The Home Page is the first thing you see when you sign in to SeroBooks. It draws the work of a business as a flow chart: what you buy from vendors on the left and top, what you sell to customers in the middle, your employees below, and your company and bank on the right. Every icon opens the screen that does that job, so you can run a whole day's bookkeeping from this one page without learning where each screen sits in the menus.
The Home Page carries no figures. It is a launch pad, which is why every person who signs in has it, whatever their role. For figures, use the Dashboard or the Company Snapshot.
Opening the Home Page
- SeroBooks opens on the Home Page every time you sign in.
- Choose Company ▸ Home Page at any time.
- In Multiple Windows view, closing the last open window (or choosing Window ▸ Close All) brings the Home Page back instead of leaving an empty desk.
- Press Esc from any window: each press goes one step back, and once there is nothing left to close you are on the Home Page. The Home Page is the bottom of the stack — Esc stops there. See Escape, Back and closing forms.
How the page is laid out
The page has three bands down the left — Vendors, Customers and Employees — and two panels on the right — Company and Banking.
- Each band has a title with an icon on the left and a button on the right that opens that band's centre (Vendor Centre, Customer Centre, Employee Centre).
- Arrows show the order documents follow one another: a purchase order is received, then billed, then paid.
- Where two routes lead to the same place, their lines meet on a bar and one arrow carries on into the shared icon, exactly as the QuickBooks Desktop Home Page draws it.
- The main document of each band — Enter Bills for Vendors and Create Invoices for Customers — is drawn slightly larger and in green so your eye finds it first.
- If the window is narrow, a band scrolls sideways rather than squeezing its icons.
Click an icon once to open its screen.
Vendors band
The Vendors band shows the two ways a bill reaches Pay Bills, joined into one Pay Bills icon.
Top route — buying stock on a purchase order:
| Icon | Opens | Use it to |
|---|---|---|
| Purchase Orders | Create Purchase Orders | Order goods from a vendor. See Create Purchase Orders. |
| Receive Inventory | Receive Items | Record goods arriving, with or without the bill. See Receive Items. |
| Enter Bills Against Inventory | Enter Bill for Received Items | Turn a receipt of goods into a bill when the vendor's invoice arrives. See Enter Bill for Received Items. |
Second route — a bill with no purchase order:
| Icon | Opens | Use it to |
|---|---|---|
| Enter Bills (main document) | Enter Bills | Record a vendor's bill you will pay later. See Enter Bills. |
Both routes run into:
| Icon | Opens | Use it to |
|---|---|---|
| Pay Bills | Pay Bills | See every vendor you owe and pay their bills. See Pay Bills. |
Beside Pay Bills, one icon per row:
| Icon | Opens | Use it to |
|---|---|---|
| Manage Sales Tax | Manage Sales Tax | Review what you owe the tax agencies, prepare and file a return. See Manage Sales Tax. |
| Vendor Credits | A new vendor credit | Record a credit or refund a vendor owes you. See Enter Vendor Credits. |
The Vendor Centre button at the top right of the band opens the Vendor Centre.
Customers band
The Customers band shows how a sale is made, invoiced, paid and banked.
The main flow:
| Icon | Opens | Use it to |
|---|---|---|
| Estimates | Create Estimates | Quote a customer before the sale. See Create Estimates. |
| Sales Orders | Create Sales Orders | Take an order you will fill later. See Create Sales Orders. |
| Create Invoices (main document) | Create Invoices | Bill a customer. Estimates and Sales Orders both run into it. See Create Invoices. |
| Receive Payments | Receive Payments | Record a customer paying one or more invoices. See Receive Payments. |
| Record Deposits | Make Deposits | Choose the payments that went to the bank together, then complete the deposit slip. See Make Deposits. |
The row underneath holds the other customer jobs:
| Icon | Opens | Use it to |
|---|---|---|
| Sales Receipts | Enter Sales Receipts | Record a sale paid in full on the spot. See Enter Sales Receipts. |
| Statement Charges | Enter Statement Charges | Put a charge on a customer's account to be billed on their statement. See Enter Statement Charges. |
| Statements | Create Statements | Print or send customer statements. See Create Statements. |
| Finance Charges | Assess Finance Charges | Charge interest on overdue balances. See Assess Finance Charges. |
| Refunds & Credits | Create Credit Memos/Refunds | Credit a customer or give money back. See Create Credit Memos and Refunds. |
| Collections Center | Collections Center | Work through overdue customers. See Collections Center. |
The Customer Centre button at the top right of the band opens the Customer Centre.
Employees band
The Employees band is a single flow:
| Icon | Opens | Use it to |
|---|---|---|
| Enter Time | Timesheets | Record hours worked. See Timesheets. |
| Pay Employees | Pay Employees | Run payroll. See Pay Employees. |
| Pay Liabilities | Pay Payroll Liabilities | Remit source deductions. See Pay Payroll Liabilities. |
| Payroll Setup | Payroll Setup | Set up payroll for the company. See Payroll Setup. |
The Employee Centre button opens the Employee Centre.
Company panel
| Icon | Opens | Use it to |
|---|---|---|
| Chart of Accounts | Chart of Accounts | See and manage your accounts. See Chart of Accounts. |
| Items & Services | Item List | Manage what you buy and sell. See The Item List. |
| Calendar | Calendar | See transactions entered and what falls due, day by day. See Calendar. |
| Snapshot | Company Snapshot | The business at a glance. See Company Snapshot. |
| To Do List | To Do List | Your calls, meetings and tasks. See To Do List. |
| Reminders | Reminders | Everything waiting to be done. See Reminders. |
Banking panel
| Icon | Opens | Use it to |
|---|---|---|
| Record Deposits | Make Deposits | Choose payments to deposit, then the deposit slip. |
| Write Cheques | Write Cheques | Write a cheque straight away — a blank cheque form opens. See Write Cheques. |
| Register | Use Register | Open the register of any bank, credit card or other balance-sheet account. See Use Register. |
| Transfer Funds | Transfer Funds | Move money between two of your own accounts. See Transfer Funds. |
| Connect Bank | Bank Feeds | Link a bank account to its live feed. See Bank Feeds. |
| Reconcile | Begin Reconciliation | Reconcile a bank or credit card account to its statement. See Reconcile. |
| Print Cheques | Print Cheques | Print cheques you marked to print later. See Print Cheques. |
| Overview | Dashboard | The figures: sales, receivables, bills to pay. See The Dashboard. |
Where the forms open, and where Escape takes you
As in QuickBooks, every page and form you open from a Home Page icon or the menu bar opens over the Home Page: the company pages (Calendar, Company Snapshot, To Do List, Reminders, Company Information), the banking forms (Write Cheques, Make Deposits, Transfer Funds, Reconcile), pages such as Bill Tracker, Income Tracker, Prepare Letters, Preferences and Back Up Company, forms such as Create Credit Memos/Refunds, Enter Vendor Credits and Make General Journal Entries, and reports chosen from the Reports menu. When you press Esc or close them, you come straight back to the Home Page rather than to a list you did not ask for. Screens with a window of their own (Create Invoices, Enter Bills, the Customer Centre, the lists) open in that window. See Escape, Back and closing forms.
Permissions
Every role has a Home Page. What each icon opens still depends on the role:
- Pressing an icon asks for that screen's own permission, exactly as the menu does.
- If your role can see the screen but is not allowed to use it, SeroBooks asks for approval from someone who can.
- If your role cannot see the screen at all, the screen shows Your role does not have access to this screen and tells you an administrator can grant it.
See Roles and permissions explained.
Tips
- Learn the flows once and you know the order of the paperwork: estimate → invoice → payment → deposit on the sales side; purchase order → receive → bill → pay on the buying side.
- If you work mostly from the keyboard, the same screens are on the menu bar and in Go To / Look Up (Ctrl+K). See Go To / Look Up.
- Use the Favorites menu for the handful of screens you open most.
Common problems
I clicked an icon and nothing opened. You were probably asked for approval and cancelled, or your role does not include that screen. Ask an administrator to check your role under Set Up Users and Roles. See Permissions: "you do not have access".
My screen opens on the Dashboard or on a form instead of the Home Page. The Home Page is part of SeroBooks companies. Choose Company ▸ Home Page to bring it back; Esc from any window returns to it.
The Employees band is there but my company does not run payroll. The Home Page always draws the three bands. The payroll screens open only if your plan and role include them.