Set Up Your Firm

Last updated: 2026-09-12 Summary:

The firm setup wizard creates the firm, your first client book, and your staff invites in one pass.
Start with a client’s company, not your own practice books — your own books come afterwards, free.
You are the firm Owner; staff you invite get firm roles, and Managers and Members then get book assignments.

Before you start

Nothing to buy first — the practice workspace is free and holds any number of client books. Each book is priced at its own plan when you add it. See Pricing.
The details of your first client’s company: its name, and its country and currency.
Whether that company is VAT-registered, if it’s in the Philippines. The wizard asks and won’t move on without an answer.
Your staff’s email addresses, if you want to invite them during setup.

Steps

Start the firm setup wizard from your account.
Organization — name your firm. This is your practice, the account that sits above all your client books.
First company — the company name and its country/currency, the same details any business enters at signup, plus one question the wizard won’t let you skip: is this your own practice books or your first client? Answer your first client. See below for why the other answer is refused.
Company setup — the rest of that company’s details, including its VAT registration for a Philippine company. See Set up your company for what each field drives. Your practice is created when you leave this step.
Invite staff — add your team by email and give each a firm role (Owner, Admin, Manager, or Member). You can do this now or later; invites are sent separately, so a failed invite never undoes the practice you just created.
Done. You land in your firm with its first client book ready and your invites sent.

Why the first company has to be a client

A practice workspace is free because you bring clients to it, so the wizard will not create one from your own books alone. If you answer “Our own practice books” at step 3, setup stops and tells you to start with your first client’s company instead. Once the firm exists with a client in it, you can add your own practice books as another book, at no charge.

If you are not yet taking on a client, there is nothing to set up here yet — sign up as an ordinary business instead and convert later.

What happens next

Add more client books as you take on clients — see Add and manage client books.
Assign Managers and Members to the books they work on — see Assign staff to client books.
Watch everything from one screen — see The firm dashboard.

Where firms get tripped up

Starting with your own books. The wizard refuses it — begin with a client, then add your practice books afterwards.
Expecting every invite to be limited to assigned clients. It depends on the firm role you give them: an Owner or Admin reaches every client book under the firm from the moment they accept, assigned or not. Only Managers and Members are confined to their assignments — give one of those roles to anyone who should not see every client.
Treating the first client book as special. It isn’t — it’s an ordinary client book that happened to be created during setup. Add, rename, and manage it like any other.