iCashbook

Australian iCashbook version now online

Tue, 05 Oct 2010 09:34:17 +1300

The Australian version of iCashbook is now live! As this version is currently in beta it will be free to use for a limited time so check it out. Let us know any feedback you may have.

Don't Wait Until it's Too Late for Rescue

Wed, 08 Sep 2010 12:26:00 +1200

Too many business owners wait until their business is in trouble before they call their accountant.

It is similar to how people treat their doctors; they don’t like to visit the doctor unless they are really ill.

Wouldn’t it be far better to see your doctor when things are starting to look grim so preventative measures can be put in place?

It’s the same in your business.

You need to see your accountant not just when your business is really sick, but when you sense that your business may be running into a bit of difficulty. If your accountant is given the time to look at your situation early enough problems can usually be avoided.

Problems cost you a lot of money as well as many unnecessary heartaches. Many accountancy firms are happy to take on a larger role when advising clients about issues involved in their business but they cannot do so unless the business owner requests help.

Accountants can put in strategies for cash planning, computer consulting, marketing strategies, personal and family financial structuring and business forecasting. Your accountant can help you with your business if you get in touch early. Don’t wait until it’s too late to help.

Check for Signs of Trouble
A good accountant should be paying close attention to the progress of your business and should notice if the overall health of the business is deteriorating. In such a situation a good accountant will call your attention to the problem and put in place steps to rectify the problem before the business starts suffering.

One of the signs indicating your business may be in trouble will show up when your business actual results are compared with the budgeted plan. If things are not going according to plan, something needs to be fixed or put in place to ensure that the business is able to get back on track as soon as possible.

Poor financial records and reporting systems are contributors to trouble in your business. Too many clients roll up to their accountant with their financial records stuffed into a large shoebox and no system whereby their transactions can be identified It is why it is important for your business, at the beginning of each financial year, to set out in its business plan, its goals and objectives. The business plan will be the road map that the business needs to operate by.

The correct information channeled to your accountant at the right time will help keep away trouble from your business. Too many businesses do not plan at all and most do not have a 12 month budget to compare against their actual results.

Don’t Use Your Accountant only at Tax Time
Many people only see their accountant at tax time. This means that they see their accountant at the time when they bring in their business records and their main concern is for the accountant to ensure that their tax bill is the lowest it can be.
While many business owners are able to run their business well (as in many cases they know far more about their particular industry, or trade than their accountant) they are not making full use of the financial expertise of their accountant if tax savings is the only thing on their mind when they call.

A good accountant can provide an extensive range of financial services to include both preventative and restorative care. A good accountant should be looking after the overall business needs rather than be bogged down with compliance work all the time.

While tax saving is the big issue, expertise that helps the business generate a higher profit is just as important. The moral of the story is that your accountant is much more than a tax expert whose sole function is reducing your tax bill. They will help your business be more profitable and take the stress off your operations by coming up with ideas and plans to decrease your workload and increase your efficiency.

9 Steps to a Successful Business Turnaround

Wed, 01 Sep 2010 14:18:00 +1200

If the business is not working out as planned then it may be time to investigate what to do to turn the business around.

There are 9 basic steps that a business owner should follow to succeed.

Many owners of small and medium sized businesses have successfully used these steps to improve their business results.

Step 1: Write up proper plans.
It is absolutely critical that your business has written plans relating to your operation. Companies who develop and follow their plans on a day to day basis generally never get into trouble. The plan is the roadmap for your business. Your plan makes it easier to detect when you have run off the road and what you have to do to get back on. It prevents your business running into difficulties from which you may not be able to recover.

Everyone involved in a business - management, employees and the business owners - need to understand the business’s future plans as well as how to achieve the objectives of those plans. Each person needs to see how they fit in and what they have to do to assist in meeting the targets. Many people value the opportunity of putting forward suggestions, ideas and skills from their own experience that may help turn the business around.

Step 2: Keep contact with the key staff and directors.
When things are tough and a turnaround is needed, get together your key people and have a “no holes barred” brainstorming session focused on how to fix things. Don’t go into a meeting without a plan because people lose confidence in leaders who lack a plan and who have no vision for the business.

Present yourself as being self-assured, open minded, flexible. Listen to your key people as well as other advisers.

Step 3: Keep in touch with your staff.
Your people are the most important asset that your business will ever have. People make the business. Nothing can be achieved without the skill employees and managers bring into the operation. Where necessary meet with everyone and explain the current business situation.

Try to find out what others think. See if anyone with expertise can throw some light on what is going wrong and together agree on possible strategies to improve the position. You may be amazed at how employees and managers will rise to the challenge of volunteering their input when asked.

Step 4: Meet often with your customers.
It’s a small world out there and many rumours abound. You don’t want loose speculation flying around the business community about the problems your business may be having. You don’t want your key customers to become nervous. Some may start looking for other suppliers if they suspect things are not good. It is important for you to stay close to your customers and keep them informed of the situation. They need to know that you have the matter under control.

They need reassurance. They need to see that you have a sound plan to correct your current state of affairs. They need to know that they are not endangered financially in any way.

Most customers will work with you because you are also part of their own business. They are dependent on you to supply them with the products that they need. Don’t go into detail, but simply inform your customers of your situation and how your business is planning to correct the temporary problem. It is important to be reassuring and confident, but it’s not necessary to go into detail.

Step 5: Meet with your suppliers.
Suppliers get very nervous when they hear on the grapevine that one of their customers may be having problems. Gossip and bad news travel faster than good news, so be aware that some people need to be alerted quickly before things get out of hand.

Once again, prepare a statement to your suppliers of the temporary problems your business is facing. Let them know about the plans you have to correct the situation. Most suppliers understand where you are at because many of them have been in the same position in the past. You will be pleasantly surprised at the support you will receive from most suppliers. They will stick by you as long as you are open and not deceitful.

Step 6: Talk with the tax man.
If you find that your situation does not allow you to pay your tax on time, get in touch with the Taxation Department. You’ll have a better hearing from them if you are upfront with everything. Most tax departments will work out a strategy allowing you extra time to meet your tax obligations.

Step 7: Keep close to your bank.
If you need more funds and you have a loan in place or a line of credit, talk to your bank manager or loan officer. Let your bank know what your needs are. Don’t write. It’s best to deal with these things face to face. Give them the bad news, but follow this up quickly with your proposed plan of action. Be confident and reassuring. This will guarantee you a better hearing and co-operation.

Step 8: Retain the staff you need.
Sometimes it is too much stress trying to look after all staff if there is not enough money coming into the business to pay everyone. No one likes to let people go, but if the business is to survive you may have to retain only those who are essential for producing the products or making the sales.

Step 9: Reduce all costs.
Sit down and make a list of all expenditure in your business. Eliminate what you can do without. Some expenses can be put forward to the future. Other costs can be reduced immediately without affecting the business operation. Sometimes it’s not always a matter of trying to generate additional sales or income. Sometimes the more drastic action of cutting expenses mercilessly can fix the problem overnight.

How to Slash your Accounting Fees

Thu, 26 Aug 2010 11:37:00 +1200

There are a number of ways in which you can help minimise the fees that you pay to your accountant.

These include the following:

Minimise problems

Keep in touch with your accountant so that problems don’t arise and your accountant has to charge extra in trying to resolve them

Good records

Provide your accountant with good, accurate and clean records

Good accounting systems
Make sure you have in place proper accounting and bookkeeping systems so that all the information can be extracted easily. A product such as iCashbook.com allows your accountant to access your information directly. Learn business
If you do not understand business then take a basic business course or attend business seminars so that you can communicate easier with your accountant on business matters. You may also be able to carry out some of the work that you would usually send to your accountant.

Pay tax on time
Make sure you pay tax and other costs by the deadlines advised by your accountant. Overdue payments may cause problems which will require your accountant to sort out and thus increase your fees.

Make a list of queries
When you go to see your accountant do some homework. Make a list of all the things that you want to bring up with your accountant including your suggestions and queries. The less time you spend with your accountant – the lower your fee will be. If you are clearer on what you want, this will save a lot of time and a lot of accounting cost. The more knowledgeable you are, and the clearer your queries are then the quicker your accountant would be able to help you. This equals lower fees.

How to Help your Accountant Help You

Fri, 13 Aug 2010 14:31:00 +1200

There are many things that you can do to help your accountant give you the best help for your business.

Your accountant is human like anyone else. They make mistakes, they forget appointments, they forget to return your phone calls, they often appear not to understand you, they can’t work tax miracles for you when you make high profits, they are easily misunderstood, they are hard to get hold of and their fees continually appear too high.

You must appreciate that you are not the only client that your accountant is responsible for. Having said that, many accountants need to shake their ideas a little and take note that it is their clients that keep them in business. They need to remember that good service is the key to a successful accounting practice.

It takes two to tango so if both parties understand what is required from each then things would work much smoother for the benefit of all.

Here are a few suggestions to consider that would help your accountant give you the best service:

Be clear from the beginning.
When you have that first meeting with the accountant make sure that both of you understand what is required from each other. Your accountant must be clear on what he or she has to provide so that the requirements of your business are met. Set out the services that you will need and the type and amount of attention that you expect.
Ask for assistance.
If you find yourself in trouble ask quickly for assistance. Most accountants are more than happy to help if asked. You cannot expect your accountant to rectify a situation or save you from a problem if you have not kept in touch or asked for advice.
You are not the only one.
You are only one client that your accountant has to look after. Your accountant may have 200 to 500 other clients that need attention at any one time so be a little patient if your accountant is not available when you call.
Keep communication open.
At all times keep in touch with your accountant and keep him or her informed of your progress as well as problems in your business. This will enable things to be put into place to resolve your problems or plans for avoiding potential problems on the horizon.
Ask for updates.
Make sure you have put in place a system whereby your accountant can update your business constantly with financial information that shows the progress in your business. Your accountant should be able to extract information from your transactions to enable full details on your current performance that would produce strategies to improve your business further.
Be prepared to pay.
The old saying that you get what you pay for applies to your accountant just like it does to any other professional. If you feel your fee is too high have a meeting with your accountant and set out your concerns. But remember, if your accountant is performing the services that you require and the accountant is meeting their contractual obligations to you, then pay the fee, and pay on time when you receive the invoice. If you don’t meet your side of the contract and pay for services rendered then you cannot expect your accountant to go out of the way in the performance of duties to your business.

Serious Saving

Mon, 02 Aug 2010 11:25:00 +1200

The secret to saving is to take out the amount to be saved first, as soon as you are paid. This amount should not be touched for any other purpose except saving, and possibly investment. It has to be deducted first because if it is deducted last, in general, you will find that nothing is left. This money saved should be put into a separate savings account – preferably one where the money cannot be easily withdrawn.

It means that whatever you have left (after taking the set amount out) must be budgeted to live on. Sooner or later your weekly expenses will adjust down to the amount you have left. The upside is that while this is happening, your savings account will grow and you will be able to look at investment. This will help you create extra income (if done wisely).

If you are already in debt, you need to allocate a certain portion of your earnings to your debts every week. Follow the same principle of taking the money out first, so that your creditors are slowly reducing, week by week. In a similar fashion, you will find that your debt will slowly decrease and you will have automatically readjusted your living costs to meet the amount you have left over for yourself.

For serious savings - sit down and make a written plan. It doesn’t have to be a complicated exercise - a simple plan will work. To complete the plan, four steps are necessary:

1.    Add up your total income, including any funds you receive from any other sources on top of your normal wages.
2.    Calculate your total fixed expenses such as rent, insurance and car payments etc that need to be paid every month, regardless.
3.    Estimate how much you need for day to day living expenses and make sure that this cost is a tight cost, yet workable. That is, make sure it is realistic but it shouldn’t allow you room for any extras you do not need.
4.    Look at what you have over as a balance and allocate an amount to regular savings which you cannot touch. If you have spare funds, allocate a small amount to another account to meet emergencies that may come up. These are emergencies you haven’t planned for in your other estimates (in number 3 above).

You need to do a little bit of adjusting and balancing of the figures until you reach a plan that you believe is workable, achievable and satisfactory. Once you go through each step and write everything down on paper, you will see clearly where your money comes from and where your money goes.

iCashbook Personal is a great money management tool to use for budgeting and keeping track of savings. Check it out!

Product Update 21 Jul 2010 - Memorisation Rules

Wed, 21 Jul 2010 08:41:00 +1200

Even though using iCashbook greatly reduces the time needed to track your accounts, we are always looking for ways to let you do less. One area we’ve been working on in this regard is the coding of your transactions.

This week we have released a number of enhancements to our Memorisation Rules functionality:

Revamped Memorisation Rules page with a more intuitive design and flow
Use of wildcards (*) or regular expressions is fully supported in text matching
Rules can now be set across all accounts (previously a rule could only be applied per-account)
Rules can be tested prior to saving them (previously they needed to be saved first)
Rules can be added while in the Money In or Money Out schedules with text match data pre-populated (select a transaction and click the “Create Rule” button)
Rules can be applied directly from the Money In or Money Out schedules - build your rules as you code.

Memorisation Rules Manager

Create Rule in Schedules

The Memorisation Rules work in conjunction with the iCashbook auto-coding process, but take precedence over auto-learned coding behaviour. This is a powerful feature of iCashbook and will result in you spending a great deal less time coding your transactions - take a look today! http://www.icashbook.com

6 Myths about Creating Wealth

Tue, 20 Jul 2010 15:02:00 +1200

There are many myths and incorrect theories surrounding wealth creation and people with wealth. Some of these may affect your goals of financial freedom and independence.

Here are some of the most common myths.

Myth 1: You need to have a top education in order to be wealthy.

There is no doubt that a good education will help you avoid disasters in your quest to create your fortune. However, simply having a good education is not enough. There are many university graduates and even professors who are not wealthy, while there are many business owners and company directors who have little education but who are wealthy.

To be wealthy you need to be able to convert your knowledge into money in the fastest and best manner. Many men and women, with little formal education and without university degrees, are captains of industries today and extremely wealthy. Bill Gates was a university dropout who had an idea, plenty of drive, and computer knowledge, which was turned into the Microsoft Empire today. He is now one of the world’s wealthiest men.

Myth 2: Hard work is all you need to be wealthy.

This is not correct. There are many people who work extremely hard, such as coal miners, fishermen on large fishing vessels, or office clerks who put in 60 hours a week for their bosses. They work hard, but most are not wealthy. The majority of employees in the work forces of the world are not wealthy, even though they work hard. Working hard for someone and earning a basic salary or wage can result in a reasonable standard of living, but most people still have a large mortgage to pay off, debts to meet and children’s education expenses, with little extra money to spare.

Myth 3: You will be wealthy if you own a business.

There is no guarantee that you can generate wealth simply because you own a business. Many businesses fail. In fact, statistics show that over 70% of businesses fail in the first 5 years of operation.

Many business owners are certainly well off and are able to earn sufficient profits or income from their businesses to meet all their needs and then have some to spare. A good business certainly provides a good option for increasing one’s wealth, but there is no guarantee because its success depends on many factors. These factors include; the type of business, the skills of the owners and the demand for the products and services in the marketplace.

Also, you have to look at the risk factor. If you go into business there is a good chance and if your business is successful, your wealth certainly can increase faster than if you weren’t in business. However, you have to realize that if your business fails, your wealth will not increase - it will actually decrease, because you will suffer losses and a depletion of your net worth, which would not have happened if you weren’t in business at all.

Myth 4: You need to be young to create wealth.

By far, most of the wealthiest people have amassed their wealth late in life, rather than when they were young. If you are in business you will generally need a few years before the business starts to be profitable and contribute to your earnings and therefore to your wealth. While many people become wealthy early in life, this is usually due to some unique event, such as having good fortune on the stock market, or being involved in high tech with a unique idea etc.

Most wealthy people find good fortune later on when they have reached 50, 60 or 70 years of age. Most men or women start to increase their net worth (and therefore their wealth) after they have reached 50. By this age they have made most of their business mistakes and have successfully fine-tuned their life and business experience, to reduce losses and to increase gains.

Myth 5: You need a lot of money at the start to create wealth.

While having a small fortune to start with provides an advantage - because money can make money (if properly managed), most successful, wealthy men and women started off with little capital. Many started their businesses in their garage or living room, either in a small house or even in a flat or apartment. Many went on to develop huge business corporations and empires that today are worth many millions of dollars.

Many factors contribute towards success, and money is only a small part of it. You may have all the money in the world available to you, but if you do not have a vision, or a proper plan and the drive to achieve your goals then chances are, the money will not grow and no wealth will be created. Money certainly helps a lot, but it is not always the key factor to creating wealth.

Myth 6: You will create wealth when you have learnt more because that will give you a better success rate.

Most successful men and women will tell you that you’ll wait until doomsday and never be successful unless you put a plan in place and start. Knowledge and experience is certainly helpful, but drive and commitment are even more important.

Many wealthy people today went through one, and even two or more bankruptcies (they learnt as they went along) before they found the formula for success and started to create their wealth. If you have the desire to succeed and the will to commit your time and energy to achieving success, there is no reason why you cannot start to plan now and go for it.

People don’t realize the potential they have within them, which is just waiting for an opportunity to flourish. This doesn’t mean that you should not attend business courses or go to seminars, or study for a degree, or follow other sound strategies to equip you before you begin.

The fact is; many people spend a lot of time learning and accumulating knowledge. This is absolutely useless to them unless they step out in faith and start. Best to commence slowly and learn as you go, listening to whatever advice is available and possibly making some small mistakes along the way.

When you look back you will realize just how far you have come and this will give you encouragement and the confidence to carry on and achieve great things.

Financial Planning - the Foundation for Successful Businesses

Fri, 16 Jul 2010 13:32:09 +1200

What is Financial Planning?

Financial planning for a business is simply that – planning the finances of the business. It is where the financial statements of the business will reflect its financial condition and thus help it to identify its strengths and weaknesses.

Financial planning will enable the owner of the business to use projections and other financial performance criteria to plan for the capital, assets and personnel requirements of the business in order to maximize its return. Financial planning is central to the business plan. It is the basis on which business decisions are made in order to secure the financial future of the operation.

Basics of Financial Planning

Financial planning is the foundation of every successful business. The planning should be carried out once a year and revised monthly. This planning will include comparing financial projections with actual results. Financial planning has 2 main objectives.

1. It helps the business owner make business decisions about the financial resources, financial needs and the financial direction that the business needs to follow in order to be successful.

2. Where the business requires funding, it helps you put together the necessary information to secure funding that is needed to set up your business, run it and help it grow.

Sound financial planning will be able to confirm to potential investors and lending institutions that you are looking to succeed and that you are serious with a sound business plan to meet your goals.

A financial plan will allow potential investors or lenders to quickly evaluate the following:

•    The short and long term prospects of your business.
•    Your company’s strengths and weaknesses.
•    Your company’s success potential.
•    Any future opportunities and challenges.
•    The amount of funding that you will need to run successfully.

Financial Planning equals Business Strength

Your business is only as good as your financial plan.
Your plan should include the following:
•    Cost required to start up the business.
•    Finance required to run the business.
•    Cash flow projections.
•    Projected revenue statements.
•    Projected balance sheet.
•    Revenue statements and balance sheets for the previous three years.
•    Break even analysis.
•    A full income, cost and profit analysis. (if your business is already in operation).

Your current financial statements will reflect the results of your business over the previous few years. Financial planning involves projections which look into the future and attempt to arrive at realistic projections of the potential future performance of your business.

You may find that the services of your accountant or business adviser will be necessary to help you prepare a good financial plan.

Get Debt Free

Mon, 12 Jul 2010 11:13:16 +1200

It goes without saying; your debts will pull you down faster than anything else.

Debts reduce your net worth (which is your wealth) because of the cost of the debt, but if it is bad debt then the situation is even worse. Bad debt is incurred on things that do not increase in value, whereas good debt is incurred on things that do increase in value.

Debt can be used wisely, but only for assets that appreciate or grow in value, and hopefully also generate revenue income. If debt is not controlled it can easily get out of hand. It will result in financial bondage rather than financial freedom.

The best advice is: don’t get into debt at all.

Money used to pay off debt cannot be invested, but money put into other options will enable it to grow. Debt money is lost money because it is gone. If you must go into debt, make sure that what you purchase will grow in value or produce income, or preferably have a combination of the two. Simply going into debt for luxuries such as new clothing, jewellery, electronic equipment, or a new mobile phone, is money not working for you and therefore will not be producing wealth.

Plan to Get Out of Debt – Fast

To get out of debt and achieve financial security you need to put together a debt avoidance plan. Your plan will set out goals that you need to achieve such as you need to have funds for retirement, must have paid off your home so your mortgages are gone, you are totally debt-free and you have a clean credit history in case you ever need to get credit in the future.

Here are some of the things that you will need to follow in order to avoid all debt and be in the financial position as per your plan:

1. Set up a budget - Establish a budget to help you sort out your finances. This budget will set out the income that is coming in and the expenses that you need to live by, as well as identifying those costs which are necessary as well as those which are not necessary. You have to set goals based on your expenses and your disposable income and then you must stick to them.

2. Pay high interest first - Try to pay off all your highest interest debts as fast as possible. You will need to find out where the high interest rates are and then make a short list of debts, which you will pay off sooner than others because of the charges. If you have any extra money that comes to you by way of a tax refund or sale of some assets etc., then clear the high interest debt quickly.

3. Credit Cards - As soon as you can get rid of your credit cards. They will cause you more headaches than anything. If you have more than one and are unable to consolidate all your cards, pay off the hefty interest ones first and then, once that’s done, get rid of all your unnecessary cards. Commit yourself not to put anything on your cards again until they are clear. If you have only one card, then cut up all except one that you will use.

4. Consolidate - Consolidate all your bills so that you are only paying one amount each month or week - this may make it easier for you to manage your situation. Maybe you can consolidate your mortgage and your credit card debts and car finance and other charges under the one loan, which often can be at a lower interest rate. Consolidation is a sensible option if planned soundly.

Finally, the general rule is that you should limit your short-term debt, like credit cards and charge accounts, to no more than 10% of your total income. Once you have eliminated debt, then you must look toward saving for the future.

A great tool, available in both iCashbook Standard and iCashbook Personal, is the budgeting tool. Here you can set up budgets, monitor the actual vs. the budgeted amounts and put in place calendar based cashflow forecasting so you can see at any date what your financial position will be. Check it out today!

Brief video outlining some of the features of iCashbook...

Wed, 07 Jul 2010 11:08:00 +1200

Brief video outlining some of the features of iCashbook Standard. Comes complete with elevator music. Enjoy!

Budgeting your Money

Tue, 06 Jul 2010 09:50:00 +1200

Many of us don’t budget because we don’t see the value in it. Others might simply have no desire to budget, because we don’t want to spend time on it or we fear what we might find.

Unfortunately for some, this lack of money management can lead to serious financial strife. We have come to a point where we easily buy on impulse with no thought to the consequences.

In order to reverse this trend, people must become more responsible with their spending. One of the best tools to help someone accomplish this is a personal budget drafted up and kept to.

A budget is a personal financial plan which sets limits on the amount of money you can spend on anything over a particular period. The budget can be set out for a certain period, broken up into weeks or even days.

This gives you a full indication on what you can spend on what items over each week. Most people have no idea where and how they spend their money. How often have you taken money out of the ATM machine, only to realize a couple of days later that it has gone from your wallet. Then you wonder where it went. It is hard to remember exactly how you spent it. Most times the money has been wasted on frivolous purchases, just because the cash was in your wallet.

Having a budget helps prevent this happening by making you accountable for the money you spend. A good budget will show you how much you can actually afford to pay for various consumer items - whether it is a car or a new DVD player or a new pair of shoes. A budget determines whether or not that purchase was accounted for and whether it fits in with your monetary spending levels. Your plan will act as a reminder if you are getting in over your head financially.

Remember though - simply creating a budget isn’t enough. In fact, creating a budget is very easy. Sticking to it and having the discipline to be firm with yourself, is the difficult part.

If you are used to spending your money freely, it will take some time before you can slot into the discipline of your budget.However, if you stay with it, the long term benefits will be financial freedom and living debt free.

Check out iCashbook Personal as a great tool to use for budgeting and money management. Sign up is currently free!

Product Update 01 Jul 2010

Thu, 01 Jul 2010 00:00:00 +1200

Calendar-based budgeting is here! Our budgeting system has been totally revamped to give you greater granularity when setting your budgets - we believe this will cut down a lot of time for you, especially when setting recurring items.

Budgeting

Our calendar-based entry allows you quickly set your budget amounts at the day level. We still retain our previous “quick edit” interface for those who prefer the higher level approach.
Recurring amounts can be set to repeat every week, fortnight, month, 3 months, 6 months, or annually.
More comprehensive forecasting allows you to predict your future financial position and compare versus your actuals.
Print directly or export your budget data to CSV.

Notifications

In final testing is our notification system - receive regular updates on your iCashbook profile delivered to your inbox. Ties in very nicely to the budget updates and coming soon.

Also, just a reminder that iCashbook Personal is in public beta and is currently free - so sign up now for a test drive!

Product Update 09 Jun 2010

Wed, 09 Jun 2010 00:00:00 +1200

A few small usability enhancements this release:

Login to iCashbook is now available via our updated website at www.icashbook.com
When navigating between tabs on the Start page and Dashboard page your last selected tab is now remembered
iCashbook Accountant administrators can now specify one or more advisers when adding a client business - this allows an employee of an accounting firm use of an additional filter when managing their clients’ businesses from the Start page. This option can also be specified on a per-business basis for each adviser on the business details tab of the Start page.

Product Update 05 Jun 2010

Sat, 05 Jun 2010 00:00:00 +1200

This release focuses mainly around financial period management for iCashbook Standard, in an effort to add more automation and require even less effort by you. Financial periods in iCashbook Personal continue as always to be fully handled by the system.

Financial Periods

Initial setup of an iCashbook Standard business now includes selecting the start date of your current financial period. Based on what you enter we will automatically add the first period for your business, and add any following or preceeding periods automatically on an as-needed basis.
The financial period management window (accessed from the business details tab of the start page) has been updated to allow you to change the anniversary date of your financial periods.
Financial periods can now be locked by either you or your Adviser. While a period is locked, any editing or uploading of transactions is disallowed until such a time that the lock is removed.
Financial periods can now be started mid-way through a month and will run for a full 12 months. This will result in 13 tabs appearing in the transaction schedules for you to move between each month.

Other Updates

Type-ahead has been added to the transaction schedules for the account code field, allowing for quick coding by those who know an account code and wish to use the keyboard.
Our tax rate system has been enhanced to handle tax rates that change by date (such as the upcoming NZ GST rate changes) - you don’t have to do anything!

New look website

Fri, 04 Jun 2010 00:00:00 +1200

Our new look website has been launched at www.icashbook.com - here we will be highlighting some of the great features available in the iCashbook suite of products as they become available - a number of these to be rolled out over the coming weeks!

WalletSpy is now iCashbook Personal

Tue, 18 May 2010 00:00:00 +1200

WalletSpy - the personal version of iCashbook - is now known as iCashbook Personal.

We have brought the two editions closer together so that our non-business users can receive the same benefits of all the new and upcoming features of iCashbook.

Not only that, but we have put iCashbook Personal into a public beta period and have made it free for all users during this time! iCashbook Personal is available to users in all countries - try it out!

Product Update 11 May 2010

Tue, 11 May 2010 00:00:00 +1200

This update includes a major rework of our skin, which we believe will make iCashbook cleaner and even simpler for you to use. In addition to the overall layout and design changes, we have introduced a number of user-friendly features designed to speed up navigation and access to your information, such as:

Ability to set the destination homepage to arrive at after login
More detailed alerts now appear on the welcome, business details, and dashboard pages to provide additional guidance.
Highlight account codes to be displayed on the dashboard main page for tracking budgets and actuals

Most areas in iCashbook have been updated to take advantage of the new skin but we will be rolling out additional enhancements over the coming weeks - stay tuned!

Product Update 15 Feb 2010

Mon, 15 Feb 2010 00:00:00 +1300

With this release we are now able to open up iCashbook by way of our API, for those of you who need a little more control over your interactions with our system.

Main Features

Follows the principles of REST as closely as possible.
Basic authentication over HTTPS.
Data format can be either XML or JSON.
Data compression (gzip) is also available.

Entities

The following entities are exposed via the API:

Account Codes.
Companies (update only).
Financial Periods.
Funds (Bank or Credit Card).
Transactions.

A number of lookup data queries are also now available which will be required in working with the above.

The next release of the API will also include the ability to create/archive Companies, and set Billing Details, plus work with collections of Transactions and Account Codes. For now though, apply for your API key on the iCashbook website under Settings -> API Key and get started!

More information is also available in our user guide.

Product Update 23 Jan 2010

Sat, 23 Jan 2010 00:00:00 +1300

Happy New Year all! Our first release of the new decade comes with a handful of nice features:

Messaging

A number of messaging features have been added in order to facilitate greater communication between advisers and their clients, or between trusted users. Main features include:

Messages can be sent between an adviser and their client, and/or trusted users. This can be done from any page within iCashbook using the Compose button in the page header area.
You are able to include a “bookmark” link which is saved as part of the conversation. When clicked on, this link will take that person directly to the page where they sent the query - useful when requesting assistance!
If you are a client of an adviser, you are now able to send a group message to all accountant-level members within that practice. This allows an assisting response to come from any adviser within the practice, with all of those members being able to review and participate in the discussion at any time.
The Start page now contains a Messaging section where you are able to manage messages where you have participated.
When someone responds to your message, you will receive a notification email with a link taking you directly to the discussion.

“Set and Forget” Financial Periods

By default, financial periods for a business are now added automatically for you based on your previously added financial periods. This will save you the hassle of adding manually each year - but you can turn this setting off in the business details area.

GL Exports For All: General Ledger exports for your businesses are now available for all users into APS, MYOB, or CSV formats.

Speed: A number of enhancements have been made which should speed things up, especially for our Kiwi users.