BantuAccounts User Help Guide

Sign in at www.bantuaccounts.com with your email and password. You land on Home.

Left menu: grouped into WORK (day-to-day), ACCOUNTING, TAX & COMPLIANCE, CLOSE & CONTROL and BILLING (admins only).

Top bar: shortcuts for Home, Business, Contacts, Accounting and Reports, plus Digital Gogo AI, the Help button and the Accountant Mode switch.

Accountant Mode: off by default, showing plain words such as "Owed to You". Switch it on to see standard terms such as "Sales Invoices", "General Ledger" and "Balance Sheet". See section 15 for the full list.

Help button: every screen has its own Help, which explains what the page does, how to use it and the words you might see. Click "Got It" to close.

Good to know: There is no search box in the top bar yet. Use the search and filter boxes at the top of each list, or the Quick Actions on Home.

Home is your morning snapshot: cash, who owes you, who you owe and how the month is going.

Cash: what is in your bank and cash accounts.

Owed to You: unpaid customer invoices, with the overdue amount.

To Pay: unpaid supplier bills, with the overdue amount.

Profit: this month and year to date.

Books & Compliance Health: shows "Balanced" when your books add up.

Quick Actions: one-click shortcuts to New Invoice, New Bill, Log Expense, Add Customer, Add Supplier, New Journal, Bank Reconciliation, Trial Balance, Profit & Loss and Reports.

Add a customer

Go to Contacts > Customers (or Quick Actions > Add Customer).

Enter the name (required), email, phone, Tax/BP Number (the customer's TIN or business partner number) and address.

Save.

Tip: You can import many customers at once from a CSV file: Customers > Import CSV. Download the template first. Each row needs a number and a name; rows with missing names are rejected and listed by row.

Create and post an invoice

Go to Owed to You > New Invoice (or Quick Actions > New Invoice).

Choose the Customer. If they are new, click "New Customer".

Check the Invoice Number, Issue Date and Due Date. Payment terms default to 30 days.

Add each line: Description, Quantity, Unit Price, Tax % (15.5 for standard-rated VAT from 1 January 2026, 0 for zero-rated) and Account Code (usually 4000 Sales Revenue).

Optional: add your Terms and Conditions and Bank Details. They print on the invoice.

Click Save Draft. A draft does not affect your books and can still be changed.

When it is correct, go to the Owed to You list and click Post on the invoice. Posting adds it to your books (money owed to you, sales and VAT).

Tip: Save a common invoice as a template with "Save as Template", then pick it next time from "Use a Saved Template".

Good to know: If you press Save Draft with no customer, you will see "Select a customer." Fill the customer first, then the line items with an account code.

Send an invoice

In the Owed to You list, click Send Invoice on the row.

Type the customer's email address and an optional message.

Click Send Invoice. You will see "Invoice … sent to …".

Record money received

Open the invoice and click "Record Money Received" (or use Receipts & Payments).

Check the invoice and amount. Make sure the amount is the amount actually received.

Choose the payment method (for example Bank transfer or Mobile money) and the account it went into.

Add a reference such as the bank reference, then click Record Money Received.

Good to know: Always check the Amount box before saving. It should show the balance due; correct it if it does not.

Good to know: If a payment went against the wrong invoice, open that invoice and click Unallocate on the payment. At present this removes the payment entirely, so you will need to record it again against the right invoice.

See who owes you

Customers > Aged Debtors Report shows unpaid invoices by how overdue they are, with Print and PDF options.

Contacts > Suppliers: add the supplier (name, Tax/BP Number, phone, address).

To Pay > New Bill (or Quick Actions > New Bill).

Choose the supplier, enter the bill number and dates.

For each line, enter the description, amount, VAT % and the expense account ("code every line").

Save, then Post the bill.

When you pay, open the bill and record the payment, choosing the bank account it came from.

Tip: Keep the supplier's fiscal tax invoice. ZIMRA only allows you to claim input VAT on invoices that are valid on its FDMS system.

Good to know: If you save an incomplete bill you will see "Code every line, tax, and total before saving the bill". Choose an account for every line.

Suppliers > Aged Creditors Report shows what you owe, by age.

Use Spending for costs paid straight away, such as fuel, airtime, taxis or lunch. Use To Pay for supplier bills you will pay later.

Spending > New Expense (or Quick Actions > Log Expense).

Enter the description, date, amount excluding tax, VAT and the amount paid.

Choose the category (expense account) and the account it was paid from.

Attach the receipt under "Evidence & Source Documents" (up to 10 MB).

Click Save Expense, then Post Entry.

Good to know: The Save Expense button stays greyed out until the required fields (Description, Amount and Payment Amount) are filled.

Tip: Posted to the wrong category? Open the expense, Unpost it, change the category, then Post again.

Bank > Cash Accounts lists your bank, cash and mobile wallet accounts. Use "Add Bank or Credit Card" to add one.

Bank > Transactions shows lines imported from your bank statements.

Import a statement: Bank > Import CSV. Download the bank statement template (columns: date, description, amount, debit, credit, reference). Bad rows are listed (for example "Row 4: amount — Invalid input") and skipped. Check the dates on the confirmation screen before you click Import Statement.

Reconcile a bank account

Bank > Reconciliation, then choose the account and click Reconcile (or Resume Reconciliation).

Tick each bank statement line and the matching item in your books, then click Match Selected.

When the Unreconciled Difference is $0.00 and every line is matched, click Finalise.

Good to know: Moving money between your own accounts, or recording money in or out that is not an invoice or bill, is currently done with an Adjustment (section 7).

Adjustments (Accountant Mode: Journals) are for corrections and entries that don't fit an invoice, bill or expense. If you are not sure, ask your accountant.

Adjustments > New Journal.

Enter the date and a clear memo explaining why.

Add at least two lines. Put amounts in Debit or Credit and choose an account for each.

"Difference (must be 0)" must show $0.00 before Post Journal becomes available.

Click Post Journal.

Tip: To undo a posted journal, open it and choose Reverse. This posts an opposite journal and keeps both on record, which is the safe way to correct.

Good to know: The system will not post a journal that doesn't balance ("Debits must equal credits.") or has empty lines ("Every line needs a debit or a credit.").

Books Check (Trial Balance)

Answers "Do My Books Add Up?". It should say Balanced. Click "N postings →" on any account to see the transactions behind it. Change the Start and End dates to look at another period.

Profit (Profit & Loss)

Shows income, expenses and profit for the dates you choose, with charts by month and by department. Set the comparison period to compare like with like.

Worth (Balance Sheet)

Shows what the business owns and owes on a date. Total assets always equal liabilities plus equity.

Final Report (year-end pack)

Reports builds a PDF set of financial statements. Simple gives the Income Statement, Balance Sheet and notes; Detailed adds a cover, contents, director's report and Trial Balance. Only posted entries are included.

Good to know: Records (General Ledger) lists every posted line and can be searched and exported. Exports labelled "Excel" download as CSV files, which open in Excel.

ZIMRA Tax (Tax & Compliance Centre) shows what you owe ZIMRA and NSSA. The VAT tab works out your VAT7 return: standard-rated, zero-rated and exempt sales, output VAT, input VAT and the net amount payable.

Compliance Health gives a score and warnings, including the share of invoices fiscalised.

"File Return" only marks the return as done in BantuAccounts. You still file and pay on ZIMRA TaRMS.

Tax Calculator (left menu) estimates PAYE, VAT and other taxes. Its figures are estimates, not filings.

Payroll covers employees, leave, attendance and overtime, timesheets, payroll runs and payslips.

Payroll > Employees: add each employee.

Payroll > Settings: check PAYE bands, NSSA, AIDS levy and ZIMDEF rates.

Payroll > Run Payroll: choose the month and pay date, select employees and calculate.

Review, approve, then see payslips under History & Payslips.

Good to know: Check the statutory rates in Payroll Settings with your tax adviser before you rely on them.

Equipment (Asset Register) records items the business owns for more than a year, such as computers, vehicles and furniture, and their depreciation.

Timing (Accruals) and Prepayments put costs in the right month, for example annual insurance paid upfront and spread over 12 months.

Lock Months stops anyone changing a month once it is finished, for example after a VAT return is filed.

Clear any drafts and finish bank reconciliations for the month.

Lock Months > Close on the month. Type the confirmation text shown (for example CLOSE DECEMBER 2025).

To reopen, click Reopen and give a reason. Reopening is recorded in Activity.

Good to know: Once a month is closed, posting into it is blocked with "This accounting period is hard-closed — no posting, void, or reverse."

Roles & Access lets the owner invite people and choose what they can do: Owner, Admin, Accountant, Bookkeeper, Auditor, Viewer, or a custom role.

Settings holds your company profile: name, logo, business address, base currency (USD), country (Zimbabwe), time zone and the month your financial year starts.

Tip: Fill in your business address, VAT number and TIN in Settings first. They appear on your invoices.

Activity (Audit Trail) lists who did what and when. Search it or export it to CSV.

Help button (top right) on every screen.

Digital Gogo AI: ask questions in plain English, for example "Why is my bank balance different?". Check its answers, as it can make mistakes.

These were found in testing in November 2026 and are on the improvement list.

No credit notes yet, for customers or suppliers. Ask your accountant how to correct a posted invoice.

Invoices are not yet fiscalised through ZIMRA FDMS, and don't yet show your TIN or a QR code.

No cash flow statement, customer statements or VAT detail report yet.

No copy or recurring invoices yet.

Bank transfers and other money in or out are recorded as Adjustments, and don't yet show in the bank account balance on the Bank screen.

Unallocating a payment removes it. Record it again against the right invoice.