Getting started: from setup to your first import

The Getting started guide brings the essential settings of a new instance together on one page, up to your first imported bank statement. Each step ticks itself off as soon as the setting exists, even if you made it on another screen.

Before you start

• Only an administrator can use the guide. Other users see the message “Only an administrator can configure this instance.”
• Have your company name, your bank account’s IBAN and a statement from that account at hand, ideally in camt.053 (XML) format.

Open the guide

Until the guide is finished or hidden, the Dashboard shows the Getting started card with your progress and the next step. Click Continue.

You can also open it at any time from the account menu: at the bottom of the main menu, click your name, then Getting started.

Work through the five steps

1. Your company: enter the Company name and click Save. The Add UID and address link opens the company settings.
2. Chart of accounts: click Use the Swiss SME chart. ark.flow creates the accounts of the Swiss SME chart that are missing and leaves existing ones untouched. To bring in your own chart from Crésus or a CSV file, click Import my chart instead.
3. VAT: the step shows the saved method, rate and accounting basis. A new instance starts with the Effective method at 8.1%. If this matches your FTA registration, click These settings are correct. Otherwise, click Edit VAT settings.
4. Bank account: choose the Account and the Statement format, enter the IBAN, then click Save. The suggested format is camt.053 (XML), any bank, which most Swiss banks offer. For a second account, click Add another IBAN.
5. First import: click Import a statement. The Import screen opens; Import a camt.053 statement explains the rest.

Finish or hide the guide

Once all five steps are done, click Finish: the card disappears from the dashboard. To remove it earlier, click Hide this guide. This applies to the whole instance, so to every administrator.

Either way, the guide stays available from the account menu, and you can change every setting under Settings.

What ark.flow does

• It checks each step against your instance’s data: a company name, at least one account in the chart, confirmed VAT settings, an account with an IBAN and a statement format, and an import that didn’t fail.
• The IBAN and format let the Import screen offer that account and attach its statements to it.

Common problems

“Choose your chart of accounts first.” — The bank account step needs the accounts of your chart. Complete step 2 first.

“This IBAN doesn’t look valid. Check it on your statement.” — The check looks at the shape of the IBAN: two letters for the country, two digits, then the rest. Copy it from a statement; spaces are fine.

Your account doesn’t appear on the Import screen — Go back to step 4: a saved account is listed above the form, with its IBAN and format. Without a statement format, the import doesn’t offer the account.