Preferences is where you set how SeroBooks behaves for your whole company. The categories down the left are the ones QuickBooks Desktop uses. A category shows the settings it holds here, and under SET UP IN it has buttons that open the screens that own the rest of that category's settings, so each setting has exactly one place to change it.
Preferences apply to everyone who uses the company. Settings that belong to one computer — printers, the look of the app — are in App Settings and App theme and colours.
Opening Preferences
Edit ▸ Preferences…
It opens over the Home Page; Esc takes you back to the Home Page. It needs permission for Accounting Setup. A list or page opened from one of its SET UP IN buttons (such as the Terms List or the Currency List) opens on top of Preferences, and Esc comes back to Preferences.
How the window works
- Click a category on the left. Its name appears as the heading on the right, with the line Company preferences — they apply to everyone who uses this company.
- Change any settings shown. You can move between categories before saving: your changes are kept.
- Unsaved changes appears at the bottom left while anything is changed.
- Click Save (bottom right) to save every change in every category at once. You see Preferences saved. Save is greyed out until something has changed.
- The buttons under SET UP IN open other screens. Save your changes here first.
If your role cannot change preferences, the line reads Company preferences — only an administrator can change them., the settings are greyed out and there is no Save button. You can still use the SET UP IN buttons.
The categories
General
Dates and times
| Setting | What it does |
|---|---|
| Date format | The company's date format: MM/DD/YYYY, DD/MM/YYYY, YYYY-MM-DD, MM-DD-YYYY, DD-MM-YYYY or YYYY/MM/DD. |
| Time format | 12-hour or 24-hour. |
| Time zone | The company's time zone, written as a time zone name such as America/Toronto, America/Vancouver or America/Halifax. It must be a recognised name. |
Editing
| Setting | What it does |
|---|---|
| Days a transaction can be edited | The number of days after its date that a sale, purchase or transfer can still be edited on the web version of your account, from 0 to 3650. It does not lock your books in the app; to lock a period, set a closing date. |
Accounting
| Setting | What it does |
|---|---|
| First month of the fiscal year | The month your fiscal year starts. The same setting as in Company Information. |
| First month of the income tax year | The month your income tax year starts, when it differs from your fiscal year. The GIFI schedule (the US income tax schedule too) covers the income tax year that starts in this month. Left empty, the income tax year is the fiscal year. |
SET UP IN: Set Closing Date and Year-End, Accounting Setup (posting accounts, Undeposited Funds), Class List, Chart of Accounts.
Bills
| Setting | What it does |
|---|---|
| Default discount account (Pay Bills) | The account an early-payment discount from a vendor goes to. When you take a discount in Pay Bills, this account is filled in. (choose each time) leaves it for you to choose. |
SET UP IN: Terms List, Vendor Type List.
Checking
Select default accounts to use
| Setting | What it does |
|---|---|
| Open the Write Cheques form with | The bank account a new cheque starts with. |
| Open the Pay Bills form with | The bank account Pay Bills pays from at the start. |
| Open the Make Deposits form with | The bank account a new deposit goes to at the start. |
Each lists your bank accounts, plus The last one used, which starts each form with the account you used last time. You can always change the account on the form itself.
SET UP IN: Cheque numbers (the No. on Write Cheques), Accounting Setup (default bank accounts), Printer Setup.
Cheque numbers are set as in QuickBooks: Cheque numbers opens Write Cheques, whose No. field is filled with the next number on the chosen bank account. Type a different number there and the cheques after it carry on from it.
Finance Charge
Company preferences
| Setting | What it does |
|---|---|
| Annual interest rate (%) | The yearly rate charged on overdue balances. Enter the annual rate: if your terms say 2% a month, enter 24. |
| Minimum finance charge | The smallest charge worth raising. It applies to each customer's total charge: a customer whose charges add up to less is not charged. |
| Grace period (days) | Days after the due date (or invoice date) before interest starts. |
| Calculate charges from | due date or invoice/billed date. |
These are used by Assess Finance Charges. With no rate set, nothing is charged. See Assess Finance Charges.
SET UP IN: Assess Finance Charges.
Items & Inventory
| Setting | What it does |
|---|---|
| Warn if not enough inventory quantity on hand to sell | Ticked: a sale for more of an item than you have on hand is refused when it is saved. Unticked: a sale can take the quantity below zero (Off lets a sale go below zero on hand). Negative quantities then show on Inventory Health. |
SET UP IN: Item List, Warehouse, Reorder Levels.
Jobs & Estimates
No settings of its own. SET UP IN: Jobs, Job Type List, Estimate and invoice numbering (Back Office).
Invoice and estimate numbers are given out by SeroBooks when a document is saved, from settings kept in the web Back Office. Estimate and invoice numbering (Back Office) opens the Back Office (it needs the Back Office permission). There:
- Invoices: Settings ▸ Invoice Settings holds the invoice scheme — its prefix, starting number and number of digits.
- Estimates: Settings ▸ Setting, Prefixes tab, Draft — the prefix put in front of each estimate's number.
To check a numbering sequence for gaps and duplicates, use Document Numbering (Company ▸ Document Numbering).
Multiple Currencies
No settings of its own. SET UP IN: Currency List, Home Currency Adjustment. See Currency List.
Payments
| Setting | What it does |
|---|---|
| Default discount account (Receive Payments) | The account an early-payment discount you give a customer goes to. When a payment qualifies for a discount in Receive Payments, this account is filled in. (choose each time) leaves it for you. |
SET UP IN: Payment Method List, Accounting Setup (Undeposited Funds, deposit accounts).
Reports & Graphs
| Setting | What it does |
|---|---|
| Summary reports open on | Accrual or Cash. Reports that can be run on either basis open on this one; you can still switch a report to the other basis when you run it. See Running a report. |
| First month of the fiscal year | The same setting as under Accounting and in Company Information. |
SET UP IN: Report Centre, Memorized Reports.
Sales & Customers
Sales forms
| Setting | What it does |
|---|---|
| Default customer message | A message from your Customer Message List that new sales receipts start with. (none) leaves it blank. |
| Usual shipping method | Your usual method from the Ship Via List. (none) for no default. |
SET UP IN: Price Level List, Customer Message List, Ship Via List, Customer Type List.
Sales Tax
No settings of its own. SET UP IN: Manage Sales Tax, Sales Tax Code List. See How sales tax works in SeroBooks.
Time & Expenses
No settings of its own. SET UP IN: Time & Costs (Add Time/Costs).
Company Information
No settings of its own. SET UP IN: Company Information, Set Up Users and Roles.
Preferences affect new work
A preference decides how new forms start and how reports open. It does not change transactions you have already saved: changing the default Write Cheques account does not move old cheques, and changing the report basis does not alter any figure in the books.
Messages you may see
| Message | What to do |
|---|---|
| Choose a date format from the list. | Pick one of the listed formats. |
| That is not a time zone. | Enter a time zone name exactly, such as America/Toronto. |
| Choose the first month of the fiscal year. | Pick a month. |
| Days a transaction can be edited has to be between 0 and 3650. | Enter a number in that range. |
| N% a year is above the criminal rate of interest (60%). If the terms say 2% a month, the annual rate is 24%. | You entered a monthly rate or a rate above 60%. Enter the annual rate. |
| Only an administrator can change the company preferences. | Your role cannot save preferences. |
Permissions
- Preferences opens with the Accounting Setup permission.
- Saving needs an Admin or Manager role, or a role with access to the business settings.
- The finance charge settings also need the right to edit Accounting Setup or to create general journal entries.
See Roles and permissions explained.
Common problems
Write Cheques still opens on the wrong bank account. The preference names a bank account that has since been made inactive or removed, so the form falls back to the last one used. Choose a current account under Checking and click Save.
My reports still open on Accrual. Only reports that offer a choice of basis follow the preference; reports with no basis choice are not affected. A report opened with its basis already chosen keeps that basis.
I changed the fiscal year and last year's reports look different. Every "this fiscal year" and "last fiscal year" range moves with the first month of the fiscal year. Change it back, or run the report with custom dates.