Ambivo Books User Guide

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Ambivo Books — User Guide


A chapter-by-chapter user guide for Ambivo Books, written for the people who use the front end every day — owners, bookkeepers, accountants, AR/AP staff, and anyone who reads or produces financial reports.

Each chapter stands on its own. Use the order below for a first read; jump straight to a topic when you have a specific question.

Getting Started


GuideWhat it covers
UG-001Welcome to Ambivo BooksWhat Ambivo Books is, the dashboard, navigating the sidebar, key terminology
UG-002Sign Up, Login, and AuthenticationHow to log in, MFA, password reset, and the Payment PIN
UG-003Setting Up Your Company (Entity Setup)First-time entity setup: name, currency, fiscal year, chart-of-accounts presets
UG-004Bookkeeping ConceptsDouble-entry, debits and credits, ledger, periods, accrual vs. cash

Master Data


GuideWhat it covers
UG-010Chart of AccountsThe 21 account types, codes, categories, balances, statements
UG-011CustomersAdding and managing customers, default A/R accounts, statements
UG-012VendorsAdding and managing vendors, defaults, Wise recipients
UG-013Products and ServicesCatalog, default income/expense accounts, tax codes

Sales


GuideWhat it covers
UG-020InvoicesCreating, posting, sending via Stripe, recording payments, voiding
UG-022Payments ReceivedCustomer receipts, refunds, prepayments, assignments

Purchases


GuideWhat it covers
UG-021BillsRecording bills, paying, syncing with the master record, voiding
UG-023Transfers Sent (Wise Payouts)International payments through Wise, recipients, the Payment PIN

Banking


GuideWhat it covers
UG-030Bank FeedsConnecting banks via Stripe Financial Connections, manual bank accounts
UG-031Bank Transactions and ReconciliationAuto-match, manual matching, excluding, creating expenses inline

Accounting Operations


GuideWhat it covers
UG-040Journal Entries and TransactionsCreating manual journals, browsing all transactions, reversing posted entries

Reporting


GuideWhat it covers
UG-050Financial ReportsTrial Balance, Income Statement, Balance Sheet, Cash Flow, Aging

Data Management


GuideWhat it covers
UG-060Data ImportImporting chart of accounts, opening balances, bank transactions, masters

Advanced


GuideWhat it covers
UG-070Multi-CurrencyBase currency, multi-currency mode, exchange rates, FX gain/loss

Administration


GuideWhat it covers
UG-080Settings and ConfigurationEntity, currency, fiscal year, accounting basis, Stripe Connect, Payment PIN
UG-090QuickBooks Migration and Read-Only ModeMigrating from QuickBooks, or running Books in read-only mode behind QuickBooks

Reading Order Suggestions


  • If you are brand new — Read UG-001, UG-002, UG-003, UG-004. Gets you set up and oriented.

  • If you are accountant taking over an existing entity — Read UG-001, UG-004, UG-010, UG-040, UG-050. Then dip into master-data and operations guides as needed.

  • If you are ar clerk — Read UG-001, UG-011, UG-020, UG-022, UG-031. Covers customers, invoicing, receipts, and reconciliation.

  • If you are ap clerk — Read UG-001, UG-012, UG-021, UG-023, UG-031. Covers vendors, bills, Wise payouts, and reconciliation.

  • If you are migrating from quickbooks — Read UG-090 first, then UG-060. Start with migration, then data import.

  • If you are multiple companies or international operations — Read UG-003, UG-070, UG-023. Multi-entity setup, multi-currency, and Wise payouts.

Conventions Used in This Guide


  • Bold names refer to UI elements (buttons, fields, screens).
  • code-style refers to internal field names or values.
  • Quoted values like "Standard" refer to user-facing labels.
  • Each guide ends with Common Questions, Tips and Best Practices, and Related Guides.
  • Where the system enforces permanence ("cannot be changed after creation"), the guide flags it explicitly.

Reporting Issues With This Guide


If something in the guide is wrong, outdated, or unclear, please report it on the GitHub repository's issue tracker, or send a note to your account manager. We move fast — corrections are welcome.