Simple Books Guides
Learn how to use Simple Books and understand key accounting concepts with practical, easy-to-follow guides.
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Featured guides
Useful places to begin with Simple Books and everyday accounting.
How to create an invoice
Learn how to create an invoice for a customer in Simple Books, add VAT and payment terms, save it, make a PDF and record payment.
Recording business expenses
Capture day-to-day business costs with the details needed for reliable records.
Understanding the Profit & Loss Statement in Simple Books
Learn how Simple Books calculates Profit & Loss from invoice, bill, expense and mileage journals for a selected reporting period.
What is VAT?
Learn the basic purpose of VAT and the terms small businesses commonly encounter.
All guides
Product guidance and approachable accounting explanations.
23 guides
Welcome to Simple Books
Get to know Simple Books and the everyday business tasks you can manage in one place.
Setting up your business
Learn which business details to add before you start creating records and reports.
Understanding the Dashboard in Simple Books
Learn how the Simple Books Dashboard calculates invoice, bill and overdue figures, charts, alerts and recent activity, and how they differ from accounting reports.
How to create an invoice
Learn how to create an invoice for a customer in Simple Books, add VAT and payment terms, save it, make a PDF and record payment.
How to mark an invoice as paid
Learn how to mark an invoice as paid in Simple Books, confirm payment, update invoice status and understand which totals and reports change.
Understanding overdue invoices
Learn when an invoice becomes overdue and how to keep on top of late payments.
How to record a bill
Learn how to record a supplier bill in Simple Books, add VAT, save it before payment and understand how it affects your accounts.
Recording supplier bills
See how to record money your business owes to suppliers.
Managing unpaid bills
Organise outstanding supplier bills and keep payment dates visible.
How to record a business expense
Learn how to record a business expense in Simple Books, add VAT and receipts, use AI scanning and understand the accounting entries.
Recording business expenses
Capture day-to-day business costs with the details needed for reliable records.
How to claim business mileage
Learn how to record a business mileage claim in Simple Books, calculate the amount, attach evidence and understand the accounting entries.
Claiming business mileage
Record business journeys and calculate a clear mileage claim.
Uploading receipts in Simple Books
Learn how to upload receipts, attach supporting documents and manage saved files on bills, expenses and mileage claims in Simple Books.
Using AI invoice scanning in Simple Books
Learn how to scan supplier bills and expense receipts with AI in Simple Books, review extracted details and save the supporting document.
Tracking project profitability in Simple Books
Learn how Simple Books calculates project income, costs, gross profit, margin and budget usage from allocated invoices, bills, expenses and mileage.
What is double-entry bookkeeping?
Learn how double-entry bookkeeping works in Simple Books, including debits, credits, journals and the reports built from accounting entries.
Understanding the Trial Balance in Simple Books
Learn how the Simple Books Trial Balance turns invoice, bill, expense and mileage journals into debit and credit account balances.
Understanding the General Ledger in Simple Books
Learn how the Simple Books General Ledger displays journal postings, account activity, debit and credit entries, and running balances.
Understanding the Profit & Loss Statement in Simple Books
Learn how Simple Books calculates Profit & Loss from invoice, bill, expense and mileage journals for a selected reporting period.
Understanding the Balance Sheet in Simple Books
Learn how Simple Books calculates assets, liabilities, equity and the current-year result from journals as at a reporting date.
What is VAT?
Learn the basic purpose of VAT and the terms small businesses commonly encounter.
Understanding input VAT and output VAT
Understand VAT on purchases, VAT on sales and how the two amounts relate.
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