books, starting price: Free $0; Standard $20, Professional $50, Premium $70, Elite $150, Ultimate $275 a month per organization ($15 / $40 / $60 / $120 / $240 billed yearly) - Zoho Books, what the entry plan limits: Free: 1 user + 1 accountant, up to 1,000 invoices a year, yearly revenue up to $50K - Zoho Books, bank feeds on the entry plan: Not on Free; bank feeds start on Standard - Zoho Books, users and accountant access: Free: 1 user + 1 accountant; Standard: 3 users; extra users $3 a month ($2.50 billed yearly) - Zoho Books, 1099 tracking: Free: track contractors and prepare 1099s; e-filing 1099-NEC from Standard - Source: https://www.zoho.com/us/books/pricing/ ## Tax software export in detail https://www.fiscal50.com/tax-software-export/ How it works: 1. Record and reconcile the year: Get every bank and card transaction recorded in Banks to Books and every account reconciled for each month of the fiscal year. 2. Review the year’s reports: Check the Income Statement, Balance Sheet and Trial Balance for the fiscal year on the accounting method you file on, cash or accrual. 3. Close the fiscal year: Year End Closing runs the Pre-Closing Verification checklist, then closes every month of the year in one step so nothing dated in it can change. 4. Export for your tax software: Export the year’s figures in the format for TaxAct or Intuit tax software, for your company type. The export is on Business and Business Pro. 5. Prepare and file the return: Use the export in your tax software, or send it to your tax preparer. The return is prepared and filed there. Company types covered, and the federal return each usually files (general information, not tax advice): - C corporation: Form 1120, U.S. Corporation Income Tax Return - S corporation: Form 1120-S, U.S. Income Tax Return for an S Corporation - LLC: Depends on how it is taxed: a single-member LLC is usually reported on the owner’s return (Schedule C for a sole owner), a multi-member LLC usually files Form 1065, and an LLC that elects corporate tax treatment files Form 1120 or 1120-S - Sole proprietorship: Schedule C (Profit or Loss From Business), filed with the owner’s Form 1040 Q: Which tax software does the export work with? A: TaxAct and Intuit tax software. fiscal50 exports your year-end books in formats for both. Q: Which business types are supported? A: C corporations, S corporations, LLCs and sole proprietorships. Q: Which plans include the tax software export? A: Business and Business Pro. Every plan includes the financial reports the export is built from. Q: Should I close the year before exporting? A: Yes. Closing the fiscal year locks it, so the figures you export can’t change after you or your tax preparer start working from them. Q: Does fiscal50 file my tax return? A: No. fiscal50 exports the figures from your books; the return is prepared and filed in your tax software or by your tax preparer. ## fiscal50 + Maven PMP https://www.fiscal50.com/fiscal50-maven/ Who it is for: - Independent bookkeepers: You keep the books for several small businesses and want client work, deadlines and each client’s books in one routine instead of spread across tools. - Firms with a team: Several people share the client list. Maven PMP shows who is working on what; fiscal50 shows how far each client’s books have got. - Bookkeepers building a practice: Maven Systems also offers bookkeeping courses for independent bookkeepers, and the fiscal50 Academy teaches every fiscal50 screen. Who does what: - Clients: Maven PMP: Client management and client communication. fiscal50: Each client’s company books, with its own chart of accounts, banks and reports. - Work: Maven PMP: Tasks, checklists and team workload. fiscal50: The Banks to Books backlog, reconciliations and month-end close for each client. - Bank transactions: Maven PMP: n/a. fiscal50: Bank and card feeds through Plaid; an AI recommendation for each transaction with its reason, confidence and evidence; nothing posts until you click Post. - Month-end: Maven PMP: n/a. fiscal50: A Pre-Closing Verification checklist, then a locked period that can’t be changed. - Reports: Maven PMP: Bookkeeping progress alongside tasks and checklists. fiscal50: Balance Sheet, Income Statement, Cash Flow and Trial Balance, on cash or accrual. - Learning: Maven PMP: Bookkeeping courses from Maven Systems. fiscal50: The fiscal50 Academy: a lesson, a guide and a quiz for every screen, free with a fiscal50 login. ## Security https://www.fiscal50.com/security/ ### Bank feeds through Plaid Bank, credit card and loan accounts link to fiscal50 through Plaid, and new transactions sync at regular intervals from the moment you link an account. Payments you take online run through Stripe: you sign in to Stripe yourself to authorize the connection, so fiscal50 never receives your Stripe password. - Accounts you would rather not link can be added by hand and fed with a Web Connect file, your bank’s Excel export, a QuickBooks IIF export or the fiscal50 CSV. - Earlier periods come in from the same uploads; Plaid syncs forward from the day you link. - Synced transactions wait as Pending in Banks to Books. Nothing reaches your books until you review the recommendation and click Post. - Connections per plan: Starter 1, Business up to 5, Business Pro up to 10. ### Protected SSNs A vendor’s or payee’s Social Security number is encrypted before it is stored and kept in a secure vault, apart from the vendor record. Everywhere in fiscal50 it is shown masked to the last four digits, and the full number is unlocked only when you generate that vendor’s Form 1099. - While you type an SSN, an eye icon lets you show or hide it. - An SSN or EIN isn’t needed to add a vendor or payee, or to record their bills and payments; you need it before you file their 1099. Collect a Form W-9 first. - Only the SSN field is encrypted. Keep SSNs out of memos, notes and other free-text fields. ### Permissions by feature Employees, bookkeepers and accountants work in your books as sub users, each with their own email and password, so nobody shares yours. You choose what each one can see and do, feature by feature: modules, reports and tools stay hidden unless you turn them on. - For each feature, a sub user can have Add, View, edit & delete, both or neither. - A sub user who can add users can give only the access they have themselves; anything else is greyed out. - Nothing is saved until you click Create user and send invite, and each user needs at least one permission. - Users per plan: Starter 1 user, Business up to 3 users, Business Pro up to 10 users. Every plan includes a bookkeeper login. ### Approvals before posting You can make customer invoices, customer payments, vendor bills and vendor payments wait for approval before they are recorded. Each workflow has Approver 1, Approver 2 and so on, chosen from the users on your account. Each approver sees an item only when it reaches their turn, and the transaction is completed only after the final approver approves it. - Recurring invoices and automated deferred income or expense entries can be set to wait for review, and depreciation entries wait before they are posted. - Everything waiting shows under Needs your attention in the header, on any screen. - Approved transactions are processed; disapproved ones are not. Some types, such as recurring invoices, can be edited before you approve them. - Transaction types without an approval setup are recorded straight away. The approval workflow is on every plan. ### A trail for every entry Every recommendation in Banks to Books shows its reason, a confidence percentage and the evidence behind it, and nothing posts until a person clicks Post. Each posted transaction is a balanced double-entry journal entry, so every amount in a report can be traced back to the transaction that made it. - From the All Transactions list, View shows the journal entry, the accounts debited and credited, and View Transaction Details opens the original invoice, bill or payment. - Click an account name in a report to open its ledger, with every transaction and the running balance. - A transaction found in a ledger can be opened and corrected there, and the reports change with it. ### Locked periods When you close a month or a fiscal year, fiscal50 locks it: transactions dated in it can no longer be created, edited or deleted. Reports for the period still run, and their figures don’t change, so the numbers you gave your lender, your tax preparer or your partners stay the numbers you gave them. - Before a period can close, a Pre-Closing Verification checklist confirms every bank and credit card transaction is recorded and every account is reconciled. - Only completed periods can be closed, and they close in order: February only after January. - Confirming the close may ask you to re-enter your fiscal50 password, and sub users need the matching access to close months. ## Frequently asked questions ### About fiscal50 Q: What is fiscal50? A: fiscal50 is AI-powered bookkeeping and accounting software for small businesses and bookkeepers. It syncs bank and credit card feeds, recommends and explains how each transaction should be booked, posts double-entry journal entries, reconciles accounts and produces financial statements. Invoicing, bills, inventory, fixed assets, 1099 tracking and month-end close are built in. Q: Who is fiscal50 for? A: Startups and small and medium-sized businesses that want accurate books without manual data entry, and bookkeepers and accounting firms that manage books for many clients. It supports sole proprietors, partnerships, LLCs, corporations, S corporations and non-profits. Q: Do I need to be an accountant or bookkeeper to use fiscal50? A: No. fiscal50 is built for business owners at any level of accounting knowledge. AI recommendations explain themselves, the built-in assistant answers how-do-I questions on every screen, and the fiscal50 Academy teaches each feature with short lessons and quizzes. Q: Is fiscal50 a QuickBooks alternative? A: Yes. fiscal50 covers core small business accounting, adds explainable AI bookkeeping, and imports a QuickBooks Online or Desktop chart of accounts and trial balance during setup. Q: How is fiscal50 related to Maven Systems? A: Maven Systems offers bookkeeping courses and Maven PMP practice management for independent bookkeepers. fiscal50 and Maven PMP are integrated so a bookkeeping practice can run client management and client books together. ### AI and automation Q: How does fiscal50 use AI? A: In Banks to Books, AI recommends the customer or vendor, the category and the account for each bank and card transaction, and matches deposits and withdrawals to open invoices and bills. It learns from how you recorded similar transactions. AI agents auto-reconcile your accounts month after month once the predicted ending balance agrees with the bank. AI also powers Fifty, the assistant on every screen, and the Configuration Agent that imports your QuickBooks accounts. Q: Will the AI post entries without me? A: No. Recommendations are pre-selected but nothing reaches your books until you click Post, post the page or queue a batch. Anything posted can be corrected later from the Recorded to fiscal50 tab, one at a time or in bulk. Q: Can I see why a transaction was categorized a certain way? A: Yes. Every recommendation comes with its explanation: the reason, a confidence score and the evidence behind it, such as the number of prior transactions it learned from. Q: What can Fifty, the AI accountant, do? A: Answer how-to questions from the fiscal50 guides with a Take me there button that opens the screen, read figures such as revenue or a balance sheet from your books, and, on Business and Business Pro, create invoices, bills, payments and other records from the chat after you confirm a summary. ### Pricing and plans Q: How much does fiscal50 cost? A: Starter is $5.50 a month, Business is $19.50 a month and Business Pro is $30.50 a month. Paying yearly costs $59.50, $210.50 and $329.50 respectively. Q: Is there a free trial? A: Yes. The Starter plan’s first month is free and no credit card is required. Q: Can I change plans later? A: Yes. Upgrade or downgrade from Billing in your account menu; charges are prorated. Q: How do bookkeepers pay for client companies? A: Three ways, all in the free-to-start Bookkeeper Workspace: buy the client’s license at partner prices (15% to 30% off retail), set up clients who pay fiscal50 directly while the firm earns a revenue share, or be connected by a business already on fiscal50 with the firm’s connect code. ### Data and security Q: Is my data secure on fiscal50? A: Bank and card accounts link through Plaid, every user has their own sign-in with permissions set feature by feature, and vendor and payee Social Security numbers are encrypted when saved, kept in a separate secure vault and shown masked to the last four digits. Closed periods are locked. Q: Can I move data from other software into fiscal50? A: Yes. Import a chart of accounts and trial balance or balance sheet from QuickBooks Online or Desktop, import transactions from Excel or CSV, and keep prior years as historical balance sheets. Q: Can I work with my accountant in fiscal50? A: Yes. Give your accountant or bookkeeper their own login, or let a bookkeeper using the fiscal50 Bookkeeper Workspace manage your books. Q: Can I export my data? A: Yes. Reports export to Excel, the general ledger and sub-ledgers export in three layouts, and 1099 data exports to CSV. ### For bookkeepers and firms Q: Can a bookkeeper manage many client companies with one login? A: Yes. The Bookkeeper Workspace lists every client company under one login, and Log in opens that client’s own fiscal50 in a new tab without a shared password. The bookkeeper can buy the client’s license at partner prices, the client can pay fiscal50 directly, or a business already on fiscal50 can connect its bookkeeper with a connect code. Connect, the first Workspace plan, is free. Q: How does a bookkeeper review AI-categorized transactions in fiscal50? A: In Banks to Books, AI pre-selects a recommendation for each bank and card transaction with a reason, a confidence percentage and the evidence it used. The bookkeeper accepts it or picks something else, then clicks Post. Nothing posts on its own, and each posted transaction is a balanced double-entry journal entry. Q: How do I move a client from QuickBooks to fiscal50? A: Upload the client’s QuickBooks Online or Desktop chart of accounts with a trial balance or balance sheet. The configuration agent matches accounts by name, checks that debits equal credits and shows errors and warnings before you choose Approve & Import. Transaction history is not migrated. Q: What is the difference between built-in AI bookkeeping and an AI add-on? A: In fiscal50 the AI recommendations sit inside the ledger: each recommendation is made in Banks to Books, posted as a journal entry in the same books and reconciled there. An add-on tool works in a separate app and sends its results to the accounting software through an integration. ## FAQ library Questions about each part of fiscal50, from the fiscal50 Academy. Step-by-step lessons are in the Academy (sign in). ### Getting started questions (https://www.fiscal50.com/faqs/getting-started/) #### Account Configuration Q: I don't have an organization. What do I enter as the organization name? A: Enter your own name. fiscal50 uses this as the name on your account and your documents. Q: My business structure isn't in the list of organization types. What should I choose? A: Choose Other / None. The organization type helps fiscal50 tailor your setup, so pick the closest match — it doesn't limit which features you can use. Q: Should I select Yes if I keep inventory? A: Yes. Select Yes if you keep inventory, then pick an inventory type card, FIFO or LIFO. The cards only appear after Yes. Q: Should I choose FIFO or LIFO? A: FIFO (First In, First Out) treats your oldest purchases as sold first; LIFO (Last In, First Out) treats your newest purchases as sold first. The right method depends on your business and tax situation — if you're unsure, ask your bookkeeper or accountant which method you currently use. #### Registration & Opening Entries Setup Q: Do I have to fill in every row on the Opening Entries page? A: Add the sections that apply to your business. Fiscal Year is completed by the questionnaire; the rest — bank accounts, partners, vendors, customers, assets, inventory, and other account balances — depend on what your business has. The status icon on each row shows what's complete (green check) and what's pending (yellow hourglass), so nothing gets missed. Q: What date should my opening balances be entered as of? A: The day before your books start date. The note at the top of the Opening Entries page shows the exact date, and every balance you enter — bank, vendor, customer, asset, inventory, and other accounts — should be as of that date. Q: I didn't get the verification email. What do I do? A: Check your spam or junk folder first. Q: Why don't I see the Organizations section? A: The Organizations section does not appear for companies of type Corporation or S-Corporation. For those, capital is allocated to equity accounts (Retained Earnings, Common Stock, Preferred Stock, Treasury Stock) at the finalize step instead. #### Import Chart of Accounts & Opening Balances (Configuration Agent) Q: Should I upload a trial balance or a balance sheet? A: Upload a trial balance if you want to track Profit & Loss from the beginning of your fiscal year — it includes income and expense balances. Otherwise, either works. #### QuickBooks to fiscal50 Migration Q: Do I need to reformat my QuickBooks exports before importing? A: No. fiscal50 accepts customers, vendors, products/items, and the chart of accounts in the same format QuickBooks exports. Just select QuickBooks as the Template Type on the import screen and compare your file against the downloadable sample. Q: What file format do the imports expect? A: An Excel file matching the sample for the selected template. Every import screen has a Download button that gives you an example file — the safest approach is to open it side by side with your export and confirm the columns line up before uploading. Q: Which order should I import in? A: Chart of Accounts first, then customers and vendors, then products/items. Importing accounts first means the records that reference them land cleanly. Q: Can I use fiscal50's own format instead of the QuickBooks one? A: Yes. The Template Type drop-down offers both. Choose fiscal50 if you're preparing files from scratch rather than exporting from QuickBooks, and download the matching sample file. #### Gusto Payroll Integration Q: I uploaded the payroll. Why isn't it in my books yet? A: Uploading saves the payroll. To post it to your books, open Pending Payrolls, click Record, and then Verify & Post. Q: I uploaded the wrong file. What should I do? A: If the payroll hasn't been recorded yet, click Remove Payroll for it in Pending Payrolls, then upload the correct file. Q: What is the Bank Outgoing Clearing Account? A: A holding account for payroll checks. Checks are credited to it when payroll is recorded, and cleared out of it when they clear the bank. #### Stripe Integration Q: Which Stripe account will be connected? A: The one you sign in to in the Stripe window. Use the email address of the Stripe account you want to sync with fiscal50. Q: What are recording preferences? A: The accounts fiscal50 posts Stripe transactions to: an asset account for your Stripe balance, an expense account for Stripe fees, and an income account for Stripe income. Q: Why are some transactions pending? A: They couldn't be posted automatically. Open the monthly summary with the Pending Transactions button and click Record pending Transactions for the month. ### Banks to Books questions (https://www.fiscal50.com/faqs/banks-to-books/) #### Sync Bank Accounts Q: Can I add a bank account without Plaid? A: Yes. You can add a bank or credit card account manually with its bank, the last 4 digits of the account number, a new or existing chart of accounts entry and, if there is one, its opening balance. Q: Which files can I upload for a manually added account? A: The bank's Web Connect file, the bank's Excel export, a QuickBooks IIF transactions export, or a CSV in the fiscal50 format. The uploaded transactions appear as pending deposits and withdrawals, ready to record like synced ones. Q: Can I link a manually added account to Plaid later? A: Yes, with Link with Plaid next to the bank name, and you can link several accounts at the same bank at once. Uploads stay available for any period the sync doesn't cover. Q: What does fiscal50 create in my chart of accounts when I link an account? A: A chart of accounts entry for each linked bank and credit card account, using system default settings. You can change its name and number right after linking, or later from the bank account's details. #### Banks to Books basics Q: What is Banks to Books? A: It's where fiscal50 turns your bank feed into your books. You connect bank and credit card accounts, review incoming and outgoing transactions, accept or adjust the AI's recommendations, post them, and correct anything later, all from the Banks tab. Q: What does Manually Logged mean? A: It marks a bank transaction that was already recorded elsewhere in fiscal50, not from the bank feed, so it isn't recorded twice. fiscal50 never recommends it automatically. Q: What does Default Transaction Entry Mode do? A: It sets the recording type that is pre-selected in the Add Transaction As column for new transactions, such as Income Entry or Expense Entry. You can still change the type on any single transaction. Q: Can I assign a location and special category to bank transactions? A: Yes. The location applies to the whole transaction and the special category to individual line items. Apply Location and Category in the three-dot menu sets both for every selected transaction in one step. #### Recording deposits Q: Which options can I use to record a deposit? A: Five: Income Entry, Payment for an Already Created Invoice, Reconcile Check / ACH, Other Deposits and Manually Logged. fiscal50 can recommend every one of them except Manually Logged. Q: When should I use Reconcile Check / ACH for a deposit? A: Only when the payment was first recorded through the fiscal50 payment screen as an outstanding incoming payment and is now clearing. If it wasn't recorded in fiscal50 first, use Other Deposits instead. Q: Can I split one deposit across several accounts? A: Yes. Record it as Other Deposits and open the split modal with the multiple button, giving each row an account and an amount. The rows must add up to the bank transaction. Q: What if a deposit doesn't match the invoice amount? A: When you record it as Payment for an Already Created Invoice, you decide how to handle the difference, for example as a partial payment, an advance or a discount. #### Recording withdrawals Q: When should I use Reconcile Check / ACH for a withdrawal? A: When the check was written through fiscal50 check printing, or otherwise recorded first as an outstanding check, and has now cleared the bank. If it wasn't recorded in fiscal50 first, use Other Withdrawals instead. Q: What does Auto-recommend Expense Category by Vendor do? A: When it's on, fiscal50 looks at how you categorized earlier payments to the same vendor and pre-fills the expense category for new withdrawals from that vendor. Turn it off to choose the category yourself every time. Q: Can I split a withdrawal across several expense categories? A: Yes. Record it as an Expense Entry and use the multiple button to divide the amount across expense categories. The rows must add up to the bank transaction. Q: Why is a credit card payment marked Auto Record? A: The payment is already recorded on the bank side, where the money left your checking account. Auto Record means nothing more is needed on the card, and recording it again would count the same payment twice. #### Recorded to fiscal50 Q: Which recorded transactions can I edit or bulk-modify? A: Only transactions recorded as Income Entry, Expense Entry, Other Deposits, or Other Withdrawals. Payments for already created invoices or bills and reconciled check / ACH payments cannot be modified — delete them so they return to Pending, then re-record them correctly. Q: When should I edit a transaction versus deleting and re-recording it? A: Edit when the transaction is one of the modifiable types and you're correcting its classification, split, type, or date — the original stays intact and the books update in place. Delete and re-record when the transaction is a non-editable type, or when it was recorded so incorrectly that starting over from Pending is cleaner. Q: Can I change a transaction's type while editing it? A: Yes. In the Edit Transaction modal you can move a transaction from one recording type to another — for example, an Income Entry can be re-recorded as an Other Deposit, or an Expense Entry as an Other Withdrawal. The modal updates to show the fields for the new type. #### Modifying a recorded transaction Q: Does modifying a recorded transaction delete and re-record it? A: No. Modifying corrects the category or account while keeping the original transaction intact. Your books, bank balances and reports then reflect the corrected classification. Q: When should I use Editable Mode instead of Edit Transaction? A: Use Editable Mode to reclassify many transactions to one category or account at once. Use Edit Transaction to correct one transaction in detail, including its entry type, split lines, location, special category or date. Q: Can I change the split of a recorded transaction? A: Yes. When you edit a split transaction on its own, you can adjust each line item and the amount allocated to each account before saving. Q: Which filters help me find transactions to reclassify? A: In Editable Mode you can filter by Transaction Type and by Category / Account, then assign the new category or account to the transactions you select. #### Deleting a recorded transaction Q: What happens when I delete a recorded transaction? A: The entry is removed from your books and the transaction reappears as Pending: in the Deposits tab if it was incoming, or the Withdrawals tab if it was outgoing. Q: Does deleting a recorded transaction remove it from the bank feed? A: No. The transaction stays in the bank feed and goes back to Pending, ready to be recorded again. Q: What happens to the original posting when I delete a recorded transaction? A: It's reversed, and nothing is recorded for that bank transaction until you post it again. Q: Why would I delete a recorded transaction? A: When it was recorded incorrectly, with the wrong category, account or option, or when you need to record it again using a different method. #### Deleting from the bank feed Q: When should I use Delete From Bank Feed? A: For a duplicate of a transaction already in the feed, a test entry, or an item that doesn't belong in your books. If you might want to record it later, use Delete Transaction instead. Q: Can I remove several transactions from the bank feed at once? A: Yes. On the Deposits or Withdrawals tab, select the transactions and choose Delete From Bank Feed in the three-dot menu; they're all removed in one step. Q: Does Delete From Bank Feed change my books? A: Only if the transaction was already recorded: then its entry is removed from the books too. A transaction that was never recorded simply leaves the feed. Q: Will a transaction deleted from the bank feed come back as Pending? A: No. It doesn't reappear in the Deposits or Withdrawals tabs and can't be recorded again. #### Pending transactions Q: What is a pending transaction? A: A transaction that has arrived from the bank feed but isn't recorded in your books yet. Pending deposits wait in the Deposits tab and pending withdrawals in the Withdrawals tab until you post them. Q: Can I see pending transactions for the whole year? A: Yes. All Months in the Pending Transactions dropdown shows the entire fiscal year, and a specific month narrows the list to that month. Q: What does the calendar button show? A: A month-by-month summary. From it you can record pending deposits and withdrawals, view transactions already recorded, or open the All Months view. Q: Does the month I select apply to every tab? A: Yes. The selected month applies to the Deposits, Withdrawals and Recorded to fiscal50 tabs alike. #### AI recommendations Q: Does the AI learn from my corrections? A: Yes. Every transaction you record and every recommendation you change becomes a new signal that improves future suggestions. The learning happens in the background. Q: Why doesn't a correction show up on similar transactions right away? A: Recommendations already on screen aren't refreshed automatically. The Refresh button next to the search box re-runs the AI against your latest activity and updates the recommendations for the remaining transactions. Q: What does the AI look at to match an invoice or a bill? A: The bank transaction's date, description and amount, which it uses to recommend the best matching open invoice or pending bill. Q: Does Refresh change transactions I've already recorded? A: No. Refresh only updates the recommendations for pending transactions. #### Bank, credit card and liability reconciliation Q: What does the Difference mean on the reconciliation screen? A: It's the bank ending balance minus the fiscal50 cleared balance: the amount still to be cleared. You can complete the reconciliation only when it reaches 0. Q: What do Cleared, Uncleared and Pending mean during reconciliation? A: Cleared means recorded in fiscal50 and matched to the bank. Uncleared means recorded in fiscal50 but not yet at the bank, or sitting in a clearing account. Pending means in the bank feed but not yet recorded in fiscal50. Q: Why won't the Difference reach zero? A: Common causes are a pending item not yet recorded, an uncleared item on the statement that isn't ticked, a transaction recorded twice, a mistyped ending balance, an unrecorded bank fee or interest, or a statement date that doesn't match the calendar month. Q: Can I stop a reconciliation and finish it later? A: Yes. Your changes are saved automatically, and the button changes to Resume Reconciliation so you can continue the month at any time. #### The Register Q: Why is the Register empty when I open it? A: It stays empty until you choose an account. Once you pick one from the account dropdown, its transactions load straight away. Q: Which periods can I filter the Register by? A: By Date, with a ready-made range such as Last month or your own custom dates; by Month, for a single month of your financial year; or by Fiscal Year. Q: Can I undo a delete in the Register? A: No. Deleting is permanent, and you're asked to confirm first. A bank-feed transaction you delete goes back to the Banks tab to be recorded again. Q: Do my filters stay when I switch accounts? A: Yes. You can switch to another account from the account dropdown at any time, and the filters you set stay in place. ### Accounting questions (https://www.fiscal50.com/faqs/accounting/) #### Add Journal Entry Q: What is a journal entry? A: A record of a financial transaction with at least one debit and one credit, where total debits equal total credits. Q: When should I use a manual journal entry? A: For transactions without their own screen, such as adjustments, accruals, depreciation, corrections and opening balances. Q: Should I use a journal entry to record a bill or invoice? A: No. Use the bill or invoice screens, which also update vendor and customer balances. Q: What is the difference between a debit and a credit? A: They are the two sides of every entry. Debits increase assets and expenses; credits increase liabilities, equity and income. #### View Journal Entries Q: What does Active mean? A: The entry is confirmed and recorded in the ledger. Q: Why can't I view a pending entry? A: The View option is available only for Active entries. Q: What does the Amount column show? A: The entry's total — total debits, which equal total credits. Q: What can I change when editing? A: The document number, memo, and debit and credit amounts. The other details on the Edit Journal Entry screen, such as the date, payee and accounts, are shown there too. #### All Transactions Q: What is All Transactions? A: A single list of every transaction in your books, from all modules, with filters by type and date. Q: What do Expenses and Income mean in the Transaction Type column? A: Money paid out and money received — for example categorized bank or card transactions and direct payments. Q: Why are Name and Memo empty for some transactions? A: Not every transaction has a customer, vendor or payee, or a memo. For example, some bank deposits have no name. Q: What is the difference between View and View Transaction Details? A: View shows the journal entry — the accounts debited and credited. View Transaction Details opens the original transaction with all its details. #### Asset Management Q: What is the salvage value? A: What you expect the asset to be worth at the end of its useful life. It is not depreciated. Q: Can I change a depreciation amount? A: Yes. Click the amount in the Depreciation column, or in the Depreciation window, and enter the new amount. #### Depreciation Report Q: What does the Depreciation report show? A: Every depreciation entry posted, by asset and category, with the total and a breakdown by category. Q: Can I use both filters together? A: Yes. For example, choose a category and Past 6 months to see that category's depreciation over the last six months. Q: What does the By category bar show? A: How the total depreciation splits across your asset categories. Each color is one category, and its amount and share are listed underneath. Q: Why isn't my asset's depreciation in the report? A: Depreciation appears only once it is posted. If the asset is set to Auto, the entry may be waiting for approval in the Needs your attention list. If it is set to Manual, post it from the Fixed Assets screen. ### Customer questions (https://www.fiscal50.com/faqs/sales/customers/) #### Sales Dashboard Q: What is the Sales Dashboard? A: A one-page summary of your receivables: how much customers owe, which invoices are due or overdue, how fast customers pay, and who your top customers are. Q: What does the "As on" date mean? A: It is the date the dashboard figures are calculated to, normally today. Q: Which year does the dashboard show by default? A: The current year. Q: What is Total Customers Receivables? A: The total amount all your customers currently owe you. #### View & Edit Customers Q: What does DOJ mean? A: Date of joining. It is the date the customer was added, or the date you entered on the Add Customer form. Q: What is the difference between Credits and Current Balance? A: Credits is money the customer has available to use, such as advances. Current Balance is the amount the customer currently owes you. Q: What does the Status column show? A: The customer's status, such as Active. Q: What icons are in each customer row? A: Dashboard, Ledger, Timeline, Edit (pencil), Receive Advance (wallet) and the Action (gear) button. Each opens that task for the customer in the row. #### Add Customer Q: Which fields are required when adding a customer? A: Display name and Terms. On the detailed form, Customer Type is required, and so is Company name for companies. Q: Can I add more details after saving? A: Yes. Both forms create the same customer record — click the Edit (pencil) icon in the customer's row on the Customers list to add or change details. Q: What happens after I save a new customer? A: The customer is added to the Customers list, with their date of joining shown as DOJ, and any opening balance becomes the opening balance in their ledger. You can invoice them straight away. Q: Can I add a customer from other screens? A: Yes — for example from the ⋮ menu of the Receivables panel on the Application Dashboard (Add Customer), from the Deposits screen in Banks (Add Customer or the floating footer buttons), from Checkout (+ New customer, which saves the name only) and during registration on the Opening Entries page. Complete their details afterwards on the Customers list with Edit. #### Import Customers Q: What file format does Import Customers accept? A: An Excel file. Each row becomes one customer. Q: Which fields must each row have? A: A display name and payment terms. Required fields on the Add Customer form are also required in the file. Q: What happens if my import file has duplicates? A: Remove duplicate rows before importing. On the review screen, watch the duplicate warnings so a customer already in fiscal50 isn't added twice; duplicate entries are also a common reason rows are skipped. Q: Can I use import to update customers I already have? A: No — import adds new customers. Customers already in fiscal50 are flagged as duplicates on review so you can skip them; change existing customers with the Edit (pencil) icon on the Customers list. #### Customer Dashboard Q: What is the difference between Monthly Revenue and Annual Revenue? A: Monthly Revenue is what the customer has been invoiced this month. Annual Revenue is what they have been invoiced this fiscal year. Q: What does Total Amount Due show? A: The total the customer still owes you. Q: What are Total Credits? A: Credit the customer has available, for example from a return or an overpayment. Q: Why does Qty. Sold show a dash for some rows? A: Those rows are services, which aren't counted in units. #### Customer Ledger Q: What does the Customer Ledger show? A: Every accounting entry for one customer, showing both sides of each double entry with running balances: the opening balance at the top, then each entry's date, transaction type, transaction ID, account, offset account and debit or credit amount, and the closing balance at the bottom. Q: What is the opening balance in the ledger? A: The customer's balance at the start of the period you're viewing; the ledger runs from it to a closing balance. For a new customer it starts from the Opening Balance entered when they were added — what they owed when you started with fiscal50. Q: What is the closing balance in the customer ledger? A: The balance after every entry in the period you're viewing. It appears at the bottom of the ledger. Q: What presets does the Report Filter offer? A: Presets such as This week, This month, This year and This week to date. Picking one fills the date range for you. #### Customer Timeline Q: What is the Customer Timeline? A: The customer's full history as a flow of events — invoices, advances, payments — in date order, from account creation to today. Open it with the Timeline icon in the row. Q: What events appear on the Customer Timeline? A: Each point on the timeline is one event, such as an invoice, an advance or a payment, shown in date order. Q: Does the timeline show a customer's advances? A: Yes. Advances appear as events on the timeline, alongside invoices and payments. Q: What is the difference between the Timeline and the Ledger? A: The Timeline shows the customer's history as a flow of events in date order — handy for answering "what happened when" at a glance. The Ledger lists every accounting entry with accounts, debits and credits, and opening and closing balances. ### Invoice and proposal questions (https://www.fiscal50.com/faqs/sales/invoices-and-proposals/) #### View All Invoices Q: Why can't I find an older invoice? A: The list shows only the invoices of the fiscal year selected at the top right. Switch the year, and reset the Status filter if the invoice still doesn't show. Q: Which invoices can be edited or deleted? A: Only active or pending invoices. Paid invoices can't be edited or deleted; use Refund instead. Q: What does the Exact match toggle do? A: When it's on, the search text must match exactly; when it's off, the list shows partial matches too. Q: What does Replicate do? A: It opens a prefilled copy of the invoice that you save as a new invoice. Change the invoice number first, since numbers must be unique. #### Invoice Number Setup Q: What is the invoice suffix? A: The running number that follows the prefix. It goes up by one with each new invoice. Q: Can two invoices have the same number? A: No. Invoice numbers must be unique, so change the prefix before resetting to avoid repeating numbers. Q: Do changes to invoice numbering affect existing invoices? A: No. New settings apply to invoices you create afterwards. Existing invoices keep their numbers. Q: Can I change the number on a single invoice? A: Yes. You can edit the invoice number on the Create Invoice screen before saving, as long as it is unique. #### Email Format – Invoices Q: Which customer emails can I customize? A: Three: Invoices, Payments (receipts) and Reminders. Q: Which parts of the email can I edit? A: The greeting, the opening message, the closing message and the sign-off lines. The customer name, items and totals are filled in automatically. Q: What are tags? A: Placeholders that fiscal50 replaces with real invoice details, such as the number and due date, when the email is sent. Q: What designs are available? A: Invoice emails: Classic · Centered, Modern · Left-aligned and Minimal · Rounded. Payment and reminder emails: Classic · Centered and Minimal · Rounded. #### Email Format – Payments (receipt) Q: Why don't I see real customer details in the preview? A: The editor shows sample data. Real details are filled in when each email is sent. Q: My changes disappeared. What happened? A: They were not saved. Click Save before leaving the editor. Cancel discards changes. Q: Do my changes apply to emails I have already sent? A: No. Saved changes apply to emails sent afterwards. Q: Where is the reminder email used? A: When you send a payment reminder for unpaid invoices, for example with Send Invoice Reminder Email on the Customers list. #### Retainer Invoices Q: What is a retainer invoice? A: An invoice that bills a customer in advance for work you will do later. In fiscal50 it is a Normal invoice with the Retainer invoice toggle switched on. Q: Do I need to set anything up first? A: Yes. Add one active service in the Retainer category of Products & Services. fiscal50 uses it as the line on every retainer invoice. Q: I switched on Retainer invoice but no line appeared. Why? A: Your organization has no active Retainer service. Add one in Products & Services, or reactivate the existing one, then reopen Create Invoice. Q: Can I have more than one retainer service? A: fiscal50 uses a single retainer service for your organization. Use the Description on each invoice to explain what that retainer covers. #### Scheduled Invoices Q: What is a scheduled invoice? A: An instruction for fiscal50 to create an invoice automatically on a regular schedule. It is not an invoice itself. Q: When should I use a scheduled invoice? A: When you bill a customer the same way on a regular cycle, such as monthly bookkeeping, so invoices are created without manual work. Q: Why can't I add a product to a recurring invoice? A: Recurring invoices can contain services only. Q: Why can't I start a schedule today? A: Schedules must start tomorrow or later. #### Sales Tax Setup Q: What is the Sales Tax screen used for? A: To set the sales tax rate for each product or service in each state, so fiscal50 can fill in tax on invoices automatically. Q: Which sales tax fields are required? A: State, Product/Service and Tax Percentage are all required. Q: Why is the Category column filled in automatically? A: It shows the category the product or service belongs to in Products & Services. Q: Do I need a separate rate for each state? A: Yes. Add one setting for each state and product/service combination you sell. #### Creating invoices Q: Which invoice templates can I choose from? A: Four: Classic Emerald, Indigo Night, Golden Ledger and Pearl Minimal. Golden Ledger and Pearl Minimal also offer four colors, and the email, hosted page and PDF all use the design you choose. Q: Does fiscal50 add sales tax to invoice lines automatically? A: Yes. When you pick an item or change the customer, fiscal50 looks up your Sales Tax Setup for that product and the customer's state and applies the percentage. You can always override it on the line. Q: Can I apply a customer's credit to a new invoice? A: Yes. If the customer has credit on file, a Credit box appears under the totals, where you enter an amount up to the available credit. Applied credit reduces the balance due. Q: What does saving an invoice post to my books? A: A Normal invoice debits Accounts Receivable and credits Revenue, with sales tax going to Sales Tax Payable. A retainer invoice credits the retainer liability account instead. Cash moves only when you record the payment. #### Service Management Q: What is a service in fiscal50? A: Work you sell and bill customers for, such as bookkeeping or consulting. You set it up once and pick it on invoices, proposals and retainers. Q: What is a service category? A: A group of similar services. Every service belongs to a category, which keeps lists organized and makes services easier to find on invoices. Q: What is the difference between a service and a product? A: A service is work you perform, such as consulting. A product is a physical item you sell, which may be tracked in inventory. Q: Which fields are required when adding a service? A: Category and Description are required. Enter a service name so you can recognize it in lists and on invoices. #### Create Proposal Q: What is a proposal in fiscal50? A: A quote for products and services that your customer approves or declines online. Once approved, you can turn it into invoices directly. Q: Why can't I add a product to my recurring proposal? A: Recurring proposals can include services only. Use a one-time proposal for products. Q: I switched my proposal to Recurring and some lines disappeared. Why? A: Product lines are removed when you switch to Recurring, because recurring proposals are services only. Q: Can I attach files to a proposal? A: Yes. Drag files into Attachments or click browse. #### View Proposals & Proposal Invoices Q: Why is the Create Invoice button greyed out? A: Only approved proposals can be invoiced. Wait for the customer to approve, or re-send the proposal. Q: Why can't I add shipping to my second installment? A: Shipping is billed once. If an earlier installment included it, it is no longer available. ### Customer payment questions (https://www.fiscal50.com/faqs/sales/payments/) #### Receive Customer Payments Q: What is a customer payment? A: A record of money received from a customer against one or more invoices. It reduces the customer's balance. Q: Can one payment cover several invoices? A: Yes. Tick every invoice the customer is paying on the Receive Payment screen. Q: What does Tax Withheld mean? A: Some customers keep part of the payment to pay tax on your behalf. Switch Tax Withheld to Yes and enter the amount and tax account. #### Receive Other Payments Q: What is an other payment? A: Money received that is not linked to an invoice, such as other income. You choose the income account it belongs to. Q: Is the customer required for an other payment? A: No. The customer is optional. Q: Can I split an other payment across several accounts? A: Yes. Click Add Items to add a line for each category. #### View All Payments Q: Why can't I change the customer or bank on a payment? A: These fields are locked once a payment is saved. Delete the payment and record it again instead. Q: What happens when I delete a payment? A: It is removed from your books, the invoices it paid become unpaid again, and it moves to the Deleted filter. Q: What does Pending Clearance mean? A: The payment is recorded but has not yet cleared the bank. #### Income Q: What is the Income screen? A: A list of all your income transactions, such as invoices, with their customer, amount, memo, status and bank account. Q: Which period does the Income screen show by default? A: The current fiscal year. Q: What does the Net Amount Received column show? A: The amount of each income transaction. Q: Why is the Bank Account column empty for some transactions? A: No payment has been deposited for them yet. The bank account appears once a payment is received. #### Online Payments Setup Q: What is Online Payments Setup? A: The screen where you connect fiscal50 to Stripe so customers can pay you online, map Stripe to your accounts, and view Stripe payouts. Q: Why do I need Stripe? A: Stripe processes card and bank payments securely and deposits the money to your bank account. fiscal50 uses it for all online payments. Q: Do I need a Stripe account before I start? A: No. You can create one during the Connect step. Q: What information does Stripe ask for? A: Usually your business details and tax ID, details of the business owner or representative, and the bank account for payouts. #### Customer Advances Q: What is a customer advance? A: Money a customer pays you before you invoice them. fiscal50 records it as a credit the customer can use against future invoices. Q: What is the difference between an advance and an overpayment? A: Both leave the customer with credit. An advance is money received before you invoice. An overpayment is the extra when a customer pays more than the invoices you ticked on Receive Payment — it shows as Credits/Over Payment and stays on their account. Q: Where do I see the customer's credits? A: The Credits column on the Customers list and the credits card on the Customer Dashboard; credits come from advances and overpayments. Q: Where is the Receive Advance icon? A: On the Customers list (Customers), in each customer's row — the wallet icon. #### Checkout Q: What is a checkout in fiscal50? A: A secure payment page you share as a link or QR code. Your customer pays online, and fiscal50 records the payment and creates a paid invoice automatically. Q: What do I need before I can create a checkout? A: A connected Stripe account with its account mapping completed in Online Payments Setup, and your products and services set up. Q: Do I have to choose a customer? A: No. Leave the customer blank for a walk-in customer. The invoice then uses the name the payer enters. Q: Can I add a new customer while creating a checkout? A: Yes. Type the new name in the customer list or click + New customer. fiscal50 creates the customer with that name when you save. #### Checkouts Q: Do I need to create an invoice after a customer pays? A: No. fiscal50 creates a paid invoice automatically with the same items and amounts. Q: Do I need to record the payment in my books? A: No. fiscal50 posts it automatically to the account mapped to your Stripe account. Q: Why does my checkout show Paid? A: It is a one-time checkout that has been paid, so it no longer accepts payments. Use Turn Online to reopen it. Q: Can I edit a checkout after sharing it? A: Yes. Choose Edit and save. The same link and QR code keep working and show your changes. ### Vendor and payee questions (https://www.fiscal50.com/faqs/expenses/vendors-and-payees/) #### Vendor Advances Q: What is a vendor advance? A: Money you pay a vendor before receiving their goods or services, such as a deposit. It is held as a credit with that vendor. Q: When should I use an advance instead of a bill payment? A: Use an advance when you pay before the vendor bills you. Use a bill payment when you are paying a bill you already have. Q: When should I use Make Other Payment instead of an advance? A: When you are paying for something with no bill and nothing to follow. An advance is for money paid before a bill that will arrive later. Q: Is an advance an expense? A: Not yet. It is recorded as a prepayment asset. The expense is recorded when the vendor's bill arrives. #### Add Payee Q: What is a payee? A: Anyone you pay money to — a vendor, employee, tax agency or anyone else. Q: Which payee type should I choose? A: Vendor for businesses you buy from, Employee for staff reimbursements, Tax Agency / Government for tax and government payments, and Other / General Payee for anyone else. #### View Payees Q: How do I add a payee's address? A: Use the detailed form. Start typing the address and pick it from the suggestions — city, state, ZIP and country fill in automatically. Q: How do I change a payee's SSN? A: On Edit Payee, clear the masked SSN field, type the new number, and click Update. Leaving the mask unchanged keeps the current SSN. Q: Why does the Edit Payee screen say the payee is linked to a vendor? A: The payee was created from a vendor. Update the main details in Vendor Management so both stay in step. #### Payee Transactions Q: Why do some payments show "---" as the name? A: They have not been assigned to a payee yet. #### View & Edit Vendors Q: What does DOJ mean on the Vendors list? A: Date of joining. It is the date the vendor was added, or the date you entered on the Add Vendor form. Q: What is the difference between a vendor's Credits and Current Balance? A: Credits is money you have with the vendor to use against future bills, such as advances. Current Balance is the amount you currently owe the vendor. Q: What does the Status column show for a vendor? A: The vendor's status, such as Active. Q: What icons are in each vendor row? A: Dashboard, Ledger, Timeline, Edit (pencil), Pay Advance (wallet) and the Action (gear) button. Each opens that task for the vendor in the row. #### Add Vendor Q: Which fields are required when adding a vendor? A: Display name and Terms. On the detailed form, Vendor Type and the vendor's address (address, city, state, ZIP and country) are also required. Q: Can I add more details after saving a vendor? A: Yes. Both forms create the same vendor record — click the Edit (pencil) icon in the vendor's row on the Vendors list to add or change details. Q: What happens after I save a new vendor? A: The vendor is added to the Vendors list, with their date of joining shown as DOJ, and any opening balance becomes the opening balance in their ledger. You can record their bills straight away. Q: Can I add a vendor from other screens? A: Yes — for example from the ⋮ menu of the Payables panel on the Application Dashboard (Add Vendor), from the Withdrawals screen in Banks (Add Vendor or the floating footer buttons) and during registration on the Opening Entries page. Complete their details afterwards on the Vendors list with Edit. #### Import Vendors Q: What file does Import Vendors accept? A: An Excel file, with one row per vendor. On the import screen you can download a sample file for the template you choose. Q: What happens if my vendor file has duplicates? A: Remove duplicate rows before importing. On the review screen, watch the duplicate warnings so a vendor already in fiscal50 isn't added twice; duplicate entries are also a common reason rows are skipped. Q: Can I use import to update vendors I already have? A: No — import adds new vendors. Vendors already in fiscal50 are flagged as duplicates on review so you can skip them; change existing vendors with the Edit (pencil) icon on the Vendors list. Q: Some vendor rows were skipped. What now? A: fiscal50 checks each record on upload and lists the records imported and any skipped rows with errors — most often missing required fields, invalid date formats or duplicate entries. Fix those rows in your Excel file and upload them again. #### Vendor Dashboard Q: What is the difference between Regular Expenses and Inventory Purchases? A: Regular Expenses are services, supplies, and other costs from the vendor. Inventory Purchases are inventory items bought from the vendor. Both cover the current fiscal year. Q: Why does Total Qty. Purchased show a dash? A: The row is an expense that isn't counted in units, such as labor or repairs. #### Vendor Ledger Q: What does the Vendor Ledger show? A: Every accounting entry for one vendor, both sides of each double entry with running balances: the opening balance at the top, each entry's date, transaction type, transaction ID, account, offset account and debit or credit amount, and the closing balance at the bottom. The summary totals the debits, credits and balance. Q: What is the opening balance in the vendor ledger? A: The vendor's balance at the start of the period you're viewing. For a new vendor it starts from the Opening Balance entered when they were added — what you owed when you started with fiscal50. Q: What does the vendor ledger summary show? A: The totals of the debits, the credits and the balance for the period. Q: What is the difference between Cash and Accrual in the vendor ledger? A: Cash shows transactions when money is paid. Accrual shows expenses when they are incurred, even if not yet paid. #### Vendor Timeline Q: What is the Vendor Timeline? A: The vendor's history as a flow of events — bills, advances, payments — in date order from account creation to today. Q: What events appear on the Vendor Timeline? A: Each point on the timeline is one event, such as a bill, an advance or a payment, shown in date order. Q: What is the difference between the Vendor Timeline and the Vendor Ledger? A: The Timeline shows the vendor's history as a flow of events in date order. The Ledger lists every accounting entry with accounts, debits and credits, and opening and closing balances. Q: How far back does the vendor timeline go? A: From when the vendor's account was created to today. #### 1099 Filings Q: What is 1099 Filings in fiscal50? A: The screen that prepares Form 1099-NEC for the vendors and payees you paid for services, with recipient PDFs, an e-file CSV and a detail report. Q: Which form does fiscal50 prepare? A: Form 1099-NEC, for nonemployee compensation. Form 1099-MISC is not supported yet. Q: Which TIN should I enter? A: An SSN for individuals, or an EIN for businesses. Use the TIN on the recipient's Form W-9. ### Bills, payments and checks questions (https://www.fiscal50.com/faqs/expenses/bills-payments-and-checks/) #### Make Bill Payments Q: What is a vendor payment? A: A record of money paid to a vendor. A bill payment reduces what you owe; an other payment records spending with no bill. Q: Can one payment cover several bills? A: Yes. Tick every bill from that vendor you are paying. Q: What happens if I pay a vendor too much? A: The extra appears in Credits/Over Payment and stays as a credit with the vendor for later bills. Q: What details do I need for each payment method? A: Cash needs a reference number; Check needs the bank and check number; ACH and Credit/Debit Card need the bank and a reference number. #### Make Other Payments Q: Is the vendor required for an other payment? A: No. The vendor is optional. #### View All Payments (vendor) Q: Which fields can I change on a bill payment? A: The transaction date, memo, and payment method with its fields. Q: What is the Modify Expense Transaction window? A: The edit window for payments made without a bill, such as bank transactions. You can change the vendor, reference, memo, transaction type and expense categories. Q: What does Approval Pending mean? A: The payment is waiting for another user to approve it. It becomes Active once approved. Q: How do I find a payment quickly? A: Type the vendor name, amount or memo in Search. Turn on the toggle next to it for exact matches. #### Expense Categories Q: What is an expense category? A: A label that classifies your spending, such as Advertising or Rent. Each category has sub-categories mapped to expense accounts. Q: What is the difference between a category and a sub-category? A: A category is a broad group, such as Advertisement & Marketing. A sub-category is the specific type of spending within it, such as Social media. Q: What does COA mapping mean? A: Linking a sub-category to an account in your chart of accounts (COA), so amounts post to that account automatically. Q: What does the Added By icon mean? A: It shows whether the category is one of fiscal50's built-in categories (system icon) or was added by a user (user icon). #### Expenses Dashboard Q: What is the Expenses Dashboard? A: A one-page summary of your payables: how much you owe vendors, which bills are due or overdue, how fast you pay, and which vendors you spend the most with. Q: What is Total Vendors Payables? A: The total amount you currently owe all your vendors. Q: What is the difference between Payment Due and Overdue Payment? A: Payment Due is all unpaid bills. Overdue Payment is the part of those bills that is past its due date. Q: Why are Payment Due and Overdue Payment the same? A: All of your unpaid bills are past their due date. Pay or schedule them as soon as possible. #### All Expenses (Expense Payments) Q: What is the Payments screen under Expenses? A: A list of all your expense transactions — vendor bills and direct payments — with their vendor, amount, memo, status and bank account. Q: Which period does the screen show by default? A: The current fiscal year. Q: What does "--" mean in the Transaction Type column? A: The payment was made without a bill, such as a card purchase, ACH debit or check. Q: What does the Net Amount Paid column show? A: The amount of each expense transaction. #### Create Bills Q: What is a vendor bill? A: A record of what you owe a vendor for products or services. It adds to your accounts payable until you pay it. Q: Why is the Expenses section greyed out? A: Complete the fields at the top of the bill and click Next to unlock it. Q: What is the difference between Expenses and Inventory bills? A: Expenses bills record costs and fixed assets. Inventory bills record stock you track in inventory and update on-hand quantities. Q: When should I use a capital asset line instead of a regular expense? A: When you buy a long-term asset such as a vehicle, equipment or a building. It is recorded as a fixed asset. #### View All Bills Q: Why can't I edit or delete a paid bill? A: Only pending bills can be edited or deleted. Paid bills are locked to protect your records. Q: What happens when I delete a bill? A: It is removed from your payables and moves to the Deleted status filter. #### View Scheduled Bills Q: What is an accrued bill? A: A bill for an expense you have used but not yet been billed for, recorded in the period you used it. Q: What is a deferred bill? A: A bill for a service paid in advance and used over several months. fiscal50 spreads the cost across the months you choose. Q: What does Realization Date mean? A: When each month's share of a deferred bill is recorded: at the start, middle or end of the month. Q: Can I change the months of a deferred bill later? A: Yes. Use Edit Realization Time Period. Only months not yet recognized can be changed. #### Check Printing Setup Q: What units are field positions in? A: Inches. Q: What happens if I change the template? A: The field positions reset to that template's defaults. #### Write Check Q: What does "Check cleared?" mean? A: Whether the check has cleared your bank. Leave it at No until it clears, then switch it to Yes. Q: What date prints on the check? A: The payment's issue date. Q: How is the amount in words written? A: In US format, for example "One thousand two hundred thirty-four and 56/100". #### View All Checks / Print Checks Q: Why can't I select checks for batch printing? A: Choose a bank in the bank filter first. Checks can only be batched from one bank account. Q: Can I print on blank check paper? A: No. fiscal50 prints onto pre-printed check stock only. #### Bill & Receipt Uploads Q: What is Bill & Receipt Uploads? A: A place to upload or email your bills and receipts. fiscal50 reads them and attaches them to the matching payment, bill or bank feed transaction. Q: What is the difference between a bill and a receipt? A: A bill is a vendor's request for payment and is attached to a bill record. A receipt is proof of payment and is attached to a payment record. Q: Which file formats can I upload? A: PDF, JPG, JPEG, PNG, HEIC and HEIF. Q: What is the maximum file size? A: 5 MB per file when uploading, and 5 MB per email when emailing. ### Inventory questions (https://www.fiscal50.com/faqs/inventory/) #### Inventory Dashboard Q: What does the Inventory Dashboard show? A: Orders waiting to be shipped or received, the size of your product catalog, your top five best sellers, a monthly stock in vs. stock out chart, and a table of every product with its quantities and prices. Q: Which fiscal year does the dashboard cover? A: The fiscal year shown in its title, with figures as of the date shown underneath. The Stock In vs. Stock Out chart has its own Fiscal Year selector. Q: What does Orders to be shipped mean? A: Customer orders for products that have not yet been marked as shipped. Q: What does Orders to be received mean? A: Product purchases that have not yet been marked as received. #### Current Inventory Q: What is the re-stock threshold? A: The stock level at which you want to re-order a product. When stock runs down to this level, its Current Inventory cell turns red. Q: What does To be Shipped mean? A: The quantity sold to customers that has not yet been shipped. Q: What does Pending (Yet to be received) mean? A: The quantity bought from vendors that has not yet been received. #### Sales Orders Q: What appears on the Sales Orders screen? A: Every customer invoice that includes products, with its shipping status, payment status, and any returns. Q: Can I download the list? A: Yes. Click the Export button to download it as an Excel file. Q: Can I email the credit note to the customer? A: Yes. Set Credit note email? to Yes in the return window before you click Save. #### Vendor Orders Q: What appears on the Vendor Orders screen? A: Every vendor bill that includes products, with whether its goods have been received. Q: What happens when I receive an order? A: Its status changes to Received and its products are added to your Current Inventory. Q: Why is there no Receive Inventory button on some orders? A: Those orders have already been received. The Action column shows a dash instead. Q: Can I receive an order on an earlier date? A: Yes. Change the Date in the Receive Inventory window to the day the goods arrived. #### Inventory Value Report Q: What does the Inventory Value Report show? A: For each product, the total and available stock — as quantities and dollar values — along with the sales price and average unit cost. Q: What is the difference between Total Inventory and Available Inventory? A: Total Inventory is all the stock of the product for the period. Available Inventory is the part still on hand. Q: What is the Average Unit Cost? A: The average cost of one unit of the product. Q: What period does the report show when I open it? A: The current year to date. #### Sales Report Q: What does the Sales Report show? A: For each product, the units sold, price per unit, total revenue, cost of goods sold, gross profit, and gross profit margin for the selected period. Q: What is COGS? A: Cost of goods sold — what the units you sold cost you. Q: Why is a Gross Profit Margin over 100%? A: The margin is measured against cost. If a product sells for well above what it cost you, the gross profit can be more than the cost itself — for example, $4,080.00 profit on a $1,020.00 cost is 400%. Q: Can I download the report? A: Yes. Click the Export (Excel) button to download it as an Excel file. #### Inventory Returns Q: What does the Inventory Returns report show? A: Every product return recorded from customers, with the customer, the original invoice, the quantities ordered and returned, and the return type. Q: What is the difference between Total Quantity and Returned Quantity? A: Total Quantity is how many units were on the original invoice. Returned Quantity is how many of them came back. Q: How do I find a particular return? A: Type the customer name or invoice number in the Search box. Q: Can I sort the list? A: Yes. Click the sort arrows next to any column heading. #### Item Stock History Q: What does the Item Stock History report show? A: Each product's total and available stock, as quantities and dollar values, with a full history of its stock movements. Q: What do the + and − signs mean? A: A plus sign means stock was added, for example by a purchase or a normal return. A minus sign means stock was removed, for example by a sale. Q: What is an Opening Entry? A: The stock you had when the product was first added to fiscal50. Q: Why did a product's available quantity go up without a purchase? A: A customer return recorded as a Normal Return adds the returned units back to stock. Check the product's stock history for a Normal Return entry. ### Financial statement questions (https://www.fiscal50.com/faqs/reports/financial-statements/) #### General Ledger Q: What is the General Ledger? A: The complete record of every transaction in your books, organized by account, with debits, credits and running balances. Q: What is the difference between a ledger and a sub-ledger? A: A ledger (control account) groups related accounts. A sub-ledger is a detailed account within it, such as one specific bank account. Q: What is the Offset Account? A: The account on the other side of the entry. For a customer deposit into your bank, the offset account is the customer's account. Q: What does the Balance column show? A: The account's running balance after each transaction. #### Trial Balance Q: Why does the report take a moment to open? A: The report is prepared from your books each time you open it or apply a filter. The loading sign shows until it is ready. Q: The report says This report window has closed. What happened? A: To keep your figures safe, a report window closes 30 minutes after the report was last prepared or exported, 8 hours after it was opened, and when you sign out of fiscal50. Reading the report doesn't keep it open — apply a filter or open it again from Reports. Q: It says Too many reports at once. A: A report window prepares up to about 30 reports or files a minute, a few at a time. Wait a minute and try again. Q: What is the difference between Cash and Accrual? A: Accrual counts income and expenses when they are earned or incurred, so unpaid invoices and bills are included. Cash counts them only when money is received or paid. #### Income Statement Q: Why isn't my company's name on the screen? A: The name is printed in the Excel and PDF files only; the screen shows the figures. Q: What is the difference between the Detailed and Summary exports? A: Detailed has every line. Summary leaves out the sub-ledger accounts; the totals are the same. Q: Does exporting change anything in my books? A: No. Export only makes a file of the report as you see it. #### Balance Sheet Q: Why must Total Assets equal Total Liabilities & Stockholder's Equity? A: Everything the business owns is financed either by what it owes or by the owners, so the two sides always balance. If they ever differ, the report shows a message — contact fiscal50 support. Q: Where is this year's profit? A: In equity: the Net Income line under Retained Earnings is the profit from the start of the financial year to the report date. Earlier years' profit is in Retained Earnings. In a Summary file, and with Collapse all, Net Income is included in the Retained Earnings line. Q: What do Change $ and Change % show? A: The difference between a column and the one before it in time. Green ▲ is up, red ▼ is down, New means there was nothing before. #### Cash Flow Q: Why is there no Cash / Accrual switch? A: Cash moves the same way whichever method you use. The statement is worked out from the accrual books with the indirect method, so its Net income is the accrual Net Earnings. Q: Why doesn't my cash change equal my profit? A: Profit includes items that don't move cash (depreciation, unpaid invoices and bills), and cash moves for things that aren't profit (buying equipment, loans, owners' money). The cash flow lists each difference. Q: Which accounts count as cash? A: The bank accounts set up in fiscal50 (not the credit cards) and the cash ledgers fiscal50's own cash flow counts as cash, such as petty cash. When no bank account is set up, the cash, checking and savings ledgers count instead. Q: What does a number in brackets mean here? A: Cash going out — for example an increase in receivables, or a purchase of equipment. #### Statement of Changes in Equity Q: Why is the opening balance dated the day before my start date? A: It is the balance before anything in the period happened — the closing balance of the day before. Q: Where does Net income for the period come from? A: From the Income Statement's Net Earnings for the same dates and accounting method. Q: What counts as owner contributions, draws and distributions? A: Every change in equity that isn't this period's profit: capital put in, draws or distributions taken, and any other entry to an equity account. Q: Can I show months side by side? A: No — this statement has one period. Run it for each month, or use the Balance Sheet with multiple columns. #### Account Activity Q: Why are some balances in brackets? A: Credit balances are shown in brackets and debit balances as they are, so each balance column adds up to zero. Q: Why do income accounts start at zero? A: When the period starts on the first day of the financial year, income and expenses start at zero: earlier years' profit is in Retained Earnings. Q: Why did my start date change? A: The report covers one financial year at most; an earlier start date is moved to the first day of the financial year the end date falls in. #### Journal Report Q: Why does a transaction show its total on the first line? A: So you can read the transactions alone with Collapse all, and still see each one's amount. Q: What does (closing entry) mean? A: The line was posted by the year-end closing, which moves the year's income and expenses into equity. Q: The report says to pick a shorter range. A: The period holds more than 20,000 journal lines. Choose a month or a quarter. Q: Why do Cash and Accrual show different transactions? A: Each method has its own journal: on Cash, invoices and bills are posted when they are paid. ### Report comparison and analysis questions (https://www.fiscal50.com/faqs/reports/comparisons-and-analysis/) #### Income Statement by Location & Special Category Q: Why can't I click some names? A: Groups, totals and calculated lines aren't accounts. Account names are links only when the report is open inside fiscal50. Q: Why is a transaction missing from every location? A: It has no location on its lines, or no item lines at all (such as a deposit straight to an income account), so it is in the All column only. Choose a location on the invoice or bill in fiscal50, then click Apply filter. Q: Can I compare a location and a special category together? A: Yes. In the Columns box pick both for one column. Q: Why does the ledger show more than the column? A: An account's name opens its whole ledger for the report's dates, every location included. Use the General Ledger's Location and Special Category filters to narrow it. #### Historical Comparison Q: What does (Historical) mean? A: The year is before your books start in fiscal50, so its figures come from the year-end snapshot uploaded in Historical Balance Sheets. Q: Why does a year show No data? A: Your books don't cover it and no snapshot was uploaded for it. In the Income Statement view, a year whose snapshot holds balance sheet lines only shows No data too. Q: Can I see more than five years? A: Choose Last 6 fiscal years, or Custom dates covering more years (with more than 6 years the change columns are left out). Q: Why is there no Display By choice? A: This report always shows one column per financial year. #### Historical Balance Sheets Q: What are historical balance sheets? A: Year-end balance sheet snapshots for years before your fiscal50 books start date, kept in fiscal50 for reference and comparison. Q: Can I upload a year my fiscal50 books already cover? A: No. Only fiscal years that ended before your books start date can be uploaded. Q: Can I upload several years at once? A: No. Upload one fiscal year at a time, and repeat for each year. #### Income Statement vs Prior Year Q: Which dates is my period compared with? A: The same dates one year earlier. Choosing March 2026 compares it with March 2025. Q: Can I compare two different periods, such as March with February? A: Use the Income Statement with Multiple columns and Display type Months; this report always compares with the same period last year. Q: Why does a line show New? A: It had nothing in the same period last year, so no percentage can be worked out. Q: Can I show more than one period? A: No — this report has one period and its prior year. For several years side by side use the Historical Comparison. #### Common-Size Income Statement Q: Why is a line above 100 %? A: Its amount is larger than total income — for example product sales when returns are negative. The groups and totals still add up. Q: What is my gross margin? A: The percentage on the Gross Profit line. Q: Why are there no percentages in a period? A: That period's Total Operating Income is zero, so nothing can be divided by it. #### Common-Size Balance Sheet Q: Why are liabilities shown as a percentage of assets? A: Assets = liabilities + equity, so both sides are shown against the same base: together they are 100 %. Q: What is my debt ratio? A: The percentage on the Total Liabilities line. Q: Why is a percentage negative? A: The balance is in brackets, such as accumulated depreciation. #### Financial Ratios Q: Why does a ratio show —? A: The figure it divides by is zero or below — for example no current liabilities, or no income in the period. Q: Why are the liquidity ratios missing? A: None of your account groups is named as current (Current Assets, Current Liabilities …). A note under the report says so. Q: Are returns annualized? A: No. For part of a year they are for that part only. Q: Where do the figures come from? A: From the Balance Sheet and Income Statement for the same dates and method, and from the Cash Flow (worked out from the accrual books) for the cash ratios; they are listed at the end of the report. #### Cash Position Q: Which accounts are listed? A: The active bank accounts and credit cards set up in fiscal50, and petty cash. Q: Why is a credit card in brackets? A: A card's balance is what you owe on it. Q: How is this different from the Cash Flow? A: The Cash Flow explains the change in cash by activity; Cash Position shows each account's balance and movements. #### Working Capital Q: What is working capital? A: Current assets − current liabilities: what the business has to run on after paying the bills due within a year. Q: Why is my working capital negative? A: Your current liabilities — bills, card balances and other debts due within a year — are more than your current assets on that date. Q: Which accounts count as current? A: The balance sheet's account groups named as current: Current Assets, Bank, Accounts Receivable, Inventory and the like; Current Liabilities, Accounts Payable, Credit Card and the like. Q: Why aren't equipment or long-term loans included? A: They aren't current: equipment isn't turned into cash within a year, and long-term loans aren't due within a year. #### Working Capital to Total Assets Q: What is the Working Capital to Total Assets ratio? A: Working capital (current assets − current liabilities) divided by total assets, as a percentage: how much of what the business owns is free working capital. Q: What does a negative ratio mean? A: Working capital is below zero: the bills due within a year are more than the current assets. Q: Why did my ratio drop after buying equipment? A: Cash went down and total assets went up, so working capital fell and the base grew. Q: What is included in total assets? A: Every asset on the Balance Sheet — current assets, fixed assets and other assets — on the same date. ### Customer and vendor report questions (https://www.fiscal50.com/faqs/reports/customer-and-vendor-reports/) #### A/R Aging Q: Why can't I choose dates? A: The aging always shows what is open today and how late it is today. Q: Which invoices are included? A: Approved invoices that are unpaid or partly paid. Drafts and recurring templates are left out. Q: Why isn't a customer in the list? A: The list shows customers with open invoices today. A customer who owes nothing isn't listed. Q: Does the Excel or PDF follow my choices? A: Yes — the same customer (or all customers) and the same view, Summary or Detail. #### Sales by Customer Q: How do I type a date? A: As mm/dd/yyyy, for example 03/31/2026. You can type just the digits — 03312026 — and the slashes are added. Or click the box and pick the day in the calendar. Q: Which invoices are counted? A: Approved invoices dated in the period. Drafts and recurring templates are left out. Q: Is the amount with tax? A: Yes — Invoiced is the invoices' total, with tax. Q: What does Still open mean? A: What is left to pay on those invoices today, after adjustments and payments. #### A/P Aging Q: Which bills are included? A: Approved bills that are unpaid or partly paid. Drafts and recurring templates are left out, and so are vendor advances. Q: How are days past due counted? A: From the bill's due date to today; without a due date, from the bill's date. Due today or later is Current. Q: Why isn't a vendor in the list? A: The list shows vendors with open bills today. A vendor you owe nothing isn't listed. Q: Is there a Cash / Accrual choice? A: No. An open bill is open whichever method you use. #### Purchases by Vendor Q: Which bills are counted? A: Approved bills dated in the period. Drafts and recurring templates are left out, and so are vendor advances. #### Expenses Report Q: What is the Expenses Report? A: A list of your expense for a period, broken down by category, sub category and account, with the total for each. Q: Where do the category and sub category come from? A: From the expense category and sub category chosen when the bill or expense was recorded. Q: What does the report include? A: Expenses on vendor bills and expense transactions, expenses posted directly to expense accounts, and cost of goods for inventory products sold. Q: Why does the same account appear on more than one row? A: Several categories or sub categories are mapped to that account. Each combination is shown on its own row. #### Revenue Report Q: What is the Revenue Report? A: A list of your income for a period, broken down by category, sub category and account, with the total for each. Q: Why do some rows show --- in Category and Sub Category? A: That income was posted to an income account without a product or service, such as the Opening Income Account or a journal entry. Q: Is the Revenue Report the same as the Income Report? A: Yes. The report is shown on screen as the Revenue Report. Q: Which filters are available? A: Only the date range. Choose a preset or your own dates, then click Apply Filter. #### Customer Statement Q: Why is the balance in brackets? A: It's a credit: you owe the customer — for example an overpayment, an advance or a credit note larger than what was open. Apply it to an invoice or refund it. Q: Which transactions show on the statement? A: Every transaction on the customer's Accounts Receivable account in the dates — invoices, payments, credit notes, refunds, journal entries with the customer and opening balances — and on the customer's credit account. Cash sales never touch Accounts Receivable, so they don't show. Q: What is the opening balance? A: What the customer owed at the start of the first day: every transaction before the start date added up. Q: Why is a customer missing from All customers? A: All customers lists those with a balance on the first day or a transaction in the dates. Pick the customer in the list to see a statement with zero balances. #### Vendor Statement Q: Which transactions show on the Vendor Statement? A: Every transaction on the vendor's Accounts Payable account in the dates — bills, bill payments, vendor credits, refunds, journal entries with the vendor and opening balances — and on the vendor's credit account. A payment made without a bill, such as a check straight to an expense, never touches Accounts Payable, so it doesn't show. Q: What is a payee, and why has it no balance? A: A payee is someone you pay without bills, such as a landlord. Nothing is owed on Accounts Payable, so its statement lists what you paid them, with Total paid. Q: Why doesn't All vendors include my payees? A: Payees have their own group: pick All payees to see what you paid each of them. Q: Can I click a line to open the bill? A: No — the statement has no links. Look the transaction up in fiscal50 by the number in Details. #### Credit Report Q: What is the Credit Report? A: A list of the credit balances you hold with each vendor and customer, available to apply against future bills or invoices. Q: What does a vendor credit mean? A: The vendor owes you money or credit — for example from an advance you paid or an overpayment on a bill. Q: What does a customer credit mean? A: You owe the customer money or credit — for example from an advance they paid or an overpayment on an invoice. Q: What does $0.00 mean? A: There is no unused credit for that customer or vendor. #### Cost of Goods Sold Q: What is the Cost of Goods Sold report? A: A report showing the direct cost of the products you sold during a period, from beginning inventory, purchases and ending inventory. Q: What does cost of goods sold include? A: Direct costs of the products sold, such as goods for resale, raw materials, packaging, freight-in and direct labor. Q: What does it not include? A: Marketing, selling, delivery to customers and general running costs. These are operating expenses. Q: What is cost of goods available? A: Everything you had available to sell during the period: beginning inventory plus net purchases and freight-in. ### Configuration questions (https://www.fiscal50.com/faqs/configuration/) #### Chart of Accounts Q: What is the difference between User Accounts and System Accounts? A: User Accounts are your company's own accounts — added during setup, imported, or created by you. System Accounts are core accounts fiscal50 requires and posts to automatically, such as Accounts Receivable and Retained Earnings. Use the User Accounts and System Accounts buttons at the top of the screen to switch between the two views. Q: Can I change an account's parent from the Edit Account window? A: No. The Edit Account window changes the name, number, expense/income category, and status. To change the parent account, use the SubAccount Of column on the list. Q: Can I change an account's name or number? A: Yes. Click the Edit (pencil) icon, change the Account Name or Account Number, and click Update. System account names and numbers can be edited the same way. Q: Why can't I delete some accounts? A: A dash (--) in the Delete column means the account cannot be deleted — typically because it is in use by transactions, has sub-accounts, or is linked to another part of fiscal50. System accounts can never be deleted. Mark the account Inactive instead. #### General Settings Q: Do I need to click Save after changing a setting? A: Not in Reports Configuration or Batch Job — changes there are saved as you make them. Approval setups are saved with the Save button in the Transaction Approval Setup window. Q: Do these settings affect every user? A: Yes. The settings apply to your company as a whole, so every user on the account sees the same defaults. Q: Why can't I filter my reports by location or special category? A: Enable Location & Special Category must be set to Yes. Your locations and special categories are then set up from the Configuration menu and can be used on transactions and report filters. Q: What is the "- Others" line under an account on my reports? A: It comes from Show Ledger Self-Balance. When a parent account has amounts posted directly to it, reports show them on a separate line labeled with the parent's name followed by the text you set — "- Others" by default. Change the text in the Text box, or set the switch to No to hide the line. #### Sub Users Q: What is a sub user? A: Someone you invite to work in your company's fiscal50 books with their own email and password. They only see the parts of fiscal50 you turn on for them. Q: When is the invite email sent? A: Only after you click Create user and send invite on the Review step, and only once both the user and their access have been saved. Q: What happens if I leave the screen before sending the invite? A: Nothing is saved and no user is created. Checking that an email is available doesn't create anything. Q: Can I use an email address that's already used in fiscal50? A: No. Each sub user needs an email address that doesn't already belong to any fiscal50 account. If you see "This email already belongs to a fiscal50 account", use a different address. #### Company Logo Q: What is the company logo used for? A: fiscal50 places it on the documents your customers see — customer invoices (screen, email, online page, and PDF) and checkout receipts. Q: I selected an image, but my logo didn't change. Why? A: Selecting an image only shows it in the preview. Click Save to make it your company logo. Q: Can I see how my logo looks before saving it? A: Yes. After you select an image, the Preview panel shows it. Save only when you are happy with it. Q: Will my new logo appear on invoices I've already sent? A: Yes. The online invoice page and the PDF download always show your current logo, so customers see the new one the next time they open an invoice. #### Historical Reports Setup (Import Historical Data) Q: What is a historical balance sheet in fiscal50? A: A year-end snapshot of your balances for a fiscal year that ended before your books start date. It lets you keep and compare prior-year figures without entering those years' transactions. Q: Does uploading a historical balance sheet change my current books? A: No. Snapshots are stored separately from your general ledger. They do not create journal entries or change any balances or your books start date. Q: Which years can I upload? A: Completed fiscal years that ended before your books start date. The Fiscal year-end list shows only these year-ends, newest first. Q: Why can't I choose a year on or after my books start date? A: Those years are already covered by the transactions recorded in fiscal50, so they come from your live books instead. #### Locations & Special Categories Q: What is the difference between a location and a special category? A: A location is where business activity happens, such as a store or branch. A special category is any other grouping you want to track, such as a department, project, or service line. Q: What does the number next to each tab mean? A: It is how many locations or special categories you have. Q: Do I have to switch tabs before adding? A: No. Both Add buttons are available at the top right whichever tab is open. Q: Why can't I choose a location or special category on my invoices? A: The Enable Location & Special Category setting in Settings must be set to Yes, and the feature must be included in your fiscal50 plan. #### Shipping Address Q: What is the Shipping Address setup for? A: It stores your business's shipping addresses, such as offices and warehouses, so you can save each one once and reuse it. Q: Can I save more than one shipping address? A: Yes. Click + Add Shipping Address for each location. All saved addresses appear in the list. Q: What is the Address Name? A: A short name you give the address, such as Main Office, so you can recognize it easily. It is not part of the postal address itself. Q: Why don't I see the Address Name in the list? A: The list shows the postal address details only. Open the address with the Edit icon to see its name. #### Month End & Year End Closing Q: What does closing a month do? A: It locks the month so no transactions can be created, edited, or deleted in it, and activates the next accounting period. It does not move any balances to retained earnings. #### Companies Q: Who can add a company? A: The main user of the account, while the main company has an active paid subscription with a saved card. Sub users and bookkeeper sessions cannot. Q: Why do I not see a multi-company discount? A: The discount appears by itself when your account qualifies for one. There is nothing to enter; contact fiscal50 if you were expecting one. #### Approvals, Scheduled Activity & Alerts Q: What do the categories Automated, User submitted, and Alert mean? A: Automated items are transactions fiscal50 creates on a schedule, such as recurring invoices or depreciation. User submitted items are transactions entered by users that need approval. Alerts point out something that needs attention. Q: Why do my customer invoices need approval? A: An approval workflow is set up for Approvals. Transactions of that type go to the approvers before they are completed. Q: Can I work through one type at a time? A: Yes. Use the Type filter to show only one of the nine approval types. ### Dashboard and account questions (https://www.fiscal50.com/faqs/dashboards/) #### Dashboard with Shortcuts Q: Which month does the dashboard show? A: The current month by default. Use the month selector at the right of the month bar to choose another month. Q: What does the Open badge mean? A: The month is open for transactions. A closed month is locked, so no transactions can be added to it. Q: Where are the shortcuts to add a customer or vendor? A: In the ⋮ menu of the Receivables panel (Add Customer) or the Payables panel (Add Vendor). Q: Where are the Cash Flow and COGS Manufactured reports? A: In the ⋮ menu of the Reports panel. #### Income Dashboard Q: Can I compare this year's revenue with last year's? A: Yes. Tick more than one year box on the Revenue chart. The Expense chart works the same way. Q: What does Book Value show? A: What the business is worth on its books — what it owns minus what it owes. Q: What does Weekly Status count? A: The new customers, invoices, and expenses added this week. Q: What is Total Cash – OCF? A: Operating cash flow: the cash your day-to-day business brings in or uses each month. #### Change Password Q: What are the password rules? A: At least 8 characters, with lowercase and uppercase letters, a number (0-9), and a special character (! @ # $ % ^ & *). Q: Why can't I save my new password? A: Check that your current password is correct, that your new password meets all four rules, and that New Password and Confirm Password match exactly. Use the eye icons to see what you typed. Q: When does my new password take effect? A: As soon as you click Save. Use it the next time you log in. Q: I don't know my current password. What should I do? A: Contact the fiscal50 support team through fiscal50 Support, or ask your account administrator for help. #### fiscal50 Support Q: Can I request a new feature? A: Yes. Create a support case and choose Feature Request as the nature of your issue. Q: What does Pending mean? A: The case is waiting for the support team. Q: How do I find an older case? A: Type a word from its subject or description in the Search box on the Support cases screen. Q: Which fields are required when creating a case? A: Subject, the nature of your issue, and the description. #### Billing & Subscription Q: How do I see which plan I'm on? A: It's shown under Current Subscription on the Billing Details screen, with its price and billing frequency. Q: Will I be charged when I change plans? A: Yes — fiscal50 charges according to your new plan. Upgrading is charged for the higher plan; downgrading lowers what you pay. Check Next Invoice and Payment History after the change. Q: When is my next charge? A: The Next Invoice card shows the amount and date of your next charge. Q: I clicked Cancel Subscription by mistake. What should I do? A: If the confirmation message is still open, click Close — your subscription is kept. ## Glossary - 1099-K: An IRS information return issued by card processors and payment platforms for payments they handled. Payments you make by card are generally reported on 1099-K rather than 1099-NEC. In fiscal50: Card payments are excluded from 1099-NEC tracking by default. - 1099-NEC: An IRS form reporting nonemployee compensation paid to independent contractors and other vendors above the year’s reporting threshold. In fiscal50: Flag a vendor for 1099 tracking and fiscal50 builds the year-end report, checks for missing details and exports or prints Copy B. - Accounts payable: Money a business owes to vendors for goods and services received but not yet paid for. In fiscal50: Vendor bills create payables; the Aging AP summary shows what is due by age. - Accounts receivable: Money customers owe a business for goods or services already delivered. In fiscal50: Invoices create receivables; the Aging AR summary shows what is outstanding by age. - Accrual basis: An accounting method that records income when earned and expenses when incurred, regardless of when cash moves. In fiscal50: Reports and exports can be switched between accrual and cash basis. - ACH payment: An electronic bank-to-bank transfer in the United States through the Automated Clearing House network. In fiscal50: Customers can pay invoices and checkout pages by US bank account through Stripe. - Balance sheet: A financial statement listing what a business owns (assets), owes (liabilities) and the owners’ stake (equity) on a given date. Assets always equal liabilities plus equity. In fiscal50: Run single or multi-column balance sheets by day, week, month, quarter or year. - Bank feed: An automatic, ongoing import of transactions from a bank or card account into accounting software. In fiscal50: Bank feeds come through Plaid and arrive in Banks to Books with AI recommendations. - Bank reconciliation: Comparing the transactions and ending balance in your books with a bank statement to confirm they agree and explain any differences. In fiscal50: Auto-reconciliation predicts each period’s ending balance, checks it against the bank and reconciles month after month until something needs you; you can also reconcile any period yourself. - Cash basis: An accounting method that records income when cash is received and expenses when cash is paid. - Cash flow statement: A financial statement showing cash coming in and going out from operating, investing and financing activities over a period. - Chart of accounts: The organized list of every account a business uses to record transactions, grouped into assets, liabilities, equity, income and expenses. In fiscal50: Start with fiscal50’s pre-configured chart or import your own from QuickBooks. - Month-end close: Also called closing the books. The process at the end of a month or year of making sure every transaction is recorded and reconciled, then locking the period so the reported numbers do not change. In fiscal50: A checklist lists pending items, reconciliation is required, and closed periods are locked. - Cost of goods sold (COGS): The direct cost of the products a business sold during a period. In fiscal50: COGS is recorded as inventory items sell. - Deferred revenue: Money received for goods or services not yet delivered. It is a liability until earned. In fiscal50: Retainers and deferred income are recognized over time by scheduled processing. - Deferred expense: A cost paid in advance, such as annual insurance, that is expensed over the periods it covers. - Depreciation: Spreading the cost of a long-lived asset over its useful life as an expense. In fiscal50: Straight-line depreciation, monthly or annually, created on schedule for your approval (Auto) or posted yourself (Manual). - Double-entry bookkeeping: The system in which every transaction is recorded in at least two accounts, with equal debits and credits, so the books always balance. In fiscal50: Every bank transaction, invoice, bill and payment posts as a balanced double-entry journal entry. - Fixed asset: Long-term property a business uses to operate, such as equipment, vehicles or buildings. - General ledger: The complete record of every account and every transaction posted to it. In fiscal50: Drill into any account from a report and export the ledger to Excel. - Income statement: Also called profit and loss. A financial statement showing revenue, expenses and net income over a period. - Journal entry: A record of a transaction showing the accounts debited and credited and the amounts. - Opening balance: The balance of each account on the date your books begin in a new system. In fiscal50: Upload a trial balance or balance sheet as of your start date, or enter opening entries by hand. - Progressive invoicing: Billing a project or approved proposal in parts over time, such as a deposit followed by milestone installments. - Retainer invoice: An invoice for an advance payment that is applied to future work. - Retained earnings: The profits a company has earned over its life and kept in the business instead of paying them out to its owners. Beginning retained earnings plus net income minus distributions equals ending retained earnings. In fiscal50: Earlier years’ profit shows as Retained Earnings on the Balance Sheet, with this year’s profit as Net Income under it. - Sub-ledger: A detailed ledger for one account or group, such as a single bank account or customer, that rolls up into the general ledger. - Transaction categorization: Assigning each bank or card transaction to the right income or expense account. In fiscal50: AI recommends a category with a confidence level and explanation. - Trial balance: A list of every account with its debit or credit balance at a point in time. Total debits must equal total credits. - Working capital: Current assets minus current liabilities, a measure of short-term financial health. ## Glossary terms in depth ### Bank reconciliation (https://www.fiscal50.com/glossary/bank-reconciliation/) Comparing the transactions and ending balance in your books with a bank statement to confirm they agree and explain any differences. Your books and your bank see the same money from different sides. A check you wrote on the 29th is in your books the day you write it, but the bank only sees it when it clears. A monthly service fee is on the bank statement before anyone records it. Reconciling finds those differences and explains every one of them, so the cash balance in your books is one you can trust. You start from the statement’s ending balance, add deposits the bank hasn’t received yet (deposits in transit) and subtract checks that haven’t cleared (outstanding checks). Then you take the balance in your books and record anything the bank already knows about and you don’t, such as fees, interest or a payment you forgot. When the two adjusted balances agree, the period is reconciled. A difference that won’t go away usually means a transaction was recorded twice, recorded with the wrong amount, or not recorded at all. Credit cards are reconciled the same way, statement by statement. Example: Reconciling a checking account for March. The March statement ends at $12,480.00. The books show $12,060.00. | | Amount | | Bank statement ending balance | $12,480.00 | | Add: deposit in transit (March 31) | + $205.00 | | Less: outstanding check #1042 | − $650.00 | | Adjusted bank balance | $12,035.00 | | Balance in the books | $12,060.00 | | Less: bank service fee not yet recorded | − $25.00 | | Adjusted book balance | $12,035.00 | Both sides show $12,035.00. Record the $25 fee in the books and March is reconciled; the deposit and the check will clear in April. In fiscal50: fiscal50 reconciles bank accounts month by month, credit cards statement by statement and loans period by period. With auto-reconciliation, it predicts each period’s ending balance from your books and checks it against the bank before anything is marked reconciled. When they agree, it clears the matching transactions and moves on to the next period; when they don’t, it stops and shows why. You can also reconcile any period yourself: enter the statement balance, review what cleared, and complete it when the Difference is 0. A month can’t be closed until every bank and card account is reconciled for it. ### Chart of accounts (https://www.fiscal50.com/glossary/chart-of-accounts/) The organized list of every account a business uses to record transactions, grouped into assets, liabilities, equity, income and expenses. The chart of accounts is the list of every bucket your money can go into. Each transaction you record moves an amount from one account to another, so the chart decides what your reports can show: if there is no separate account for software subscriptions, your income statement can’t show how much you spend on them. Every account belongs to one of five types. Assets are what the business owns, liabilities are what it owes and equity is the owners’ stake; those three make up the balance sheet. Income and expenses make up the income statement. Many businesses number their accounts by type, for example 1000s for assets and 6000s for expenses, so related accounts sit together and reports read in a sensible order. A good chart is detailed enough to answer the questions you and your tax preparer ask, and no more. It’s easier to add an account later than to untangle one that mixes unrelated costs. Example: A starter chart for a small design studio. A short chart, numbered by type: | Number | Account | Type | | 1000 | Business checking | Asset | | 1200 | Accounts receivable | Asset | | 1500 | Computer equipment | Asset | | 2000 | Accounts payable | Liability | | 2100 | Business credit card | Liability | | 3000 | Owner’s equity | Equity | | 4000 | Design services | Income | | 6100 | Rent | Expense | | 6200 | Software subscriptions | Expense | Paying the Adobe subscription by card moves the amount to 6200 Software subscriptions and adds the same amount to 2100 Business credit card. In fiscal50: When you set up a company, you choose fiscal50’s pre-configured chart of accounts or bring your own. Coming from QuickBooks, the Configuration Agent reads your exported chart of accounts and matches each account by name before anything is imported. fiscal50 also adds accounts for you where it should: linking a bank or credit card through Plaid creates its account in the chart, and system accounts such as Accounts Receivable are ones fiscal50 requires and posts to automatically. Expense categories map to accounts in the chart, so each bill line lands in the right place. ### General ledger (https://www.fiscal50.com/glossary/general-ledger/) The complete record of every account and every transaction posted to it. If the chart of accounts is the list of buckets, the general ledger is what is in each one. For every account it lists each transaction that touched it, with the date, a description, the debit or credit, and the running balance after it. Every financial report is a summary of the ledger. The balance sheet takes each asset, liability and equity account’s balance on one date; the income statement totals each income and expense account over a period; the trial balance lists every account’s balance side by side. When a number on a report looks wrong, the ledger is where you find out why. Some accounts have their own detailed ledger underneath, called a sub-ledger, such as one per customer within accounts receivable. Their totals roll up into the general ledger. Example: One month of the checking account’s ledger. Business checking, March: | Date | Description | Debit | Credit | Balance | | Mar 1 | Opening balance | | | $5,000.00 | | Mar 4 | Payment from Rivera & Co., invoice 1031 | $1,200.00 | | $6,200.00 | | Mar 5 | March rent | | $800.00 | $5,400.00 | | Mar 18 | Office supplies | | $150.00 | $5,250.00 | Each line here has a matching line in another account’s ledger: the $1,200 payment also reduces Accounts receivable, and the rent also increases Rent expense. In fiscal50: The General Ledger report in fiscal50 shows every transaction in your books by account, with debits, credits and running balances. Clicking an account name in the Balance Sheet, Income Statement or Trial Balance opens its ledger for the report’s dates, where you can open and correct a transaction. The ledger exports to Excel, and its Location and Special Category filters narrow it down when you track those. ### Trial balance (https://www.fiscal50.com/glossary/trial-balance/) A list of every account with its debit or credit balance at a point in time. Total debits must equal total credits. A trial balance takes the balance of every account in the general ledger at one date and lists it in a debit column or a credit column. In double-entry bookkeeping the two columns must total the same amount. If they don’t, something was posted on one side only. Accountants use the trial balance as the starting point for financial statements and year-end work, and it’s the usual way to carry balances from one system to another: export a trial balance as of the day before you switch, and it gives the opening balance of every account. A trial balance that balances isn’t proof the books are right. An expense posted to the wrong account, a transaction left out entirely or one recorded twice all keep the columns equal. It catches one-sided errors, not wrong-account errors. Example: A small business trial balance at March 31. Every account with a balance, in its normal column: | Account | Debit | Credit | | Cash | $8,000.00 | | | Accounts receivable | $2,500.00 | | | Equipment | $6,000.00 | | | Accounts payable | | $1,500.00 | | Owner’s equity | | $10,000.00 | | Sales | | $9,000.00 | | Rent expense | $3,000.00 | | | Supplies expense | $1,000.00 | | | Total | $20,500.00 | $20,500.00 | Debits and credits both total $20,500.00, so nothing was posted on one side only. In fiscal50: fiscal50’s Trial Balance runs for any date range, month or fiscal year, on a cash or accrual basis, and can show periods side by side in multiple columns. Total Debit must equal Total Credit; if they ever differ, a message shows above the report. When you move from QuickBooks, you can upload your trial balance as of the day before your fiscal50 start date. The Configuration Agent checks that its debits equal its credits and records your opening balances in one opening journal entry. ### Journal entry (https://www.fiscal50.com/glossary/journal-entry/) A record of a transaction showing the accounts debited and credited and the amounts. Every transaction in double-entry books is recorded as a journal entry: a date, at least one account debited, at least one account credited, and a memo saying why. Total debits must equal total credits, or the entry can’t be saved. Most journal entries are created for you. Saving an invoice, a bill or a payment records its entry behind the scenes. Manual journal entries are for the things that have no screen of their own: adjustments at month-end, accruals, depreciation, corrections and opening balances. A manual entry is the wrong tool for an invoice or a bill. It moves the amounts, but it doesn’t update the customer’s or vendor’s balance, their statement or the aging reports. Use the invoice or bill screen instead. Example: Accruing a utility bill at month-end. March’s electricity is about $900, but the bill won’t arrive until April 8. To show March’s true cost on the March income statement, the bookkeeper records an accrual dated March 31: | Account | Debit | Credit | | Utilities expense | $900.00 | | | Accrued liabilities | | $900.00 | | Total | $900.00 | $900.00 | When the April bill is entered, the accrual is reversed so the cost isn’t counted twice. In fiscal50: Everything you record in fiscal50, from a categorized bank transaction to an invoice, bill or payment, posts as a balanced journal entry. Saving an invoice, for example, debits Accounts Receivable and credits revenue and sales tax payable. For the rest, Add Journal Entry takes a document number, date, memo, payee and as many account lines as you need, and an entry posts only when its debits and credits are equal. From All Transactions, View shows any transaction’s journal entry. ### Double-entry bookkeeping (https://www.fiscal50.com/glossary/double-entry-bookkeeping/) The system in which every transaction is recorded in at least two accounts, with equal debits and credits, so the books always balance. Double-entry bookkeeping rests on one rule: every transaction affects at least two accounts, and the debits equal the credits. Buying a laptop with cash doesn’t just reduce cash; it also adds equipment. Recording both sides is what keeps the books in balance. The balance it keeps is the accounting equation: assets = liabilities + equity. Debits increase assets and expenses; credits increase liabilities, equity and income. Because every entry is balanced, the equation holds after every transaction, and the balance sheet always balances. Single-entry records, like a checkbook register, track one account at a time. They can tell you what you spent, but not what you own, what you owe or whether anything is missing. Double entry is what makes a trial balance, a balance sheet and a reconciliation possible. Example: Two transactions, both sides. A consultant starts with $10,000 cash, all owner’s equity. Then she buys a $2,000 laptop with cash and invoices a client $3,000: | Transaction | Debit | Credit | | Buy laptop | Equipment $2,000 | Cash $2,000 | | Invoice client | Accounts receivable $3,000 | Consulting income $3,000 | Assets are now $8,000 cash + $2,000 equipment + $3,000 receivable = $13,000. Liabilities are $0 and equity is $10,000 + $3,000 income = $13,000. Both sides still match. In fiscal50: fiscal50 is complete double-entry accounting on every plan. Every bank transaction, invoice, bill and payment you post becomes a balanced journal entry, and Banks to Books recommends how to book each bank transaction, with the reason, a confidence percentage and the evidence. Because everything balances, fiscal50’s Balance Sheet always shows Total Assets equal to Total Liabilities & Stockholder’s Equity, and the Trial Balance shows equal debits and credits. If either ever differs, a message appears above the report. ### Accrual basis accounting (https://www.fiscal50.com/glossary/accrual-basis/) An accounting method that records income when earned and expenses when incurred, regardless of when cash moves. On the accrual basis, a sale counts as income when you earn it, usually when you deliver the work and invoice, not when the customer pays. An expense counts when you incur it, when the goods or services arrive and the bill is owed, not when you pay it. That timing is why accrual books carry accounts receivable (money earned but not yet collected) and accounts payable (costs incurred but not yet paid). It also means a month’s income statement matches that month’s revenue with the costs of earning it, which makes trends and margins easier to read. Many small businesses keep cash-basis books, but some are required to use accrual for their tax return, depending on their size and whether they hold inventory. IRS Publication 538 explains accounting methods; your tax preparer can tell you which applies to you. Example: One March, two ways. In March a studio invoices $5,000 for March work (paid April 10), receives a $1,200 supplier bill for March (paid in April) and pays $800 rent in cash. | | Accrual basis | Cash basis | | Income | $5,000 | $0 | | Supplier cost | − $1,200 | $0 | | Rent | − $800 | − $800 | | March profit | $3,000 | − $800 | On the accrual basis March shows the work it actually did. On the cash basis the $5,000 and the $1,200 land in April instead. In fiscal50: fiscal50 reports open with your company’s accounting method, and the Balance Sheet, Income Statement and Trial Balance switch between Cash and Accrual with one click. On accrual, unpaid invoices and bills are included, so receivables and payables show. Some reports have no switch: the Cash Flow uses the indirect method starting from accrual net income, and the aging reports show what is open either way. ### Cash basis accounting (https://www.fiscal50.com/glossary/cash-basis/) An accounting method that records income when cash is received and expenses when cash is paid. On the cash basis, income counts when money reaches your account and expenses count when money leaves it. An invoice you sent but haven’t been paid for isn’t income yet; a bill you’ve received but haven’t paid isn’t an expense yet. It’s simple and it tracks what is in the bank, which is why many sole proprietors and small service businesses keep their books and file their taxes this way. The trade-off is timing: a big customer payment can make one month look excellent and the next look poor, even if the work was spread evenly. Cash-basis reports also don’t show what customers owe you or what you owe vendors. Whether you can file on the cash basis depends on your business; IRS Publication 538 covers the rules, and your tax preparer can confirm. Plenty of owners look at both: cash for taxes and cash planning, accrual for how the business is really doing. Example: The same March on the cash basis. A studio invoices $5,000 in March and is paid on April 10. It receives a $1,200 March supplier bill and pays it April 5, and pays $800 March rent in March. | | March | April | | Income received | $0 | $5,000 | | Supplier bill paid | $0 | − $1,200 | | Rent paid | − $800 | $0 | | Profit, cash basis | − $800 | $3,800 | On the accrual basis, March would show a $3,000 profit and April none of these amounts. The work and costs are the same; only the timing differs. In fiscal50: fiscal50 keeps one set of books and reports them either way. The Balance Sheet, Income Statement and Trial Balance switch between Cash and Accrual with one click, and reports open with the accounting method set for your company. Ledgers have the same choice: in a vendor ledger, Cash shows transactions when money is paid, and Accrual shows expenses when they are incurred. ### Retained earnings (https://www.fiscal50.com/glossary/retained-earnings/) The profits a company has earned over its life and kept in the business instead of paying them out to its owners. Beginning retained earnings plus net income minus distributions equals ending retained earnings. Retained earnings are the profits a company has earned over its life and kept in the business, rather than paying out to its owners. They sit in the equity section of the balance sheet, next to the money the owners put in. The formula is simple: beginning retained earnings + net income − distributions (or dividends) = ending retained earnings. A loss reduces retained earnings, and a company that has lost more than it has earned shows a negative balance, often called an accumulated deficit. At the end of each fiscal year, the year’s income and expense accounts are effectively rolled into retained earnings, so the next year’s income statement starts from zero. Corporations and S corporations show retained earnings as a separate line; sole proprietorships and partnerships usually show the owner’s or partners’ equity instead. Example: Rolling forward one year. A small corporation starts the year with $40,000 of retained earnings, earns $25,000 of net income and pays $10,000 in dividends: | | Amount | | Beginning retained earnings | $40,000 | | Add: net income for the year | + $25,000 | | Less: dividends paid | − $10,000 | | Ending retained earnings | $55,000 | The $55,000 is not cash in the bank; it’s the share of the company’s equity that came from profits it kept. In fiscal50: In fiscal50, income and expense accounts start at zero each financial year. On the Balance Sheet, earlier years’ profit shows as Retained Earnings, and this year’s profit to the report date shows as the Net Income line under it in equity. Closing a month in fiscal50 locks it but doesn’t move any balances into retained earnings. For corporations and S corporations, opening capital is set up in equity accounts such as Retained Earnings and Common Stock. ### Accounts receivable (https://www.fiscal50.com/glossary/accounts-receivable/) Money customers owe a business for goods or services already delivered. When you deliver work or goods and send an invoice with payment terms, the customer owes you money. Until they pay, that amount is an account receivable: an asset on your balance sheet, because it’s cash you expect to collect. Receivables go up when you invoice and down when customers pay, take a credit or have a balance written off. Watching them matters because profit on paper only becomes cash once it’s collected. A business can be profitable and still run short of cash if customers pay slowly. An aging report groups what’s open by how late it is, for example current, 1–30 days past due, 31–60, 61–90 and over 90. The older a receivable gets, the less likely it is to be paid, so the aging tells you whom to call first. Example: One invoice through to payment. On March 1 a studio invoices a client $2,400, due in 30 days. The client pays $1,000 on March 20 and the rest on April 22. | Date | Event | Receivable balance | | Mar 1 | Invoice sent, due Mar 31 | $2,400 | | Mar 20 | Partial payment of $1,000 | $1,400 | | Apr 15 | Aging: 15 days past due, in 1–30 | $1,400 | | Apr 22 | Final payment of $1,400 | $0 | On a cash-basis report, the $2,400 would count as income only as the two payments arrive. In fiscal50: Every invoice you save in fiscal50 debits Accounts Receivable and credits revenue and sales tax payable. Receiving a payment applies it to the invoices you tick; if a customer pays more, the extra stays as a credit they can use against future invoices. The A/R Aging report shows what is open today by Current, 1–30, 31–60, 61–90 and Over 90, and the customer statement lists each customer’s activity and balance. ### Accounts payable (https://www.fiscal50.com/glossary/accounts-payable/) Money a business owes to vendors for goods and services received but not yet paid for. When a vendor delivers goods or services and sends a bill you’ll pay later, you owe them money. Until you pay, that amount is an account payable: a liability on your balance sheet. Payables go up when you record a bill and down when you pay it, take a credit or receive a refund. Recording bills when they arrive, not when you pay them, shows what you really owe and lets you plan payments around due dates instead of whatever the bank balance happens to be. An A/P aging report groups unpaid bills by how late they are. It’s the list you work from when deciding what to pay this week, and it shows which vendors you risk late fees with. Example: A bill paid in two parts. On April 2 a café records a $3,600 bill from its coffee roaster, due May 2. It pays $1,600 on April 15 and the rest on May 1. | Date | Event | Payable balance | | Apr 2 | Bill recorded: Cost of goods $3,600 / Accounts payable $3,600 | $3,600 | | Apr 15 | Partial payment by ACH | $2,000 | | May 1 | Final payment by check | $0 | The expense belongs to April on the accrual basis, even though half of the cash leaves in May. In fiscal50: Vendor bills in fiscal50 create payables, and the A/P Aging report shows what is due by age. You can tick any number of one vendor’s unpaid bills and record one payment by Cash, Check, ACH or Credit/Debit Card, with a discount per bill, partial payments, and any overpayment kept as vendor credit. Each vendor’s ledger lists every bill, payment and credit, and the vendor statement shows their activity and balance for any dates. ### Balance sheet (https://www.fiscal50.com/glossary/balance-sheet/) A financial statement listing what a business owns (assets), owes (liabilities) and the owners’ stake (equity) on a given date. Assets always equal liabilities plus equity. A balance sheet is a snapshot on one date. On one side are the assets, everything the business owns or is owed, such as cash, receivables, inventory and equipment. On the other are liabilities, what it owes, and equity, the owners’ stake. The two sides always match: assets = liabilities + equity. Assets and liabilities are usually split into current (turning into cash or due within a year) and long-term. Comparing current assets with current liabilities shows whether the business can cover its short-term bills; that difference is its working capital. Equity includes what the owners put in and the profits kept in the business over time, its retained earnings. This year’s profit so far flows in from the income statement, which is how the two reports connect. Example: A small business balance sheet at June 30. Total assets of $28,000 are matched by $10,000 of liabilities and $18,000 of equity: | Section | Account | Amount | | Assets | Cash | $15,000 | | | Accounts receivable | $4,000 | | | Equipment | $9,000 | | Liabilities | Accounts payable | $3,000 | | | Equipment loan | $7,000 | | Equity | Owner’s capital | $12,000 | | | Retained earnings | $6,000 | | Check | Assets $28,000 | Liabilities + equity $28,000 | In fiscal50: fiscal50’s Balance Sheet runs on a cash or accrual basis for any date, as one column or as periods side by side by day, week, month, quarter or year, with the change in dollars and percent between columns. Total Assets always equals Total Liabilities & Stockholder’s Equity; if it ever doesn’t, a message shows above the report. Click any account to open its ledger. On Business Pro, prior-year balance sheets from before your books started can be uploaded and compared. ### Income statement (profit and loss) (https://www.fiscal50.com/glossary/income-statement/) Also called profit and loss. A financial statement showing revenue, expenses and net income over a period. The income statement, also called the profit and loss statement or P&L, covers a period: a month, a quarter or a year. It starts with revenue, subtracts the costs of earning it and ends with net income, the profit or loss for the period. A business that sells products usually shows cost of goods sold right after revenue; revenue minus cost of goods sold is gross profit, which shows how much each sale contributes before overheads. Operating expenses such as rent, wages and software come next, then any other income or expenses such as interest. The same period can look different on the cash and accrual bases, and comparing periods side by side, this month against last month or this year against last year, is where an income statement becomes most useful. Example: A quarter’s profit and loss. A small retailer’s first quarter: | | Amount | | Revenue | $48,000 | | Cost of goods sold | − $18,000 | | Gross profit | $30,000 | | Rent | − $6,000 | | Wages | − $12,000 | | Software and subscriptions | − $1,000 | | Net income | $11,000 | Gross margin is $30,000 ÷ $48,000 = 62.5%. The $11,000 of net income is what flows into equity on the balance sheet. In fiscal50: fiscal50’s Income Statement runs for any date range, month or fiscal year on a cash or accrual basis, and can show periods side by side with the change in dollars and percent. Related reports compare it with the same period last year, show each line as a percentage of revenue, or split it by location and special category. Click an account name to open the transactions behind it. ### Depreciation (https://www.fiscal50.com/glossary/depreciation/) Spreading the cost of a long-lived asset over its useful life as an expense. Equipment, vehicles and furniture help a business earn money for years, so their cost is spread over those years instead of being expensed on the day they are bought. Each period carries a share of the cost as depreciation expense, and the asset’s value on the balance sheet goes down by the same amount. The simplest method is straight-line: take the cost, subtract the salvage value (what you expect it to be worth at the end), and divide by its useful life. Each year’s depreciation is the same. The entry debits depreciation expense and credits accumulated depreciation, an account that sits under the asset and reduces its book value. Tax depreciation can follow different rules and methods from the depreciation in your books; your tax preparer works those out for your return. Example: Straight-line depreciation on a $12,000 machine. Cost $12,000, salvage value $2,000, useful life 5 years: | | Amount | | Depreciable amount ($12,000 − $2,000) | $10,000 | | Yearly depreciation ($10,000 ÷ 5) | $2,000 | | Monthly depreciation ($2,000 ÷ 12) | $166.67 | | Book value after 2 years ($12,000 − $4,000) | $8,000 | Each month’s entry: Depreciation expense $166.67 debit, Accumulated depreciation $166.67 credit. After five years the book value reaches the $2,000 salvage value. In fiscal50: In fiscal50 each asset uses straight-line depreciation, set up with its class life in years, total basis, salvage value and whether it depreciates monthly or annually. The salvage value isn’t depreciated. With Auto, fiscal50 creates the entries on schedule and they wait for your approval before they are posted; with Manual, you post them yourself. Automatic asset depreciation is on Business and Business Pro, and the Depreciation report shows every depreciation entry posted, by asset and category. ### Month-end close (https://www.fiscal50.com/glossary/month-end-close/) Also called closing the books. The process at the end of a month or year of making sure every transaction is recorded and reconciled, then locking the period so the reported numbers do not change. Closing the month means getting the books complete and correct for that month, then locking it so the numbers don’t change after you’ve used them. A closed month is one you can report on, file from and compare against. A typical close records every bank and card transaction, reconciles each account against its statement, reviews what customers owe and what you owe, posts adjusting entries such as accruals and depreciation, and reviews the income statement and balance sheet for anything that looks wrong. Only then is the period locked. Most small businesses can close within the first one to two weeks of the next month. The year-end close is the same process for the last month, plus the year-end work your tax preparer needs. Example: Closing March by April 10. A bookkeeper’s close for one client: | Date | Step | | Apr 1–3 | Record March’s remaining bank and card transactions | | Apr 4 | Reconcile checking and the credit card to their March statements | | Apr 6 | Review open invoices and bills; post the $900 utility accrual and $166.67 depreciation | | Apr 8 | Compare March’s income statement with February’s and explain the large changes | | Apr 10 | Close March so it’s locked | In fiscal50: fiscal50 closes one completed month at a time, in order, or a whole fiscal year at once. Before a period can close, a Pre-Closing Verification checklist confirms every bank and credit card transaction is recorded and every account is reconciled, and flags anything else pending, such as invoices, depreciation or transactions waiting for approval. Once closed, nothing dated in the period can be created, edited or deleted, and its reports keep the same figures. For firms, the Bookkeeper Workspace shows month-end status for every client on one board.