The client portal

Getting started

1. Create an account or accept the invitation from your accountant.
2. A short wizard asks about you, your company and its tax numbers.
3. The «Overview» page shows one next step at a time, for example uploading your trade licence, with an explanation and an estimate of how long it takes.
4. Your part and ours are listed separately: what you do (details, documents, bank account, team) and what we do (review, agreement, setting up the books).

Start-up documents

«Start-up documents» is a checklist of what your accountant needs to begin: for example the trade licence, the articles of association, and the owner’s passport and Emirates ID. Required documents come first, followed by those to add if you have them.

Each document has a hint on where to get it. You can upload a file or take a photo with your phone. Your accountant accepts each document or asks you to replace it, and you get a notification.

Bank accounts and statements

• Add your company’s bank accounts and upload statements in «Bank & transactions».
• CSV statements are read straight away. PDF statements and photos are entered by your accountant.
• Uploading the same statement again does not create duplicates.
• You can also add individual transactions and receipts.

How your transactions are checked

Every transaction goes to your accountant for review. The accountant accepts it with an accounting category, asks you a question, or rejects it with a reason. You get a notification and answer right in the portal.

Accepted transactions are sent to Zoho Books automatically, without duplicates.

Messages with your accountant

Ask a general question in «Messages» instead of a chat app. Each topic is its own thread, marked open or resolved, and the whole history stays with your company. Messages cannot be edited or deleted.

The owner, admins and finance users see all of the company’s threads. Other users see the threads they started.

Tasks, document requests and deadlines

• «Tasks» shows the work your accountant has shared with you, such as the month-end close and VAT or corporate tax returns, with its status.
• When your accountant needs something specific, you get a document request with a due date. Reply with a file or a photo.
• Work outside your plan has a price that the owner or an admin approves before it starts.
• The deadline timeline on «Overview» and the «Calendar» show the FTA deadlines, our internal deadlines and document requests. You can add the calendar to Google, Outlook or Apple Calendar with a personal link.

Taxes

• «Taxes» shows your registrations (VAT and corporate tax numbers) and a line for every return: period, filing deadline, status and the amount due once it is known.
• Before filing, your accountant sends you the draft return. The owner, an admin or a finance user approves it or sends it back with questions.
• After filing, you see the FTA acknowledgement and the payment date. Filed returns stay in the archive by year.

Invoices from Zoho Books

When your company’s Zoho Books is connected, «Invoices» shows your invoices to customers and bills from suppliers: what customers owe you, what you owe, and what is overdue, with filters and the PDF of a customer invoice.

The portal only reads this data and changes nothing in Zoho Books. The owner, admins, finance users and your accountants can see it.

Calls with your accountant

Book a call with your accountant in «Calls». You get a confirmation and a reminder, and the time and the link are in the portal.

Billing and plans

• «Billing» shows your plan, what it includes, the price list and our invoices for our services with their status. You pay them there.
• The owner, admins and finance users see the invoices and receive payment reminders.
• Next month’s invoice comes on the 25th and is due by the 1st; work for the month starts once it is paid. If it stays unpaid, from the 4th the portal can switch to read-only until it is paid. You can still see everything.

Users and roles

The owner and admins invite colleagues by email in «Users» and choose a role for each:

• Owner: everything for the company, including users and paying for the subscription.
• Admin: the same as the owner, except paying for the subscription.
• Finance: documents, bank and transactions; sees the tasks.
• Employee: uploads receipts and documents and sees only their own uploads.
• Viewer: read only.

One person can work with several companies and switch between them in the header. You can see which of our staff have access to your company, and the activity log shows who did what and when.

Security and where your data is stored

• Access is checked on the server and in the database itself, not only on screen: another company’s data cannot be opened, even with a direct link.
• Every uploaded file is checked by antivirus and kept in private storage. Files open only through the portal, and every view and download is recorded.
• The activity log of every action cannot be changed or deleted.
• Your browser holds only a secure session cookie, not sign-in tokens. Firm staff sign in with two-step verification.
• Amounts are stored and sent to Zoho Books exactly, without rounding.
• We have decided that client data in the live portal, including backups and disaster-recovery copies, is kept in data centres in the UAE. The public demo uses only fictional data.

Not available yetComing soon

• Mobile apps for iPhone, iPad and Android. The portal already works in a phone browser.
• Signing in with a code sent to your email.
• Changing your email address yourself: ask your accountant or support.