Accounting

Adding a Bank Account for Payments

The Haven app allows you to accept payments from your customers and receive deposits into your bank account via an integration with Stripe, a payment processing company.  Haven recommends that you set up a business bank account with your bank that is specific to your business, not intermingled with your personal funds.

To link your bank account to Haven so that you can accept payments from your customers via Stripe, tap or click the “Settings” icon and then go down below the Business Users section.  You’ll see another section labeled “Haven Payments.”  If you haven’t already linked a bank account to Haven, then you’ll see a note telling you that we need some more information.  Tap or click “Configure Now.”  You’ll be taken to a Stripe webpage that will ask you for the details of your bank account.  You’ll need to provide Stripe with certain information about your bank account, including the bank’s routing number and your account number.

It may take a while for Stripe to confirm your credentials.  If you don’t receive a confirmation within twenty-four hours, then please reach out to us at.

General Ledger

Haven automatically prepares journal entries for certain actions that you take.  For example, when you send an invoice to a customer, Haven will automatically create a journal entry that debits the amount of the invoice to the accounts receivable account and credits the same amount to the revenue account.  You can view these journal entries at any time by tapping or clicking on the down arrow by the “Accounting” header in the navigation pane and tapping or clicking the “Ledger” link.

Note that, even though Haven automatically prepares certain journal entries for you, if you intend to keep your business’s books according to the accrual-based method of accounting under U.S. generally accepted accounting principles [or International Financial Reporting Standards], then you will need to make certain adjusting entries manually.  For example, you may wish to make adjusting entries for accruals, deferrals like prepaid expenses and unearned revenue, depreciation and amortization, or estimates for expected liabilities.

To manually record a journal entry, go to the Ledger, tap or click the “New Ledger Entry” button, and fill in the requested information.  Please note that the aggregate amount of all debit entries must equal the aggregate amount of all credit entries for each journal entry.

Financial Statements

Haven automatically prepares financial statements for your business based on certain actions that you take and the associated journal entries that Haven makes for each of those actions.  To view your business’s financial statements, tap or click the down arrow by the “Accounting” header in the navigation pane, tap or click the “Reports” link, and then tap or click any of the tiles labeled “Balance Sheet,” “Income Statement,” or “Statement of Cash Flows.”

Reconciliation

Haven will automatically update your account balances based on the actions that you take inside the Haven app.  For example, when you send an invoice, Haven will automatically create a journal entry in your general ledger that adds the amount of the invoice to your accounts receivable and recognizes the same amount as revenue.  When you look at your accounts receivable on your balance sheet or your revenue on your income statement, you’ll see the increase automatically recorded in both places.

But Haven cannot automatically update your bank account balances based on the actions that you take outside the Haven app.  The reason for this is that Haven doesn’t naturally have any information about any actions that you take outside of the Haven app.  For example, if you purchase inventory by writing a paper check or using a company debit card, the Haven app will not automatically know that you have done so.  Similarly, if you invoice a customer and receive a check from your customer in the mail and then go and deposit it, the Haven app will not automatically know that you have done so.  In order to ensure that your bank account balances as shown in the Haven app match the balances shown by your bank, these balances need to be reconciled.

To link your bank account to Haven so that you can reconcile a balance in the Haven app with a balance from your bank via Plaid, tap or click the “Settings” icon and then go down below the Business Users section.  You’ll see another section labeled “Linked Bank Accounts.”  If you haven’t already linked a bank account to Haven, then you’ll see a note telling you that we need some more information.  Tap or click “Configure Now.”  You’ll be taken to a Plaid webpage that will ask you for the details of your bank account.  You’ll need to provide Plaid with certain information about your bank account, including the bank’s routing number and your account number.

Chart of Accounts

Each of the above features is possible only because the Haven app assigns to your organization a chart of accounts that lists all of the organization’s financial accounts to which entries in the general ledger post.  Each organization to which you have access through your Haven account has its own chart of accounts.  By default, each organization’s chart of accounts includes commonly used accounts under the major categories of assets, liabilities, owners’ equity, revenue, and expenses.  You can also add additional accounts to your organization’s chart of accounts at any time.

To add an additional account to the chart of accounts, from the main screen, tap or click on the down arrow next to the “Accounting” header in the navigation pane, tap or click the “Accounts” link, tap or click the “Add” button, tap or click either the “New Account” link or the “New Sub Account,” fill in the requested information, and then tap or click the “Create Account” button.

When creating a new account, you will need to designate the account as an asset, liability, owners’ equity, revenue, or expense account and set its normal balance.  (In general, asset accounts and expense accounts will normally have debit balances, whereas liability accounts, equity accounts, and revenue accounts will normally have a credit balance, but there are some exceptions, so check with your accountant to be certain.)  When creating a new subaccount, you will need to designate the main account to which the subaccount relates.

Setting Initial Balances

When you first create a Haven account, the Haven app assumes that each account in your chart of accounts has a $0 balance.  For most organizations, this will not be accurate, and you will need to set the initial balances to appropriately reflect the facts and circumstances of your business.

You can set your initial balances by going to the general ledger page, tapping or clicking the “New Ledger Entry” button, and filling in the requested information.  Please note that the aggregate amount of all debit entries must equal the aggregate amount of all credit entries for each journal entry.

Note that if you prefer not to handle the accounting yourself, then you can invite your accountant, bookkeeper, or fractional CFO to join your Haven account and become a user, and then they can help you make sure that your books are correct.