Step-by-step tutorials

Import your books from QuickBooks Online

Bring your customers, vendors, open invoices and bills, transaction history, and balances into LedgerHelm Books.

1. 1Create your LedgerHelm account and choose LedgerHelm Books (native) during onboarding.
2. 2Go to Settings → QuickBooks import and connect your QuickBooks Online account (a one-time OAuth authorization).
3. 3Choose the start date for transaction history — everything on or after that date is imported.
4. 4Start the import. It runs in the background; progress (customers, vendors, invoices, bills, transactions) updates live and re-running is safe — records are matched, never duplicated.
5. 5When it finishes, open Reports → Trial Balance and compare against QuickBooks as of the same date to confirm the books came over clean.

Tip: Keep QuickBooks read-only during the import window so nothing changes mid-transfer.

Connect a bank and categorize your first transactions

Get transactions flowing in automatically and teach the AI your categories.

1. 1Open Bank Statements → Link account and authorize your bank through the secure connection flow.
2. 2Wait for the initial import (usually under a minute), then open the Transactions page.
3. 3Review the AI's suggested categories: confirm the correct ones, fix the wrong ones. Every confirmation becomes a rule.
4. 4For vendors that need conditions — say, splitting a vendor by amount — open the rule and add a description phrase or amount range.
5. 5Check back the next day: recurring vendors now categorize themselves, and only genuine exceptions wait for you.

Send your first invoice and record the payment

Bill a customer, deliver a professional invoice, and get the books right automatically.

1. 1Go to Customers and add your customer (name and email are enough to start).
2. 2On Invoices, create a new invoice: pick the customer, add line items, set the due date, and apply a discount or tax rate if needed.
3. 3Send it. The customer gets a PDF plus a secure online view link — no account required on their side.
4. 4When money arrives, open the invoice and record the payment with its date and method. Partial payments are fine.
5. 5On native books, check the General Ledger: the revenue and cash (or A/R) entries posted automatically.

Tip: Batch several customer payments into one bank deposit via Undeposited Funds so reconciliation matches your statement line-for-line.

Reconcile a bank statement

Tie your books to the bank for a statement period.

1. 1Open Reconciliation and start a new reconciliation for the account and statement period.
2. 2Enter the statement ending balance from your bank statement.
3. 3Check off each transaction that appears on the statement. The cleared balance updates as you go.
4. 4Investigate anything left over: outstanding checks and deposits in transit are normal; missing or duplicate transactions are not — fix those on the Transactions page.
5. 5When the difference reads zero, finish the reconciliation. It's saved with a report and locked against accidental change.

Run a month-end close

Move a month from open to delivered with confidence.

1. 1Open Monthly Close — a close is created automatically on the 1st for the prior month.
2. 2Clear the review queue: categorize remaining transactions and resolve flagged anomalies.
3. 3Reconcile each bank account for the month.
4. 4Review the P&L and Balance Sheet (use the comparative views to sanity-check against prior periods).
5. 5Mark the close delivered and set the period lock so the finished month can't drift.

Tip: Your accountant can propose adjusting entries right up to the lock — approvals post them with a full audit trail.

Connect Gusto and post payroll automatically

Get every payroll run onto the books without manual entries.

1. 1Open Payroll Journal and connect your Gusto account.
2. 2Sync brings each payroll run in with gross wages, employee withholdings, employer taxes, and net pay.
3. 3Review the generated entry — Dr Payroll & Wages, Cr Cash for net pay, Cr Payroll Liabilities for withholdings — and post it.
4. 4Repeat each pay cycle; already-posted runs are recognized and never double-posted.

Track a loan with automatic principal/interest splits

Keep a borrowing's balance and interest expense exactly right.

1. 1Open Loans and add the loan: principal, annual rate, term in months, and start date.
2. 2If the cash just arrived, tick “record the proceeds” to post Dr Cash / Cr Loans & Notes Payable. Skip it for a pre-existing loan already in your opening balances.
3. 3Review the amortization schedule LedgerHelm computes — every payment's interest/principal split and remaining balance.
4. 4Each time you pay, click Record payment. The split posts automatically: principal reduces the liability, interest hits Interest Expense, cash is credited.
5. 5Watch the balance amortize to zero — the final payment clears it exactly.

Invoice billable project time

Turn logged hours into revenue without retyping anything.

1. 1Create a project on the Projects page and link it to the customer you'll bill.
2. 2Log time entries against the project, marking billable ones and setting their bill rate (separate from your internal cost rate).
3. 3When you're ready to bill, click “Invoice unbilled time” in the project's time dialog.
4. 4A draft invoice appears with one line per entry — date, description, hours × rate. Review, adjust, and send it like any invoice.
5. 5Entries are marked billed automatically, so the next pull only includes new time.