PBS AccountsACCOUNTS PASCOE BUSINESS SYSTEMS

PBS Accounts handbook

Checked against the live app at accounts.pascoesystems.co.uk on 29 October 2026.

PBS Accounts checks a supplier's statement against what you actually received. You take a statement in, the app lays out every line, and you approve it, correct a figure, add a line the supplier missed, or take one off — with a record of who did what and when. Around that it keeps your sales invoices, your bills and your bank, and posts them to a nominal ledger by double entry - the trial balance, the profit and loss account, the balance sheet and the VAT return's boxes are read from it. It does not file anything with HMRC or Companies House.

This handbook has one section for every screen you can reach. The address of each screen is shown in code font; after you sign in, your own company id sits in the address where it says :companyId, and a statement's id where it says :statementId.

Getting in

Help — /help

This handbook, inside the app. Every screen carries a ? in its footer that opens this page at that screen's own section. You can read it without signing in; it describes the screens and holds no records.

Sign in — /sign-in

The front door. Enter your work email and password and you land on Your companies. (The addresses /, /login, /signin and /sign_in all bring you here — and bring you to Your companies instead if you are already signed in.)

Your companies — /home

Where you land after signing in. One block for each company you belong to: how many statements it holds, how many are still in review, how many are approved, and the date printed on its newest statement — each with a button through to Statements, Approved, Suppliers, By month, Every line, History and Export approved (CSV), and a link to its plan. Every screen in this handbook is reachable from here without typing an address. Statements not in counts the suppliers whose monthly statement has not come: a supplier with a statement dated in each of three months running is expected to send one dated the month after, and it is counted only once the 10th of the month after that has passed (a statement dated at a month's end arrives early the next). Each is named, with the months it did send. Nothing is said for a supplier with fewer than three months running, or a gap.

Every company's approved statements in one file — /approved-all.csv

For someone who looks after several companies (a bookkeeper with several clients): on Your companies, Export approved statements for every company (one CSV) downloads every approved statement of every company you are a member of, each row naming its company first. Like each company's own export, it is refused - not shortened - while any of those approved statements has a query open, and the refusal names the company and the statement.

Create an account — /sign-up

Closed by default — PBS Accounts is invitation only. The sign-in screen offers Create an account; while sign-up is closed this address says Accounts open soon, with Request access, and anything sent to it is refused and creates nothing (1 October 2026). New accounts are created for you by an administrator.

When public sign-up is open, this screen asks for a work email, a password of at least 8 characters, and the company name your workspace will be called, and creates the account in its own new company. If the email is already registered, sign in instead.

Sign out — /sign-out

Ends your session and returns you to the sign-in screen.

Your company's statements

Every statement — /companies/:companyId/statements

The list of every statement stored for your company: who it is from, when it came in, and where it has got to. This is your home screen once you are in. Open one to see it in full.

Above the list, Status, Supplier (as the document printed it) and Month (the date the document printed) narrow it; Show applies them. Each statement in review has a box to choose it - Choose every one in review shown ticks them all - for Archive the chosen statements below the list.

Archive or restore statements — /companies/:companyId/statements/archive

For a statement taken in by mistake - the wrong file, a test, a copy. Choose it on Every statement, open Archive the chosen statements, say who you are and why, and press Archive the chosen. It leaves every list, month, line list and total; nothing of it is erased, and it cannot be approved while archived. Only a statement in review is archived - an approved one is signed off, so it is reopened first - and the screen names each one it did not archive and why. Archived statements (with how many) lists them with when, who and why; choose any and Restore the chosen to bring them back. Like any change, it can need an active subscription.

Take a new statement in — /companies/:companyId/statements/open

The form at the top of Every statement, and the way a statement is started - Upload a statement. Drag the file your accounting package exports (CSV) onto the box at the top, or choose it; its rows are copied into the statement box and sent when you take it in (the text taken in is kept with the statement, and a PDF or photo is kept with it too, up to 3 MB). Or paste the statement. Say who is taking it in, and press Take it in. A demonstration company is offered a made-up statement file to try it with (30 September 2026). Several files can be dropped at once: each gets its own row with a progress bar and is taken in one after another; a copy of a statement already held is reported on its row, and a file that is refused says why, with Retry. The reference is optional. Left blank, the statement number printed on the document is used; if the document prints none, one is made from the date and time. If a statement with that reference is already held, nothing is taken in and the form keeps what you typed, so you can give it a different reference. Once it is taken in, the statement's own screen opens. One statement can have up to 20,000 lines (taken in within a few seconds); a longer one is refused with its line count and nothing is stored - split it by date and take each part in as its own statement. A bank statement is told apart and not taken in - one with "Paid in" and "Paid out" (or "Money in" and "Money out") columns, or a sort code and account number with direct debits, standing orders or card payments; the screen says why and nothing is stored. A supplier's statement that prints its own bank details for payment is taken in as usual.

Approved statements only — /companies/:companyId/approved

The same list narrowed to statements that have been signed off, so you can find a finished one quickly.

Download approved statements — /companies/:companyId/approved.csv

Gives you the approved statements as a spreadsheet (CSV) to keep or pass on. Its columns are the Approved screen's own: Statement, Approved by, Approved at, Debits, Credits, Closing balance, Lines, Edits, Approvals.

One statement in full — /companies/:companyId/statements/:statementId

Everything that has happened to a single statement: each line the supplier sent, any line you changed, added or removed, and whether it is approved. Each line shows the supplier's own words for it ("Timber", "Cement bags") with its type - Invoice, Credit note, Payment - beside them. If the document taken in calls itself an invoice or a credit note at the top and never a statement, the page says This looks like an invoice, not a statement (or a credit note), with the words it found and where an invoice's lines go - it decides nothing for you. The buttons on this screen are the actions below, in the order you work: which statement it is, which supplier it is from, the lines (each with its tick), correcting, adding and removing a line under Correct, add or remove a line, whether it adds up, and then Approve. The explanation behind each part of the screen is one tap away, under Why?.

Under its heading each statement says where it sits among the statements still in review - oldest first, by the statement's own date - with Next in review to go straight on to the next one, so a pile of statements can be checked one after another without going back to the list.

Which invoices each payment pays: for every payment on the statement, the invoices it pays - the oldest open invoices when they add up to it exactly, otherwise any set of open invoices dated on or before it that adds up to it to the penny (two sets that both add up are both shown, for you to settle with the supplier), or "no combination" when none does - a part payment, an invoice not on this statement or a payment on account, which is worth asking about.

Under the lines, The document beside its lines shows the supplier's document as it was taken in, one line of text beside what was read from it: Row N with its date, reference and amounts, continues row N for a line wrapped onto the one above, or Nothing read. It counts the lines read as nothing - usually headings and page furniture; check any that carries a date or an amount, because that is a row the reader missed. It shows the reading at take-in; corrections made since are in the lines table. A statement taken in before 22 October 2026 has no text kept, and says so. When the statement came in as a PDF or a photo, the file itself is shown here too, beside the lines - the PDF drawn page by page, the photo as it was taken (from 23 October 2026) - with Open the file to see it on its own.

The statement's own file — /companies/:companyId/statements/:statementId/file

The PDF or photo a statement was read from, as it was taken in, opened in your browser. A statement that was pasted, came from a spreadsheet, or was taken in before 23 October 2026 has no file kept, and this says No file kept - its text is on the statement.

Working on a statement

Each of these is an action on one statement. They only happen when you click the button — nothing here changes a statement just by looking at it.

Take a statement in — /companies/:companyId/statements/:statementId/take-in

Stores the supplier document's parsed lines against the statement, so there is something to check.

You can paste the statement, or choose the file your accounting package exports (CSV, or a sheet copied out of a spreadsheet), or the PDF statement a supplier emails you. A PDF is read in your browser - its printed words, one line per printed row - and copied into the box like any other file. A photo of a paper statement, or a scanned PDF (a picture with no words in it), is read in your browser by text recognition and its words copied into the box the same way. Text recognition can misread a figure, so the screen says so each time: check every line against the paper before you take it in. A picture is read one at a time, never in a batch of several files, so it is always checked. Choosing a file copies its rows into the box on the form, which is what gets taken in. The text taken in is kept with the statement, exactly as it was, so the statement's page can show it beside its lines (from 22 October 2026). A PDF or photo is kept with it too, up to 3 MB (a photo is made smaller first), so the statement can show the document itself (from 23 October 2026); one over 3 MB, or that is not really a PDF, JPEG or PNG, is not kept, and the answer says so - its text still is. A spreadsheet's file is not kept: its text is the whole of it. A file is read by its column headings: it needs a date column and at least one of debit, credit, amount or balance, and the screen then tells you which headings it used and which it did not recognise. Anything else is read the way a pasted statement is read. Whichever way it comes in, the lines are the same lines, and what the app cannot decide — a row with both a debit and a credit, a figure it cannot read, a balance that does not follow from the row above — is flagged on the line for you rather than settled quietly.

Read it again — /companies/:companyId/statements/:statementId/read-again

On a statement still in review, Read it again reads the document's own text kept with it again, with the readers and your column names as they are now - for a heading you have taught since it came in. It is taken in as a new statement (the reference with -R2, or the next free), the way it first came in, and only once that has worked is the old one archived with the reason "read again as …"; nothing of either is erased. Refused, with nothing changed: an approved statement (reopen it first), an archived one, or one whose text was not kept (taken in before 22 October 2026 - take its file in again).

Flag a line — /companies/:companyId/statements/:statementId/flag

On a statement in review, Flagged lines lets you flag a line that needs a look, with why, and take the flag off again. Its total counts every flagged line - those read with a doubt and those you flagged, each once - with their debits and credits as printed (no VAT is held per statement line). A flag changes no figure; each one is kept with who and when. Once a statement is approved, lines are not flagged (reopen it first).

Column names your files use — /companies/:companyId/column-names

A statement file is read by its column headings. When a supplier's file uses a heading PBS Accounts does not know, the statement says so - Tell PBS Accounts what they are - and nothing is read out of that column. Here, give the heading as the file prints it and which field it is (the date, the invoice number, their reference, the description, a charge, a payment or credit, the running balance, or one amount), and press Save: every statement file taken in after reads it that way - a statement already in review is read so with Read it again, on the statement. A heading PBS Accounts already reads is refused, saying which field it is read as. Choose nothing - take this name off to stop reading one. Each change is kept with who made it and when. Only for keeps a name to one supplier - when two suppliers print the same heading meaning different things (one supplier's "Doc Ref" is the invoice number, another's their order reference). A file is read with the names for every supplier, and then, when the supplier it prints is one of yours (by its name or one of its other names), with that supplier's own names over them; the list says who each name is for.

How your documents were read — /companies/:companyId/readings

Every statement taken in keeps how it was read: as a file by its column headings or as printed rows line by line; where its text came from (typed or pasted, a file, a PDF's own text, or a photo or scanned PDF read by text recognition); its layout - a file's headings in order, or the fields found on most printed rows; your own column names it used; how many rows were read and how many lines read as nothing; and what was found at the top (the supplier's name, your account number with them, the statement number and date, the balances). Each statement shows this under How this was read. This page lists it all by supplier, newest first. Under Files not taken in it keeps every file refused at take-in - in a bulk upload too - under the file's own name, with the reason it gave, who and when. Learning a supplier's layout: once 5 documents from one supplier have come in one layout, that is their usual layout (one odd document does not change it; if they change their file for good, the new layout is learned after 5). A statement that comes in another layout says Not their usual layout with both layouts in words, so you check its lines against the document before approving it. Nothing is changed by it; documents taken in before 23 October 2026 were not recorded this way.

Approve — /companies/:companyId/statements/:statementId/approve

Signs the statement off. It records who approved it and when, and fingerprints what was approved so the record cannot quietly change afterwards. While a statement is in review, every line carries a Checked tick. A line the app read in full, with nothing unclear on it, arrives ticked; a line it was unsure of arrives unticked with a small ⚠ Check mark - press it for the reason in words, look at the line, then tick it. Approve refuses while any line is unticked and names them, so nothing the app read is ever approved without a person (30 September 2026).

Reopen — /companies/:companyId/statements/:statementId/reopen

Withdraws an approval when something needs another look. It does not erase what was there — the history stays.

Correct a line — /companies/:companyId/statements/:statementId/correct-line

Changes one figure on one row. What the supplier originally sent is kept alongside your correction. A date is typed day/month/year (21/10/2026, or 21 Oct 2026); a day that does not exist is refused, never guessed.

Use that reading — /companies/:companyId/statements/:statementId/fix-line

Where a line's balance does not follow from the row above, or it carries both a debit and a credit, and the statement's own balances say what it should read - with the next row's balance agreeing - the line's mark reads ⚠ Check · fix and, pressed, says so in words ("The balances either side say this line is a credit of" and the amount) with Use that reading. One press records it as corrections, each with both figures and the reason, exactly as Correct a line would. A balance that was itself misread is offered as the balance, never as a change to the amount; where nothing on the statement confirms a reading, nothing is offered and the line is corrected by hand.

Add a line — /companies/:companyId/statements/:statementId/add-line

Puts on a row that the supplier's document never carried — something you received but they left off. Its date, if it has one, is typed day/month/year (21/10/2026).

Remove a line — /companies/:companyId/statements/:statementId/remove-line

Takes a row off the statement. As with corrections, nothing the supplier sent is destroyed; the record shows the removal.

Raise or answer a query — /companies/:companyId/statements/:statementId/queries

On a statement's page, Queries > Raise a query: say what is queried - on one of its lines or the whole statement - in your own words ("credit for returned pallets not shown"). It stands Open - awaiting the supplier until you Record the answer with what came back ("credit note CN-114 received"). Both stay on the statement, with who and when. While a query is open the statement cannot be approved, and the approved statements cannot be exported - the export would hand over a figure somebody has said is in doubt. An answered query is not answered twice.

Say which supplier it is from — /companies/:companyId/statements/:statementId/supplier

When the document does not name a supplier you already hold, or only names one that is close, the statement asks which supplier it is from. Pick one of your suppliers from the list and say who you are. The choice is kept as its own record, with who made it and when. The supplier's printed page is never changed. You can change the choice later. The screen shows the latest choice, and the earlier one is still kept on record. Only your own company's suppliers can be chosen. If the supplier is not in your list yet, open + New supplier under the list: type its name (and the account reference it gives you, if you have it) and who you are, and Add it and attach this statement adds it to your suppliers and attaches the statement in one go. A name you already hold is not added a second time. When the screen warns that two of your suppliers could be this one, + New supplier is not offered, because adding a third would make that worse.

By month

Everything for a month — /companies/:companyId/periods

Every statement your company holds, grouped by the date the supplier printed on the document, newest month first. It is the view for closing a month, rather than working one supplier at a time.

Each month shows its statements, which are approved and which are still in review, and the month's totals. Two things it is careful about, because a month-end figure gets carried into conversations with suppliers:

  • The total covers approved statements only, because a statement still in review has no agreed

figures. The number still in review is printed next to the total every time, so the figure is never read as a complete month when it is not.

  • A statement whose document prints no date is shown separately, under "No date printed on the

document", and is not counted in any month. It is not hidden and it is not filed under a guess — the supplier simply did not print a date, and you may want to chase it.

  • A statement taken in twice is reported, never counted twice. One with the same supplier and the

same rows as a statement already held is listed under "Copies - not counted", named against the one it copies, and left out of every month; on Every statement it is flagged "copy of …". Nothing is deleted (30 September 2026).

Read-only: nothing here reviews, edits or approves. The month keys on the supplier's statement date rather than the date you approved it, because "everything for August" is a question about their trading period, not about when you got to it.

Suppliers

Your suppliers — /companies/:companyId/suppliers

Lists the suppliers your company buys from, and carries the form that adds a new one. A supplier belongs to the company and is shared across every statement it ever sends. Archived suppliers are listed apart, under Archived suppliers, below the ones in use.

One supplier — /companies/:companyId/suppliers/:supplierId

Press a supplier's name on Your suppliers: its name (and any earlier names it was held under), the account reference it prints, who added it, and every statement taken in that is from it - newest first, each with its date and whether it is approved or in review, each opening the statement. The VAT number and company number its statements print are shown too - as printed, never checked (checking a VAT number for real is HMRC's service). Each statement shows the same under Which statement is this?, or says none was printed.

Change a supplier's name or reference — /companies/:companyId/suppliers/:supplierId/rename

On the supplier's own page, Change the name or reference: for a supplier that has renamed itself or prints a new account reference. The change is kept as a new record - the old name stays on the page under Earlier names - and every statement a person confirmed against the supplier stays with it. A statement only matched by the old name or reference, never confirmed, would stop matching, so the page names any such statement first, to confirm. It refuses a name another of your suppliers already has, and a change that changes nothing. Like adding one, it can need an active subscription.

How a supplier's statements are matched — /companies/:companyId/suppliers/:supplierId/matching

On the supplier's own page, How its statements are matched to your bills: which field on their statement names the bill - its invoice number, its own reference only (an order or delivery number, for a supplier whose bills you keep by that), or either (invoice number first; the rule without one) - and how far apart two amounts may be and still be the same bill (pennies of rounding, up to fifty pounds). Each statement of theirs is then matched that way under Against your bills; a line matched within the tolerance says how far apart the amounts were. The rule is kept with who set it and when; setting it again puts the new one in force.

Other names a supplier prints — /companies/:companyId/suppliers/:supplierId/aliases

On the supplier's own page, Other names it prints: a trading, branch or group name its statements may be headed with (one per line). A statement printed under one of them is matched to this supplier - unless the account reference it prints belongs to another supplier, or another supplier is called that, when the statement asks a person which. A name can point to one supplier only: one already used by another supplier is refused, saying which. The names are kept through a rename or an archive, and each change is on the History.

Archive or restore a supplier — /companies/:companyId/suppliers/:supplierId/archive

On the supplier's own page, Archive this supplier: for a supplier you no longer buy from. It stops being offered when a statement's supplier is matched or chosen, and moves to Archived suppliers on Your suppliers. Nothing is deleted: its statements and its history stay, a statement already attached to it keeps it, and adding a new supplier with the same name is refused with a note to restore this one instead. Restore this supplier, on the same page, offers it again. Both are kept on the History. Like adding one, it can need an active subscription.

Every line — /companies/:companyId/lines

Every line, on your companies page, lists every line of every statement as it stands now (with its corrections), newest first - its date, supplier, statement (and whether it is still in review), invoice, description, debit and credit. Choose a Supplier and/or a Month to narrow it. Above the list, the debits and credits are totalled for each supplier and for everything shown, and Download what is shown (CSV) gives exactly those lines.

Download the lines — /companies/:companyId/lines.csv

The file Download what is shown (CSV) gives: one row per line shown on Every line, with the same supplier and month choices, for a spreadsheet.

History — /companies/:companyId/history

History, beside By month on your companies page, lists everything recorded for the company, newest first: each statement taken in, each line corrected, added or removed (with the reason given), each supplier confirmed, each query raised and answered, each approval and reopening, and each supplier added, renamed, archived or restored - when, who (the signed-in account, or the name typed), and a link to the statement or supplier. Nothing on it can be changed: it is the record.

Add a supplier — /companies/:companyId/suppliers/create

Saves a new supplier for the company. Adding a supplier is a change to your account, so it can need an active subscription — if your account is unpaid you will be shown the reason and the plan (£12.00 per month) rather than a silent failure; your existing records stay readable throughout.

Your bills — /companies/:companyId/bills

Bring in the bills list from your bookkeeping package - Xero (Bills, export), QuickBooks (Bills or Supplier transactions), Sage (Purchase invoices) or an aged-creditors detail report: any CSV with a supplier, a bill number and an amount. Choose the file or paste it, and press Bring in the bills. The screen says how many bills and credit notes it read, which heading it read as what, which rows it left out (payments, or no supplier or amount), and which suppliers in the file are not yours - those are matched to nothing until you add them on Suppliers or give a supplier that name as another name it prints. The latest import is the one matched against; earlier imports are kept. It is read only: nothing is ever written back to your bookkeeping package. Below the form, The register lists every bill and credit note of the import in force, newest first - date, supplier, number, total, still due, due date - with each supplier's total (credits taken off) and what is still due; choose a supplier to see only theirs.

Every statement's page then shows Against your bills: each line matched by its document number (INV-00123, Inv 123 and 123 are one number) and then its amount - Matched, Amount differs (by how much), Missing invoice (on the statement, not in your bills), Missing credit, Duplicate (on the statement twice), No number or Not a bill (payments and balance lines) - and, the other way, the bills of that supplier dated inside the statement's dates that the statement leaves out. At the top, the statement's balance is set against what your bills say you owe that supplier - each bill's amount due in your export, credit notes taken off: it says they agree, or by how much they differ. That needs an amount-due column in your export (Amount due, Invoice amount due or Outstanding); without one, or when the statement shows no balance, it says so and does not compare. Close matches: a missing invoice or credit is also set against that supplier's bills nothing matched. One alike in number (a digit swapped, a letter added, a character misread), the same amount, and dated near it is shown under the line as Possibly bill … with a score out of 100 and the reasons in words - and the chase list says to check it first. It is a suggestion: the line stays missing until you decide. The amount alone is never enough. Send it back: when there is anything to ask, Write the email to … under the table opens a new email in your own email program with this statement's questions put to the supplier - the same words as the chase list's email. Add their address and send it yourself; PBS Accounts sends nothing.

A bill's lines — /companies/:companyId/bills/lines

Open a bill from The register by its number. Paste what the invoice lists - from the PDF, the supplier's portal or a spreadsheet - with a first row naming the columns: ITEM CODE, DESCRIPTION, QTY, UNIT, PRICE, DISC, SUB TOTAL, and VAT (20, 5, 0, exempt or reverse charge) and CIS where printed; tabs or commas between them. Choose the bill's VAT, give any carriage, and press Save the lines. Or choose the invoice under Or read them from the invoice (a PDF, a scan or a photo): its printed table is read in your browser into the box - starting at the row that names the columns, stopping at the totals under it - for you to check every line and the column names before you save. A scanned PDF or a photo of the bill is read by text recognition, its columns rebuilt from where each word sits; it can misread a figure, so the note says to check every line against the paper. Above the table, a labelled order number (Your order no, PO number) and delivery address (Deliver to) are read into Your order number and Delivered to - or type them - and kept with the lines, as the invoice prints them. With an order number kept, the bill is checked against Deliveries: Received names the delivery recorded under that number from that supplier, or it says none is recorded - check it arrived before the bill is paid. Nothing is saved until you press Save. A price the invoice does not print is worked back from the sub total and marked so; a line that does not add up is kept as printed and named; a row that cannot be read is named with why and nothing of it is saved; a heading it does not read is refused - nothing is guessed. The bill is then worked out from its lines - each line's VAT at its own code, carriage at the bill's - and set against the bill's own total from your export: it says whether they agree, or by how much they differ. A reverse-charge line is highlighted and adds no VAT (you account for it yourself). A line priced above the last price you paid for the same item (its item code, else its description) on an earlier bill is named beside its price - by how much, and the earlier price, day, supplier and bill - so a price rise is seen before the bill is paid. Entering the lines again puts the new entry in force and keeps the earlier one. PBS Accounts records the CIS rate as printed; it does not work CIS out. Under Its job, give the bill its job's reference and whether it can be billed on, and press Save its job - leave the reference empty to take it off its job.

Give a bill its job — /companies/:companyId/bills/job

The save behind Save its job on a bill's page: a new record each time, the last in force, the earlier kept - so a bill moved to another job, or made billable later, keeps how it got there.

Jobs — /companies/:companyId/jobs

Every bill of your bills export by job. In limbo lists the bills with no job yet, each opening its page to give it one. Each job shows what is billable and what is not, from its bills' totals as the export gives them (VAT included, credits taken off), and its bills. The register on Your bills shows each bill's job too. Margins sets what each job was sold for - its issued invoices on Your sales, before VAT, voids left out - against what it cost: every bill on it, billable or not, before VAT, credits taken off. A bill's export total includes VAT, so its cost comes from its lines; until every bill on a job has its lines entered, the job shows no margin and names the bills to enter. A margin below nothing reads as a loss. It is worked out each time, never stored. By month beside a job opens that job over the last twelve months: Earned, Invoiced and Received read its invoices as Your sales' By month does (earned across the days its work was done, invoiced when issued, received when the money came in), and Cost is each bill on the job before VAT in the month of the bill's own date - a bill does not say when its work was done, so its cost is not spread. A bill with no lines entered, or no date, is named rather than counted.

The material list — /companies/:companyId/materials

Every thing bought, from the lines of your bills: each by its item code (or its description where there is none), with every price you paid, newest first, the supplier and the bill it came from. A latest price older than six months is warned before you quote it, and where two prices are about a year apart the change per year is shown. Labour is kept on the list too, marked: an item is labour when a bill charged CIS on it (CIS is only taken from labour - a 0% CIS rate, gross status, counts). Show: All · Materials · Labour narrows the list to one or the other.

Deliveries — /companies/:companyId/deliveries

The register of what arrived: record a delivery - its supplier, its delivery note, ticket or order reference (the reference a supplier's statement bills by, in its Ticket / order column), the day it came (day/month/year) and its amount when you have it - or bring many in from a CSV with a supplier and a reference column. A delivery entered by mistake is voided with the reason, and stays on record as voided.

Every statement's page then shows Against what you received: each charge matched by its ticket or order reference (the same reference written differently - SO-17254, SO17254 - is one) and then its amount - Received, Amount differs (by how much), Billed, not received (charged on the statement with no delivery recorded), or No reference - and the deliveries in the statement's dates that it does not bill.

Your bank — /companies/:companyId/bank

Bring in your bank statement as the CSV your bank exports (most UK banks: a date, the details, Paid out / Paid in or one signed Amount, and a balance). Its lines are kept in a table - date, details, reference, money out, money in, balance - newest first. A line already held (the same date, money, details and balance) is not added again, and the screen says how many were left out as already held, so a month exported twice, or two overlapping months, is safe. Beside each payment out, Looks like says which supplier it looks like it went to - when a supplier's name, or one of its other names, is in the bank's words (banks shorten names and drop "Ltd", so ZZ Timber Ltd is found in "ZZ TIMBER") - and, when a payment of exactly that amount is on that supplier's statement within three weeks after, which statement line. It is a suggestion until you decide. Beside each payment in, Looks like names which of your own invoices it settles - one with exactly that much owed, when the bank's words carry its number (INV-0003, however spaced) or, failing that, the customer's name; when more than one fits, or none, you choose from your invoices with money owed.

Decide a bank line — /companies/:companyId/bank/match

Beside each suggestion on Your bank: Confirm (it is that supplier's payment - recorded with the supplier and the statement line it is, as PBS Accounts suggested it), or Not this one (the suggestion is wrong - recorded too). The line then reads Reconciled or Not …, with who decided and when, and Undo puts it back to waiting. A payment out that PBS Accounts suggests nobody for offers Paid to - choose one of your suppliers and Reconcile; it reads Reconciled … (chosen by hand). The page counts how many are reconciled and how many suggestions wait for a yes or no. Each decision is kept as its own record; nothing is rewritten, and nothing is sent to your bank or your bookkeeping. For a payment in, Record the payment records it on that invoice, dated the bank line's day - with every check Your sales makes (an issued invoice that is not void, and no more than is owed) - and the line then reads Paid in: INV-…; the invoice shows it as part paid or paid. A payment recorded this way is kept in the invoice's history like any other and is not taken back here.

Chart of accounts — /companies/:companyId/chart

Your nominal accounts: the codes your money is sorted into, each with a four-digit code, a name and its kind. The kinds are numbered the way UK bookkeeping packages and accountants number them - fixed assets 0001-0999, current assets 1000-1999, current liabilities 2000-2299, long-term liabilities 2300-2999, capital and reserves 3000-3999, sales 4000-4999, purchases 5000-5999, direct expenses 6000-6999, overheads 7000-9999 - so your accountant reads the chart as it is; sales, purchases, direct expenses and overheads belong to the profit and loss account, the rest to the balance sheet. A new company presses Add the standard accounts for the usual chart of a small UK business (bank, debtors, creditors, VAT on sales and on purchases, PAYE, sales, materials, subcontractors, rent, fuel, insurance and the rest); a company that already has some is offered only the codes it does not hold, and an account you have renamed is left as you have it. Add an account, or change one: type a new code to add it, or a code you hold to change its name or kind (Change beside an account fills the form in). A code must sit in its kind's range, and two accounts in use cannot share a name. Archive takes an account out of use - it is kept, with its history, and Restore brings it back; nothing is deleted. Every add, change, archive and restore is kept as its own record, with who did it and when. The Nominal ledger posts to it.

Nominal ledger — /companies/:companyId/ledger

The accounts, posted by double entry from what you keep - your invoices and their credit notes, payments, bills, reconciled bank payments, expenses, fixed assets and the journals you post by hand. Nothing on this page changes a record. Each issued sales invoice posts its total to 1100 Trade debtors, its net to 4000 Sales and its VAT to 2200 VAT on sales; each payment recorded on an invoice moves it from 1100 to 1200 Bank current account; each bill posts its total to 2100 Trade creditors and to 5000 Materials - split into net and VAT (2201 VAT on purchases) when the bill's lines are entered and add up to its total, and otherwise at the gross, counted as "VAT not split"; a credit note posts the other way; and each bank payment out you have reconciled to a supplier moves it from 1200 to 2100. A void invoice is not posted, and nor is a bank line nobody has reconciled - Not posted, and why lists them. The trial balance shows every account with a balance, by kind, its debit or its credit, and both sides added up; It balances says the two totals agree. As at a day posts only what is dated on or before it. Press a code for that account's entries, oldest first, each naming the invoice, bill or bank payment it came from, with the running balance. The ledger needs 1100, 1200, 2100, 2200, 2201, 4000 and 5000 in use in your chart of accounts: without them it says which are missing and posts nothing, and the chart will not archive them. For your accountant: the trial balance and every posting (its date, account, debit or credit, and the record it came from) download as spreadsheet files, as at the day shown. Profit and loss (?report=pl): for a period you choose - From and To, the 12 months to today if you choose none - sales, less purchases and direct expenses, is the gross profit; less overheads, the net profit (or net loss, with a minus), before tax. Balance sheet (?report=bs): as at a day, what the business has less what it owes is its net assets; capital and reserves with the profit and loss to date come to the same figure, and It balances says so. Each account on either report opens its entries. Journals (from the ledger's links) posts what the records do not. VAT return (?report=vat): the nine boxes for a period - From and To, the last three whole months if you choose none - worked out as HMRC's VAT Notice 700/12 describes them: box 1 the VAT on sales posted in the period (2200), box 4 the VAT on purchases (2201), box 3 their total due, box 5 the difference with whether it is to pay or to reclaim (never a minus), box 6 sales and box 7 purchases and expenses, both without VAT; boxes 2, 8 and 9 (goods between Northern Ireland and the EU) are 0.00, as nothing here records them. Standard accounting only - each invoice and bill in the period its date falls in, not the cash accounting or flat rate scheme. A bill posted with its VAT not split is named under Check before you file, because its VAT is missing from box 4 and counted in box 7. PBS Accounts does not send the return to HMRC: you type the figures into the software or HMRC service you file with. Aged debtors (?report=aged): as at a day, what each customer owes on your issued invoices - payments recorded by then taken off - split by how long it is past each invoice's due date: Not due, 1-30 days, 31-60 days, 61-90 days and Over 90 days, with each customer's invoices linked. Its total is checked against 1100 Trade debtors on the trial balance, and It agrees says so.

Budgets — /companies/:companyId/budgets

What you expect to sell and spend, account by account and month by month, for a year starting in the month you choose. Set a budget: a profit-and-loss account (4000 to 9999), the month the year starts, and either the year's total - spread evenly, the pennies to the last month - or each of the twelve months. Each change is kept and the latest is in force; a second year for the same account that shares months with the first is refused, so no month counts twice. The Profit and loss then shows, for each account, the budget for the months starting in its period and the difference (posted less budget) - an account with a budget but nothing posted shows at 0.00, so its budget is seen.

Fixed assets — /companies/:companyId/assets

Things the business keeps and uses for more than a year - a van, a machine, a computer. Add an asset: what it is, its fixed-asset account (0001 to 0989), the day it was bought, its cost without VAT, what paid for it (the bank, petty cash, a director personally or a loan), its useful life in years and what it will be worth at the end. It is numbered (FA-0001 ...) and worn down straight line: an equal charge at the end of every month from the month it was bought, to 8000 Depreciation and 0090 Accumulated depreciation, the last month taking up the pennies so the whole comes to exactly its cost less what it will be worth. Depreciation needs 0090 in your chart: if it is not there, one press adds it. The register shows each asset's cost, depreciation to date and its value in the books, and the totals held today. Dispose of it (sold, scrapped, stolen - with what it fetched): its cost and depreciation come off, what it fetched goes to the bank, and the difference is a loss or profit on disposal in 8000; there is no charge in the month it goes. All of it is posted to the Nominal ledger, and none of it to the VAT return. This is your accounting; capital allowances for tax are HMRC's and are not worked out here. An asset that came through Your bills is already posted to 5000 - move it with a journal (debit the asset account, credit 5000) rather than adding it here as well.

Expenses — /companies/:companyId/expenses

A cost paid there and then, with no bill in your bookkeeping - fuel, parking, something from the counter. Record an expense: the date on the receipt, who was paid, what it was for, the cost account it belongs to (purchases, direct expenses or overheads), what paid it - 1200 the bank, 1230 petty cash, or 2250 a director personally (owed back to them) - the amount paid with VAT included, the VAT in it, and the receipt: a PDF or photo up to 3 MB, read in your browser and checked again before it is kept (by its own contents, not its name). It is numbered (EXP-0001 ...) and posted to the Nominal ledger: its amount less VAT to the cost account, its VAT to 2201, the whole out of what paid it - so it is in the profit and loss and in boxes 4 and 7 of the VAT return like a bill. Open the receipt shows it as it was kept, and Download everything carries every receipt under receipts/. Nothing is edited: Void one, with why, and the ledger takes it back out on the day it is voided, so a period you have already reported does not change; the expense and its receipt are kept.

Journals — /companies/:companyId/journals

What your invoices, bills and bank do not post: an opening balance, wages, depreciation, a loan, money put in. Post a journal: its date (today or earlier), what it is for, and up to eight lines - each an account from your chart and a debit or a credit in pounds - whose debits and credits come to the same; anything else is refused in words and nothing is kept. 1100 Trade debtors, 2100 Trade creditors, 2200 VAT on sales and 2201 VAT on purchases take no journal: your invoices, bills and their VAT post to them, and a journal would leave them disagreeing. Each journal is numbered in order (JNL-0001 ...), kept as it was posted with who posted it, and posted to the Nominal ledger with everything else - so it is in the trial balance, the profit and loss and the balance sheet. It is not in the VAT return's boxes: they come from your invoices and bills (wages and the like are not purchases there). Nothing is edited or deleted: Reverse one, with why, and a new journal puts every line the other way, dated on or after the first; the ledger keeps both, and each names the other.

Pay run — /companies/:companyId/pay-run

What to pay whom, and when, from the bills export in force: every bill with an amount still due, by when it falls due - Overdue, due in the next 7 days, in the next 30 days, later, or with no due date - with each supplier's total and the grand total to pay. Credit notes still open are taken off their supplier (never below nothing). A bill an approved statement disputes - its amount differs from the supplier's, or the supplier lists it twice - is held: shown with the reason and left out of the totals, so it is not paid before the query is settled. So is a bill whose saved order number has no delivery under it on Deliveries, from a supplier whose deliveries you record there (a supplier with none on the register is not held for it) - it is paid once the delivery is recorded. It needs an amount-due column in your export (Amount due, AmountDue, Invoice amount due or Outstanding); bills without one are counted and said. Nothing is paid or sent from here.

Download the pay run — /companies/:companyId/pay-run.csv

The pay run as a spreadsheet, to work from in your bank: supplier, bill, due date, amount due, when, and why a bill is held; open credit notes as their own lines. Text that could run as a formula is written as text.

The chase list — /companies/:companyId/chase-list

Every approved statement matched against your bills, as things to ask each supplier, in words: a copy of a missing invoice, a missing credit note, an amount that differs (both figures and the difference), a document on the statement twice, and a bill in your books that the statement leaves out - each linked to its statement. For each supplier, Write the email opens a new email in your own email program with the subject and the questions already written - put to the supplier ("Please send us a copy of invoice 125…"), without the notes meant only for you - and The email, to copy shows the same words in case your program shortens a long one. Add their address and send it yourself: PBS Accounts sends nothing.

Download the chase list — /companies/:companyId/chase-list.csv

The chase list as a spreadsheet: supplier, statement, what, document number and the words to ask. Text that a spreadsheet would run as a formula is written as text.

Your sales — /companies/:companyId/sales

The invoices you send. Write an invoice; it stays a draft until you issue it, when it is given its number and is never changed again. Print it (or save it as a PDF) and send it yourself - PBS Accounts sends nothing. Owed to you lists every issued invoice not yet paid, the overdue ones first, each in words to act on ("Chase ... for INV-1042: the amount owed was due 6 Nov 2026 - 16 days overdue.", with the amount in pounds). The register lists every invoice with its customer, job, dates, total, what is paid and owed and its state - Draft, Issued, Part paid, Paid, Overdue, Credited or Void. By month reads the last twelve months three ways: Earned (each issued invoice before VAT, in the months its work was done, spread across those days - or its issue month when it gives no dates), Invoiced (before VAT, in the month issued) and Received (the money in, in the month it came - your true cashflow). Add a customer here: their name, address and email, and whether they are a business (Mark as a business beside each customer). Reverse-charge sales are not offered. A wrong invoice with nothing paid may be voided with the reason and a new one written; otherwise it is corrected with a credit note (below).

Your invoice details — /companies/:companyId/sales/details

What every invoice you issue carries: your company's name and address, your VAT registration number (a VAT invoice cannot be issued without it), your Companies House number, an email and phone, how to pay you, your payment terms (an invoice is due 14 days after its date unless you set other terms), and the invoice number's prefix and first number - set the first number to follow your last one if you are carrying on from another system. Once an invoice is issued the numbering runs on and cannot change. Invoices already issued keep the details they were issued with. Your logo: a PNG or JPEG up to 150 KB (checked by its contents, not its name), shown at the top of every invoice issued from then on

  • an issued invoice keeps the logo it was issued with; Take the logo off stops it on new ones.

Add a customer — /companies/:companyId/sales/customer

The save behind Add the customer on Your sales. The same name twice is refused.

Write an invoice — /companies/:companyId/sales/new

Choose the customer, give the job's reference (as on your bills) and their order reference if they gave one, and up to 12 lines: what it is for, how many (1 if empty), the price each before VAT, and its VAT - 20%, 5%, 0% or exempt. Give when the work was done (from and to) if you want it counted in the right month under By month; it prints on the invoice. Save the draft shows it as the customer will see it, totalled at each line's VAT. A draft can be re-written (Re-write the draft); the earlier draft is kept in the history.

An invoice — /companies/:companyId/sales/invoice

The invoice as the customer gets it - your details at the top, theirs, the lines, the total before VAT, the VAT at each rate, the total, how to pay you, your company and VAT numbers at the foot. Under it, never printed and never on the customer's copy, Margin on each line (folded) sets each line against the latest price your bills show for the same words on your material list: the cost, its supplier and date, and the margin - or "not known" where the words are not on the list or match two things at different prices; no margin is made up. Everyone in your company who opens the invoice can see it (PBS Accounts has no roles yet). Reverse charge (20%) is a VAT choice for a line of construction services under the VAT domestic reverse charge: the line charges no VAT, and the invoice says "Reverse charge: VAT Act 1994 Section 55A applies" and how much VAT the customer pays to HMRC - not added to the total - as HMRC's technical guide asks; it needs your VAT number, and a credit note against it says the adjustment the customer makes. Whether the reverse charge applies (your customer VAT- and CIS-registered, not an end user) is yours to check - PBS Accounts does not check it. A draft: Issue the invoice on the day you choose (today or earlier), once nothing it needs is missing - the page lists what is. Issued: Print it, or save it as a PDF; Record a payment as money comes in - part payments count, more than is owed is refused; Void it with the reason while nothing has been paid or credited (it stays listed, and its number is not used again). Issue a credit note for an overcharge, a mistake or an agreed reduction: the whole invoice, or the lines it takes off, at the invoice's own VAT rates, never more than is left to credit, dated on or after the invoice, with the reason. It gets its own number (CN-0001 ...) and is never changed after; it prints with everything HMRC's VAT Notice 700 (18.2.3) asks for - its number and date, the invoice's number and date, your name, address and VAT number, the customer's name and address, what is credited with quantity and amount, the total before VAT, the VAT credited at each rate, and any zero-rated or exempt credit totalled apart. It comes off what is owed (an invoice credited and part paid shows what to pay back), and the Nominal ledger and the VAT return take it in the period it is dated. HMRC asks that a credit note for a refund is issued within 14 days of the refund - the date is yours to give. Late payment: on an overdue invoice to a customer marked as a business, the page shows what the law lets you claim - statutory interest at 8% over the Bank of England's rate in force on the 30 June or 31 December before the interest started (the Late Payment of Commercial Debts (Rate of Interest) (No. 3) Order 2002, article 4), worked out day by day on what was owed each day as GOV.UK does it (a day's interest to the penny), and the fixed sum for recovering it - the amount GOV.UK sets for what was owed - once for the invoice. The rate is read from the Bank of England's own Bank Rate series when it can be, else the rates read on 24 October 2026, and the page says which. It is not claimed if your contract sets a different rate, and nothing is added to the invoice: GOV.UK says to send a new invoice if you decide to claim it.

What is owed to each supplier — /companies/:companyId/supplier-balances

Reached from Your suppliers. For each supplier, from its latest approved statement: the closing balance the supplier printed, what is still owed and how long ago it was charged - 0-30 days, 31-60, 61-90, over 90 - and beside it how many of that supplier's statements you have approved and how many corrections they needed. On a statement the payments and credits pay the oldest charges first, so what is left owed is the newest; each charge is aged from its own date to today. A charge whose date could not be read is shown apart, never given an age. These are the supplier's figures as you approved them. Your bills say sets them against your own books: the amounts due on that supplier's bills in the bills export in force (credit notes taken off), against their printed closing balance (or what is owed, when none is printed) - it says they agree, or by how much they differ, or why it is not compared (no bills brought in, none of theirs in the export, or bills with no amount due). An approved statement that names no supplier you hold is counted apart, with a note to say which supplier it is from; if any approved statement cannot be read, the screen says so instead of showing a shorter list.

Your plan

Your plan — /companies/:companyId/plan

What your company's subscription is, from its own billing record: no subscription yet (the free tier), subscribed and active, or a payment problem with what that means. PBS Accounts is £12.00 per month, flat. Subscribe takes you to Stripe's secure payment page, which shows the total before anything is charged; coming back, this page says the subscription is active only once Stripe has confirmed the payment, and says so if you cancelled or the checkout could not start. Reached from Your plan on Every statement and on Your companies (30 September 2026).

Subscribe starts the payment for this company only, and only a member of the company can start it.

Close our account (on Your plan, under Your data): stops the company's subscription renewing - every subscription the company holds. Nothing more is billed; everything stays as it is until the end of the period already paid for, and anything owed up to that day is still due. Type close our account to confirm. Any member of the company can close it, as any member can approve: PBS Accounts gives every member the same rights. Afterwards the page says who closed it, when, and the day the account closes, read from the company's own records; a closing that could not be done says why. Closing deletes nothing - Download everything first if you want a copy.

Download everything — /companies/:companyId/export.zip

Under Your data on Your plan: the company's whole record in PBS Accounts as one ZIP, in every plan. One spreadsheet (CSV) file for each kind of record - every statement's lines (each row with its statement), the corrections, approvals, supplier choices, queries, flags, archive records and the document's own text; the suppliers, bills, bank lines and the decisions on them, deliveries, jobs, sales, matching rules, column names, readings and refused files - and each PDF or photo a statement was read from, under files/. Records are added, never rewritten, so a correction is a row of its own; a cell that holds a list is written as JSON text. README.txt says how many rows each file holds. A download that would be too big to make in one go leaves the largest files out and names each with the address that opens it; if any part cannot be read, nothing is downloaded and the page says why, rather than leave something out. The sign-ins and your plan with PBS are not in it.

From start to end: three everyday jobs

Each job below is the screens of this handbook in the order they are used. A step names the screen; its own section above says everything it does.

A supplier's statement - from taking it in to approved and chased 1. Bring in your bills on Your bills (the export from your bookkeeping package) - every statement is checked against them. 2. On Every statement, Upload a statement: the file, a PDF or a photo of the paper one, and Take it in. Its own screen opens. 3. If it does not name a supplier you hold, Say which supplier it is from (or + New supplier). 4. Under Against your bills, each line reads Matched, Amount differs, Missing invoice, Missing credit or Duplicate, and the statement's balance is set against what your bills say you owe. 5. Look at every line marked Check, tick it, and Approve. 6. On The chase list, each thing to ask a supplier is in words; Write the email opens it in your own email.

Done when: the statement is approved and anything it shows missing is asked for.

Paying suppliers - from the pay run to the bank 1. On Pay run, see what to pay whom and when - a bill an approved statement disputes, or with no delivery recorded under its order, is held and left out. Download the pay run to work from in your bank. Nothing is paid from here. 2. Once paid, bring your bank statement in on Your bank. Each payment out Looks like a supplier and, often, the statement payment it is. 3. Confirm each one (or Not this one, or choose who it was Paid to); the line reads Reconciled.

Done when: every payment out you made reads Reconciled.

A sale - from the invoice to paid 1. Fill in Your invoice details once, and Add a customer. 2. Write an invoice - the customer, the job, the lines - then Issue the invoice: its number is given and it is never changed. Print it or save it as a PDF and send it yourself. 3. When the money comes in, bring your bank statement in on Your bank: the payment in Looks like the invoice it settles; Record the payment. Or record it on the invoice itself.

Done when: the invoice reads Paid and leaves what is owed to you.

Who can see what

Every one of these company screens refuses a signed-in person who is not a member of that company — you only ever reach your own company's statements and suppliers, never another company's by editing the address.

A demonstration company — one we issue to show the product, named "… (demo)" — says so on every screen: its statements, suppliers and figures are made up and belong to no real business. Your own company never carries that notice.

What this does not do

It does not file VAT returns, accounts or anything else with HMRC or Companies House, it does not run payroll, it is not a card machine, and it certifies nothing. Its ledger holds what is posted from the records kept in it and the journals you post - wages, loans, capital and an opening bank balance are in its accounts only once you post them as journals.

Password reset

Recover access when a password is forgotten. Single-use, time-limited, and you set your own new password.

  • Forgot password — /forgot-password. Enter your email and we email you a reset link, which brings you back here to Set a new password; the screen says the request was made, and says plainly if the send failed (nothing is ever claimed "on its way" that did not go). The link only ever goes to the inbox that owns the account: nobody, signed in or not, can be shown a reset link for someone else's account (20 October 2026). If you are signed in and ask for your own address, the one-time link is shown on screen as well. Email recovery reaches addresses set up for it — if nothing arrives, check the address and ask again.
  • Set a new password — /reset-password. Reached from a one-time link carrying the token; enter and confirm your new password. The link expires within the hour and works once; setting a password ends your other sessions.