Source truth: - Vision and Product Principles - UX Principles - Setup Readiness Contract - Roles and Permissions Contract - Accounts - Financial Periods - Source Documents - Posting and Reversal - Close - Close Run Contract
Getting Organized
Prepare the business decisions and external records that Guided Setup will ask you to review. BooksPlus records references to those records; it does not write, approve, or interpret them for the business.
What to have ready
Before creating the company, gather:
- the legal name, display name, reporting currency, accounting time zone, fiscal year end, and intended first posting date;
- a business-approved responsibilities document with a reference and version;
- a business-approved accounting-policy baseline with a reference and version;
- the name of the responsible person for each responsibility shown below;
- the decision to install the BooksPlus starter chart or retain an existing chart;
- an opening-balance decision and supporting evidence; and
- the current desktop operating-system account that will confirm the first production administrator.
Use a named IANA accounting time zone, such as America/Chicago, rather than a
fixed UTC offset. The initial release posts and reports in one company
reporting currency.
Responsibilities document
Guided Setup displays and records one named person for each of these business responsibilities:
- routine accounting preparation and posting;
- accounting review and correction oversight;
- period-close and financial-report review;
- production security administration; and
- backup and recovery stewardship.
One person may hold more than one responsibility. Every field must name a
person; Unassigned cannot be acknowledged as ready. These names describe
business responsibility. They do not create BooksPlus actors, roles,
permissions, or separation of duties.
Example: responsibility and action discussion matrix
Example only. This invented matrix is a discussion aid, not a BooksPlus role template, permission matrix, control recommendation, or statement of current desktop availability. BooksPlus does not yet provide final production role templates or production user/permission administration. Have the business approve its own assignments and permission design. Close actions in this example are not current desktop operating instructions; see Workflows and Availability.
| Action | Owner | Accounting Manager | Accounting Staff |
|---|---|---|---|
| Define financial periods | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Soft close period | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Hard close period | Yes | Yes | No |
| Waive configured close blocker | Yes | Yes | No |
| Reopen period | Yes | No | No |
If the example helps start the conversation, also decide who prepares work, who reviews it, who supplies backup coverage, and what compensating review is needed when one person performs several duties. Do not copy the table into BooksPlus as if its role names authorized protected actions.
Policy-baseline document
The external policy baseline must cover, at minimum:
- accounting basis, recognition approach, and materiality;
- supporting-evidence expectations;
- policy-level treatment of revenue, expenses, cash, receivables, payables, inventory when applicable, tax, debt, and owner transactions;
- manual journals, adjustments, and corrections; and
- period close and financial review.
BooksPlus asks for the approved document reference and version and shows these coverage areas before acknowledgement. It does not enforce every policy in the referenced document, and the document cannot override BooksPlus posting, correction, or Close rules.
Example: policy discussion checklist
Example only; professional review required. The following prompts are not BooksPlus defaults and are not accounting, legal, or tax advice. An authorized accountant should approve the accounting choices, with legal or tax review where applicable, before the business adopts or publishes them.
| Area | Decision to record |
|---|---|
| Accounting basis and recognition | Adopted basis and revenue/expense recognition approach |
| Materiality and capitalization | Thresholds, review rules, and effective dates |
| Evidence | Required support, storage location, retention, and exception process |
| Cash, receivables, and payables | Reconciliation and review responsibilities |
| Inventory and sales tax | Applicable treatment and responsible reviewer |
| Debt and owner transactions | Classification and approval expectations |
| Manual journals and corrections | Preparation, explanation, evidence, and review expectations |
| Period close and reporting | Review sequence, ownership, and approval expectations |
When the policy changes, issue a new approved version. Updating the reference or version in BooksPlus makes the prior setup acknowledgement stale and calls for another review.
Source-document and control preparation
Agree where authoritative documents are stored, how BooksPlus references them, who can access sensitive evidence, how long records are retained, and how both the accounting database and external evidence are backed up. Material entries should remain traceable to understandable, retrievable support.
For a small team, document practical compensating controls, such as management review of reconciliations and unusual entries, approval before payment release, or periodic review by an external accountant.
Fiscal-calendar preparation
Choose the fiscal year end and confirm the intended first posting date. The desktop prepares a monthly calendar preview, with fiscal months and quarters derived inside the fiscal year. Review every date before activation. The first posting period is opened as a separate Guided Setup action.
Opening-balance preparation
Decide whether the company needs opening balances. Gather an approved balance sheet, reconciled statements, prior-system reports, or other working papers that support the decision.
The desktop can review and post a balanced opening entry through Setup. Have the posting date, source-document date, unique source identifier, evidence reference, explanation, eligible accounts, reporting-currency amounts, and line descriptions ready. If balances are not required, have the business reason and supporting evidence reference ready instead. Do not mark balances not required merely to finish setup. Opening balances are journal entries, never hidden edits to account balances.
Ready to continue
Continue to Company Setup when the company details, responsibilities reference and five named people, policy reference, calendar choices, chart choice, and honest opening-balance disposition are ready.