Accountant's Copy

Solid Accounting gives you three ways to hand your books to an accountant. Pick the one that matches what they need to do:

How an Accountant's Copy works

An Accountant's Copy is a full copy of your company file, attachments included, plus a dividing date — usually the last day of the year or quarter being reviewed. It is one encrypted .sacopy file, locked with a passcode.

• Your accountant opens the copy as a separate company file and records adjusting entries dated on or before the dividing date.
• You keep working in your original company file. While the copy is outstanding, nothing dated on or before the dividing date can be posted; anything after it works normally.
• When your accountant sends the changes back, you see a preview and import them.

Only one Accountant's Copy can be outstanding at a time. Your accountant needs a version of Solid Accounting at least as new as yours to open it.

Make and send the copy

1. Open File → Accountant's Copy → Export Accountant's Copy....
2. Dividing date — your accountant can adjust transactions on or before this date.
3. How should it get to your accountant?
   • Save it as a file — one file you can email, put in a shared folder, or copy to a USB drive.
   • Send it through Solid Accounting — enter your accountant's email, your name and email, and an optional message. We email your accountant a code. The copy is deleted from our servers once they receive it, or after 30 days.
4. Passcode — use the one Solid Accounting makes, or your own (at least 12 characters). Tick I've saved this passcode somewhere safe. Give the passcode to your accountant yourself, separately from the file or the email.
5. Click Save copy as a file… or Send to accountant. If we can't email your accountant (copies sent from a trial aren't emailed, for example), the screen shows the code to pass on with the passcode.

The copy is encrypted on your computer with the passcode. Our servers only hold the encrypted file, and we never have the passcode.

The Accountant's Copy screen then shows Copy with your accountant: the dividing date, when you made it, and the delivery status (for example, when your accountant received it). From there you can Send Again if the delivery expired, Cancel Copy, or Import Accountant's Changes.

Bring the changes back

When your accountant returns their changes through Solid Accounting, you get an email with a code, and the Accountant's Copy screen shows A return is waiting.

1. Open File → Accountant's Copy → Import Accountant's Changes... in your original company file.
2. Choose how they arrived: Open the file your accountant sent (Choose file…) or Enter the code from the email.
3. Enter the Passcode — the same one you gave your accountant — and click Check changes.
4. Check the preview: who made the changes and each adjusting entry with its date, number, memo and amount. Click Import changes, or Not now to come back later.

Importing brings in the adjusting entries, marks them as accountant adjustments, and lifts the dividing-date protection. The copy and the import are recorded in the Audit Trail. If your accountant returned no changes, you can keep waiting or choose Close engagement….

Changed your mind? Click Cancel Copy. That removes the dividing-date protection; any changes your accountant made in their copy won't be imported.

For accountants: receiving a client's copy

On the Accountant tier, you work in a client's copy as its own company file:

1. Choose File → Accountant's Copy → Import Client's Accountant Copy... (no company needs to be open).
2. Choose I have a file and pick the .sacopy file, or I have a code and click Look up.
3. Enter the Passcode your client gave you, optionally your name, and where to Save as. You also use the passcode to sign in to the copy.
4. Click Open company and record your adjusting entries, dated on or before the dividing date.

To send your changes back, open the client's copy and choose File → Accountant's Copy → Return Changes to Client.... Pick Save as a file or Send back through Solid Accounting (we email your client a code; they use the passcode they already know), then click Return changes. Your client gets an email when you send their books back.

What it needs: receiving and returning client copies needs the Accountant tier. Through Solid Accounting's transfer service it also needs active Updates & Cloud Services; a copy saved as a file works without it.

Year-End Package

The Year-End Package bundles a fiscal year's reports for your accountant. Choose the Fiscal Year, the Basis (accrual or cash), the date to age A/R and A/P as of, and the Sections: Trial Balance, Income Statement, Balance Sheet, Statement of Cash Flows, General Ledger Detail, A/R Aging Summary, A/P Aging Summary, Depreciation Schedule, 1099 Summary, Tax-basis Trial Balance, and Asset Sales (Form 4797 Worksheet).

Pick a Format — Zip (one PDF per section plus a README and manifest), Single PDF, or Both — and optional extras: CSV copies of each section, and the Accountant's Workbook (with or without General Ledger Detail). Click Export Year-End Package, then Copy Folder Path to find the result.

Accountant's Workbook

Reports → Accountant's Workbook... exports an Excel workbook of the books, including the tax figures, whose Checks tab recalculates when a figure is edited. Accountant's Workbook (with GL Detail)... adds every posted journal line, which can make a large file.

Tools for accountants

On the Accountant tier, turn on Accountant Mode in Settings and the Reports menu also shows Write-Up Entries (enter many journal entries in one grid and post them together) and Review Notes (see Review Queue & Review Notes). To manage many clients' company files, see Client Management & Consolidation.

Related

• Month-end close and Fiscal Years & Close Year
• Tax-ready books
• Reports
• TXF format — tax-software export