A service is something you sell that is not a thing on a shelf: an hour of labour, a call-out fee, a delivery charge, a monthly retainer, an installation. Services keep no stock, so they never run out and never need counting. They go on invoices, estimates and sales orders exactly like stocked items, with their own rate and tax, and their sales post to your books the same way.
You create and edit services on the Services screen. Stocked items are on the Item List.
Opening Services
Choose Inventory ▸ Services.
The Services screen
| Part | What it shows or does |
|---|---|
| Services and the count | How many services your company has. |
| Search services | Narrows the list as you type. Matches the service name and SKU. |
| Refresh | Reloads the list from the server. |
| New service | Opens the New service window. |
Each service is shown as a card:
| On the card | What it means |
|---|---|
| Name | The service's name, as it prints on invoices. |
| The line under the name | Its SKU, its category and the unit it is charged per (for example per hour). |
| Rate | The price before tax, and under it + 5.00% tax (the tax rate added on top) or no tax. |
| cost | What the service costs you, or a dash when no cost is set. |
| Edit | Opens the Edit service window. |
When you have no services yet, the screen says No services yet. and offers New service.
Create a service
- Choose Inventory ▸ Services and click New service.
- Type the Name, for example Labour, per hour.
- Enter the Rate (before tax) and, if the job costs you something, the Cost to you.
- Choose what it is Charged per (hour, visit, day…). If the unit you need is missing, click the + beside it.
- Choose a Category, or click the + beside it to add one.
- Choose the Tax.
- Add a Description if you want one.
- Click Save.
SeroBooks saves the service on the server and brings it down to this computer straight away, so you can put it on an invoice at once. You see Service created — you can invoice it now.
Fields in the New service / Edit service window
| Field | What to enter / what it means |
|---|---|
| Name | The service's name. Required. |
| Rate (before tax) | Your price for one unit of the service, before tax. Tax is added on top at the rate chosen in Tax. Required; must be a number. |
| Cost to you | What one unit of the job costs you, such as a subcontractor or parts you do not stock. Leave it at zero and the whole rate counts as margin. |
| Charged per | The unit the rate is for. The window starts on a unit whose name begins with "hour" if you have one. |
| Category | The category the service is filed under. The window starts on a category with "service" in its name if you have one. |
| Tax | The tax rate charged on the service, shown with its percentage, for example GST (5.00%). A new service starts on a 0% rate if you have one, so check it. See Tax rates and tax groups. |
| Description (optional) | A longer description of the service. |
Buttons: Cancel closes without saving. Save saves (it reads Saving… while it works).
A service's SKU is generated for you.
Adding a unit without leaving the window
Click the + beside Charged per. In Add a unit:
| Field | What to enter |
|---|---|
| What do you charge by? | The unit's name, for example Hour, Day, Visit, Session or Month. |
| Allow part units | Ticked, a quantity like 1.5 hours is allowed. Clear it for things that only come whole, like a visit. |
Click Add. The new unit is chosen for the service you were writing.
Adding a category without leaving the window
Click the + beside Category. In Add a category, type the name under What kind of work is it? (for example Services, Labour, Consulting or Repairs) and click Add. The new category is chosen for the service.
Edit a service
Click Edit on the service's card, change what you need and click Save. You see Service saved.
Changing a service's rate or cost does not change invoices already saved; they keep the rate they were written with. To change the rates of many services at once, use Change Item Prices with Service / Non-inventory chosen.
A service also appears on the Item List. Open it there to see its sales history, set its item accounts, or delete it.
Selling and buying services
- On an invoice, estimate or sales order, search for the service as you would any item. The quantity is the number of units (hours, visits) and the line total is quantity × rate. See Invoice lines.
- On a bill, a service line has no stock to receive. Instead the line shows an Expense account box: click it and choose the account the cost should be charged to. See Bill lines.
What happens in the books
- Selling a service credits the service's Income Account (or your company's Sales revenue account if it has none) and debits Accounts Receivable, or the bank or Undeposited Funds for a sales receipt. Sales tax goes to your sales tax account.
- There is no cost of goods sold on a sale of a service, because no stock leaves the shelf.
- Buying a service on a bill debits the expense account chosen on the bill line and credits Accounts Payable. If no expense account is chosen on the line, its cost is posted with the bill's stock to Inventory, where it does not belong, so always choose one.
See How each transaction posts to the books.
Permissions
Creating and editing services needs the Add or Edit Service right (Set Up Users and Roles, Inventory ▸ Services). Without it SeroBooks tells you that you do not have access when you click New service or Edit. See Roles and permissions explained.
Common problems
"A service needs a tax rate. Add one in the back office first — even a 0% one if you are not registered." Your company has no tax rates. Add one (a 0% rate is fine if you do not charge tax), then try again. See Tax rates and tax groups.
"Could not reach the server to load units and categories." The window needs the units and categories from the server. Check your connection and click Refresh.
"The service needs a name." / "The rate needs to be a number." Fill in the Name, and type a plain number such as 85 or 85.50 in Rate (before tax).
"Saved on the server, but this till has not picked it up yet — it will appear after the next sync." The service is saved but this computer has not received it yet. Wait a moment, then search for it on the invoice again. Do not create it a second time.
"'name' already exists." when adding a unit or category. That unit or category is already in the list; pick it instead.
"Could not save: …" The server refused the save and says why. Correct the field it names and click Save again.