Turn on a client’s accounting
You can open a client’s books for them. You go through the same wizard as the client, in To Bill, and the company knows who did it and when.
Before you start
The Switch on the accounting button only appears if all these conditions are met:
- the company is a mandate of your firm that it has approved: your firm created it, or it linked its company through your invitation;
- the mandate is one of yours: any of the firm’s mandates for an Owner or an Admin, those assigned to you for a Collaborator;
- you are not a firm Viewer;
- the company allows you to keep its books (Accounting · Manage) and to see its figures.
Did the client invite you into To Bill themselves?
You then only have the role the client gave you, not a delegation of their decisions: ask them to switch on the accounting, or to link their company to your firm through an invitation. See Invite a client.
See where the company stands
Open the mandate. The Accounting card in the Overview shows the state of its books. In the overview, a badge also sums it up, for example Ready to switch on · 3 documents.
| What is shown | What it means |
|---|---|
| … documents will be brought into the books. | The invoices, payments and expenses already entered will be booked when the books open. |
| The books will start empty. | The company has not entered anything yet. |
| The books are being opened | Someone has started the opening: To Bill is booking the documents. |
| Opening the books stopped before the end. | Click Resume the activation: it picks up where it stopped. |
| Accounting switched on by … on … | Done. The name of the firm and of the person are shown when a fiduciary did it. |
When switching on is not possible
The accounting cannot be switched on yet: followed by the reason.
| Reason | What to do |
|---|---|
| The company’s To Bill subscription is not active. | The company must have an active trial or subscription. For a company you created, open it in To Bill and complete its details: its trial starts. |
| The company is not in Switzerland: the accounting is not available. | To Bill’s accounting follows Swiss law. |
| The VAT flat-rate method is not supported yet. | A company using the flat tax rate cannot open its books in To Bill. |
| The company switched the accounting module off. | Only its administrator can switch it back on, in Settings › Modules. |
Switch on the accounting
- On the Accounting card, click Switch on the accounting (1). The same choice is in the … menu of the mandate’s card, in the overview.
- To Bill opens in a new tab. Check the company, then click Continue to …. See Open the company in To Bill.
- The activation wizard opens. Answer the three questions, check the preview of the books, correct what needs correcting, then click Open the books. Each step is described in Turn on accounting.
- At the end, click Back to the cockpit. The mandate’s card shows Accounting switched on by … on ….
A decision for the client
Opening the books commits the company: the start date, the legal form, how VAT is handled. Agree on these choices with your client before you start the wizard. Once the books are open, the accounting can no longer be switched off.
What the company sees
To Bill records who opened the books, for which firm and when. The company’s administrators are told in To Bill and by email. The information stays visible in its settings and on its accounting home page.
Legal basis
- The fiduciary acts as an agent, within the limits of the mandate, and accounts for their management: Art. 394 para. 1, 396 para. 1 and 400 para. 1 CO.
- The accounts must make it possible to trace each record: Art. 957a para. 2 no. 5 CO.