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.

The Delivery card on a confirmed order follows each step: Ready for delivery (print the packing slip), Collected (fill in who collects and who hands over, each with a phone number, the person collecting signs in the box, then press Save handover; signed on paper instead? upload a photo), Out for delivery and Delivered (the customer can sign for receipt). Recording Delivered creates and finalises the delivery note for what was not delivered yet, so stock and delivered quantities are booked. "Undo last step" goes back if a step was clicked by mistake. Filter orders by Ready, Collected or Out for delivery.

Open Sales, Handover (phone) on the phone once while online and signed in: the phone is paired and keeps the open orders. From then on the whole handover works offline: tick the items, the person collecting signs on the screen, then Out for delivery and Delivered. Steps are kept on the phone and sent with their real time as soon as it is online. Add it to the home screen to open it like an app. Paired phones can be unpaired under Handover, Paired phones.

No internet browsing needed: on the order, Share in WhatsApp posts the step to your group with what to reply. People answer from WhatsApp, for example COLLECTED OR-00001 Farai, OUT OR-00001, DELIVERED OR-00001 received by Mr Primo. Whenever someone has internet, export the group chat (Without media) and upload it under Sales, Handover via WhatsApp: you see what was found, then the steps are recorded with the sender and the time of each message. Uploading the same chat again records nothing twice.

Contracts → Write a contract: choose the other party, whether you provide or receive, and what: a service you describe or a product from your list, with a price and a discount in %, once or per month, quarter, year or unit. Add the term (start, end or open-ended, notice, automatic renewal), payment days, governing law and further terms. The contract text is written for you. Or upload a contract as a PDF: everybody signs a signature page with the fingerprint of that file. Add as many signers as needed, for any party: people who sign for you sign in the app; others get a personal link by email or one you send by WhatsApp, or sign in person on your device. When everybody has signed, each signer is emailed the signed copy. Print or save it as PDF at any time.

On Sales → Orders click Import customer PO (or Import from a purchase order under Products) and upload the PDF. You check what was read, then create in one go: the customer as a contact (or use the one you have), the products with their code, EAN and price, the inventory items each product is made from, and a draft sales order with the PO number. Existing contacts and products are found by email, EAN, code or name. The PDF stays with the order as its original document.

Under Products, Inventory items are what you count: roasted coffee in kg, pouches, bags, labels, cartons. On a product, Made from lists the items one unit uses (for example 0.35 kg coffee, 1 pouch, 1 label, 0.125 carton). Delivering the product (delivery note, or an invoice without one) takes those items out of stock; cancelling gives them back. Count items with a stocktake on each item.

Roast and pack a customer's purchase orders that a group company bills? Turn on Sales → Contract roasting. Record each PO with its products: units, bags per unit (4 for a 4 x 1 kg multipack), bag size and bags per carton. The fees are worked out at your rates (default EUR 1.80 per kg roasted, 0.60 packing and 0.25 label per bag, 0.65 per carton). Past work can be pasted from a statement with its amounts. Under Billing, the work done is billed by the group company in instalments of at most a set amount a month (default 2,000), created as draft invoices in its bexio with a personal access token or exported as CSV; and your own monthly invoice to the group company is created with one click.

Invite them in Settings, Users with the role Logistics only. They see only Deliveries, with just the orders you tick for them under Who handles this order on the order, and can print only those packing slips. No prices, books or other orders. They get an email when an order is given to them.

To deliver part of the quantity, click → Create delivery note on the order and change the quantities. 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.

Under Settings → Online payments connect your own Stripe account (a restricted key with Checkout Sessions: Write) and/or PayPal (the Client ID and Secret of an app you create on developer.paypal.com, or just your PayPal.me name). Open invoices then show Pay by card and Pay with PayPal on the customer link and a "Pay online" line on the PDF. The money goes straight to your Stripe or PayPal account. Card and PayPal checkout payments are checked and booked on the invoice by themselves, on a "Stripe" or "PayPal" account under Banking; when Stripe or PayPal pays out to your bank, book that transfer and their fees in Banking.

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).

Upload supplier invoices and receipts under Inbox. Each becomes a draft bill or expense with the supplier, amounts and the accounts to debit and credit suggested for you: by AI (Claude) if an owner switches AI reading on, otherwise from your earlier bookings and the words on the document. Suggestions can be wrong: always check every line, its account and its VAT rate before you finalise.

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.

Under Loans & credit record who lends you the money (or whom you lend it to), the currency, interest and repayment date, and book the money as it arrives in a bank, mobile money or cash account. If the lender paid one of your supplier bills directly, choose that bill and it is marked paid.

Open the loan and record each repayment, with the interest paid alongside it, or interest added to the balance. Every movement is posted to the ledger and the loan shows a running statement you can download.

A credit line or overdraft has a limit. Each drawdown is checked against it and the loan shows what is still available.

On a loan, click Create agreement. The one-page agreement is filled in from the loan: parties, amount, interest, repayment, default and governing law. Check it, sign it with your finger or mouse, then email the signing link to the other party, copy the link to send it by WhatsApp, or let them sign in person on your device. When both have signed, everyone gets the signed copy and it stays stored with the loan. To change a signed agreement, replace it with a new version; the old one stays on record as void.

Add past loans lets you enter many older loans at once with what is still outstanding on a date. They are booked against the opening balance, so your bank accounts are not touched.

Open Payroll. For Zimbabwe the rules are filled in for you: the ZIMRA USD PAYE table, AIDS levy, NSSA and ZIMDEF. Check them against the current figures and change anything that has moved. Nobody can see payroll until an owner gives them payroll access under Settings, Users. That includes owners themselves: give yourself access first.

Add each employee with their basic salary, tax and NSSA numbers, how they are paid and any allowance or deduction that comes every month, such as transport or medical aid.

Create a pay run for the month. Every employee gets a payslip, calculated for you. Add overtime, bonuses, unpaid leave or advance repayments on the payslip, then finalise: the totals are posted to the books.

Print each payslip, save it as PDF or email it to the employee. Record the salary payment from the bank, mobile money or cash account; the tax and NSSA are left as payable until you pay them.

Under Business plan start a blank plan, or the example (importing moka pots for supermarkets with free community grinders) to see how it works. Example figures are placeholders: replace every one. No company yet? The planner is free for anyone: sign up on the free business plan page with your name and email.

Idea: your pitch and what you ask for. Sales: where you sell (locations that open one after another) and each product with its price, purchase price, duty and freight. Costs: running costs, costs that grow with sales, costs and set-up per location, one-off investments. Cash: stock bought ahead, when customers pay, when you pay suppliers, funding.

How much to raise (the deepest cash gap plus a safety margin), break-even, cash flow, results by year, what one location earns and how fast its set-up pays back, and low, base and high scenarios. Use "Copy as new scenario" to try other ideas.

Under Results, "What your numbers say" explains the plan in plain words, and "What would help most" lists the changes with the biggest effect. Move the sliders, switch costs on or off and change amounts: the numbers update straight away. Keep a change with "Save as new scenario" or "Apply to this plan", and put plans side by side with "Compare".

Preview, print or download it, and send it to investors by a private link you can withdraw. Once you trade, Results compares the plan with your real books.

Under Business directory search members and Africa-wide partners by name, category or country, and contact them by website, phone, WhatsApp or a message that goes to their email.

An owner can list the company under My listing: one line about what you do, up to four categories, where you work and how to reach you. Choose Members only (our team approves it first) or Public (also on the open website, for active members). The listing email is confirmed by a link before anything is shown, and unticking the box removes the listing at once. My listing also shows how often you were viewed and contacted.

Entries marked "Africa network" are larger logistics, clearance, payment and connectivity businesses added by MyBooks.Africa from public information. They are not customers and not endorsements: check terms and licences with them directly.

Under Financing an owner switches financing on. Until then nothing is calculated for lenders and nothing can be shared.

The readiness score looks at your own books for the last 24 full months: bookings in every month, bank and mobile money statements for every month, and at least 95% of statement lines reconciled. It shows what is missing and how to fix it.

Preview it at any time: 24 months of figures, balance sheet, cash in and out, open invoices and bills, existing loans and how complete your bank reconciliation is. No customer names, no individual transactions, no salaries.

Once all requirements are met, an owner sends the pack to a partner bank or MFI, or to your own bank. The lender gets a private link that works for 30 days; you see when it is opened and can withdraw it at any time.

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 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.

Accounting → Budgets: plan per year how money will be spent, for example the money from an investor, grant or loan (use of funds). Type the lines or paste a table from Excel or Word, add the funder, the amount and its status. You see the total, the share of each line and category and whether the funding covers it; link a line to an account to see what was booked against it that year. Print or save as PDF for an investment case, or download a CSV. Copy a budget to the next year with one click.

Income statement and Expense statement under Accounting are made for loan and investor applications: last 12 months, last financial year, this year to date or your own dates, compared with the year before, with margins, EBITDA, month by month figures, your biggest suppliers and how complete your books are. Print or save as PDF, sign as director and attach it; CSV for the lender.

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.

The Pan-African Payment and Settlement System lets African businesses pay each other in their own currencies, in seconds, without routing money through dollars or euros. Read more about PAPSS.

We are connecting MyBooks.Africa to PAPSS. Until then, book PAPSS payments you send or receive through your bank like any other bank transaction under Banking.

Owners find the token under Settings → API. Other systems use it to read contacts, products, accounts and documents and to create draft invoices.