How MyBooks.Africa works

Fill in the application with your company details, VAT number (enter 00000 if you are not VAT-registered), registration number, your certificate of incorporation and a proof of identity.

We review your application and set up your books for your home country: base currency, VAT rates, chart of accounts and fiscal year. You receive an email.

Enter your email on the sign-in page. We send a link that works once for 15 minutes — no password to remember.

Pay the annual subscription by card under Subscription. Your account is active right after the payment is confirmed.

Under Settings add address, phone, logo and the currencies you work with. Invite colleagues under Settings → Users.

Go to Contacts → New contact. Choose Customer, Supplier or both, and add the country.

Give the contact its own invoice currency (e.g. ZAR) and payment terms. New documents pick these up automatically.

When the customer is in another country, new lines get the 0% export rate automatically — ideal for trade within Africa.

Under Products → New product enter price, unit, VAT rate and the revenue and expense accounts.

Tick “Track stock”. Delivery notes and invoices take goods out; bills and expenses put them back in.

On the product page use “Stocktake” to set the counted quantity, or “Goods received” to add stock.

Sales → Quotes → New quote. Pick the customer, add lines from your products or as free text, then Save & mark sent.

On the quote click → Create order, check it and Confirm order.

On the order click → Create delivery note. You can deliver part of the quantity; the order shows Delivered and Invoiced per line.

Click → Create invoice on the order, quote or delivery note. Finalise gives it a number and posts it to the books.

Use Email invoice to send a secure link, or Print / save as PDF. Bank details for the currency are printed automatically.

Finalised invoices are locked. Create a credit note from the invoice, or cancel and duplicate it.

Every document shows the whole chain — quote, order, delivery notes, invoices and credit notes — so you always know where you are.

On the invoice, enter the date, amount and the account it arrived in. Partial payments are fine — the status changes to Partially paid, then Paid.

For a ZAR or EUR invoice enter the rate on the payment date. The exchange difference is booked to 6960 automatically.

Reports → Open positions lists every open invoice with its age (not due, 1–30, 31–60, 61–90, over 90 days).

Purchases → Bills → New bill. Choose the supplier, the supplier invoice number, the expense account and VAT. Finalise to post it.

Record the payment on the bill, or book it later from the bank statement.

For receipts paid on the spot (fuel, airtime, transport) use Expenses. Choose the account it was paid from — bank, cash or mobile money. Prices are incl. VAT by default.

Under Banking add each bank account, mobile-money wallet (EcoCash, M-Pesa, MoMo) and cash box in its own currency, with an opening balance.

Without a bank feed, enter money in or out by hand and choose what it is for: an invoice, a bill, an income or expense account, or a transfer.

Upload a CSV from your bank (date; description; amount). Each line waits in “To reconcile”.

If a payment was already recorded, click Match. Otherwise click Book… and choose the invoice, bill or account. Mistakes can be undone.

The cash book shows every cash movement with a running balance — perfect for petty cash and walk-in sales.

Invoices, bills, expenses, payments and bank bookings are posted for you in double entry. Open any document and click View posting.

Accounting → New journal entry for salaries, loans, depreciation or corrections. Choose a VAT rate on a line to split net and VAT automatically.

Moving from another system? Use Opening balances on the first day of your fiscal year. Account 9100 should end at zero.

Swiss SME numbering (as in bexio) with English names: 1 assets, 2 liabilities & equity, 3 revenue, 4 cost of goods, 5 staff, 6 operating costs, 8 tax.

Enter rates under Exchange rates (e.g. the RBZ rate for ZWG). Rates typed on documents are saved too.

Open VAT statement and choose the quarter or month.

You see taxable turnover and output VAT per rate, purchases and input VAT, and the amount payable or refundable.

Click Post settlement. Output and input VAT move to 2201, and the period can be locked so nothing changes after filing. Pay 2201 from your bank.

Under Year-end closing each year shows its result and any warnings: drafts, unreconciled bank lines, VAT not settled.

Click Close year. Income and expenses are closed to 2979, the result is carried to 2970 Retained earnings, and the year is locked.

Need a correction? Reopen the latest closed year, fix it, and close it again.

Account ledger, journal, open positions, income statement (with previous year), balance sheet, trial balance and the activity log.

Every report has Print / PDF and CSV for Excel or your accountant.

Owners find the token under Settings → PAPPS / API. PAPPS uses it to read contacts, products, accounts and documents and to create draft invoices.