Documentation Index

Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.dualentry.com/llms.txt

Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

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Tutorial: Your First Week with DualEntry

This tutorial takes you from a fresh DualEntry tenant to a posted journal entry. By the end you will have a working chart of accounts, at least one team member, a bank connection, opening balances, and a verified trial balance.

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Prerequisites

Before you begin, confirm these three things are in place. Missing any of them will block you partway through the tutorial.

1. Your tenant is provisioned. You received a welcome email with a sign-in link and your organization URL. If you do not have this email, ask the person who requested the tenant to resend the invitation from Settings → Users.
2. You have administrator access. The first user on a new tenant is automatically an admin. If someone else created the tenant, ask them to grant you the Admin role under Settings → Users → Roles. You need admin access to configure the organization, create accounts, and invite team members.
3. You have decided on a functional currency. DualEntry records every company’s books in a single functional currency (for example, USD or EUR). You set this once during organization setup and cannot change it later without creating a new company. If your organization operates in multiple currencies, choose the currency you use for consolidated reporting and enable multi-currency transactions later.

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Step 1: Configure your organization

Open Settings → Organization. Enter your legal company name, select your functional currency, and choose a fiscal calendar (calendar year or a custom fiscal year-end). DualEntry uses the fiscal calendar to generate your periods automatically - you will see them in Settings → Periods once you save. Review the generated periods to confirm they match your expectations. For a calendar-year company, you should see twelve monthly periods. For a custom fiscal year, verify the start and end dates of each period align with your reporting schedule. If you operate multiple legal entities, you can add them later from the same screen. For now, start with your primary entity. You can also revisit the organization settings at any time to update company details such as address, tax ID, or industry - but remember that functional currency and fiscal calendar cannot be changed after the first period is closed.

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Step 2: Build your chart of accounts

Navigate to General Ledger → Chart of Accounts. You have two options:

• Start from a template. DualEntry ships with industry-standard templates (SaaS, professional services, manufacturing, and others). Select one and customize it by renaming accounts, adjusting numbers, or removing accounts you do not need.
• Import your own. If you already have a numbered chart of accounts, export it as a CSV and upload it through the bulk import tool. Map your CSV columns to DualEntry’s required fields during the import process.

Every account needs a number, a name, and a type (asset, liability, equity, revenue, or expense). Optionally, assign sub-types to accounts for more granular financial statement presentation - for example, distinguishing current assets from non-current assets. For a deeper walkthrough, see Chart of Accounts.

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Step 3: Add your team

Go to Settings → Users and invite team members by email. Assign each person a role that matches their responsibilities - for example, Staff Accountant, AP Clerk, or Controller. Roles determine what a user can view, create, and approve. DualEntry enforces role-based access at the transaction level. A Staff Accountant can create and edit draft transactions but cannot post them. A Controller can post and also lock periods. Choose roles carefully during setup to maintain proper segregation of duties from day one. You can change a user’s role at any time without disrupting their in-progress work. See Roles and Permissions for the full role matrix and a description of each permission.

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Step 4: Connect your bank

Open Integrations → Banking and follow the prompts to link a bank account. DualEntry uses a secure aggregator to pull daily transaction feeds. Once connected, new bank transactions appear in the Inbox for matching and categorization. You can connect multiple bank accounts - checking, savings, and credit card accounts are all supported. Each connected account maps to a GL account in your chart of accounts. DualEntry automatically reconciles imported transactions against posted entries, and you review any unmatched items in the Inbox. If you are not ready to connect a live bank feed, you can skip this step and return to it later. You can also import bank transactions manually via CSV from the same screen.

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Step 5: Enter opening balances

Create a journal entry dated as of your go-live date (typically the first day of a fiscal period). Debit and credit every balance-sheet account so DualEntry’s balances match your prior system’s trial balance as of that date. Post the entry when you are satisfied the totals are correct. Include all asset, liability, and equity accounts. Revenue and expense accounts are typically zeroed out at go-live because you start a fresh income statement in DualEntry. The offsetting entry for your net balance-sheet position goes to retained earnings. After posting, navigate to Reports → Trial Balance and generate a report as of your go-live date. Compare it against your prior system to confirm every account ties. For detailed instructions, see Journal Entries.

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Step 6: Post your first transaction

Create a real transaction - an invoice, a bill, or a journal entry - and post it. Posting writes the debits and credits to the general ledger and makes the transaction immutable. After posting, navigate to General Ledger → Account Detail for one of the affected accounts and confirm the entry appears. Verify that the transaction date falls within an open period. If you try to post to a locked period, DualEntry returns an error. Also confirm the transaction balances - total debits must equal total credits, or the system rejects the post.

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Step 7: Review the trial balance

Open Reports → Trial Balance and generate a report for the current period. Confirm that total debits equal total credits and that account balances look reasonable given your opening balances plus the transaction you just posted. If the trial balance does not balance, check for unposted journal entries or incomplete opening-balance lines. You can drill into any account on the trial balance by selecting it - DualEntry opens the account detail view showing every posted transaction in the period. Use this to trace discrepancies back to their source. Once the trial balance looks correct, your DualEntry environment is ready for day-to-day use.

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What’s next

You now have a functioning DualEntry environment. From here:

• Read Key Concepts for the full mental model behind entities, periods, and transactions.
• Set up Approval Workflows for bills, invoices, and journal entries.
• Explore Integrations to connect Stripe, payroll, and other systems.
• Start the month-end close checklist when you are ready to close your first period.