Frequently Asked Questions

No.

Cost of sales is worked out using what you bought, plus the stock you started the year with, minus the stock you still have at the end.

Counting your stock does not add another cost. It removes stock you have not sold yet from this year's costs.

Without a stocktake, stock purchases may all be treated as costs in the year they were bought, which can make profit look lower than it really was.

With a stocktake, stock still on hand is separated from the cost of stock already sold.

Whether a stocktake is required for tax purposes depends on where you live and your circumstances, so check with your accountant.

Your end-of-financial-year pack also shows whether a stocktake has been completed.

Yes.

At the top of the Stocktake screen, switch on Leave the Stocktake Out of the Dashboard.

This only changes the Dashboard view. Reports & End of Financial Year and the end-of-financial-year pack still use your stocktake.

No. It only covers the financial year selected at the top of the screen.

There are two spend figures on the Dashboard, and they are different on purpose.

Spent So Far includes the cost of stock sold plus your running costs, excluding equipment and sales tax.

Total Spend, shown in the middle of Where the Money Went, includes stock, running costs and larger purchases such as equipment, using the full amounts.

Press the small i beside either figure for a full explanation.

Brick Books uses a business-use percentage.

You can set it on an individual entry, set a default for a category under Tools, or give an automatic categorising rule its own percentage.

A category default only applies to entries recorded after the default is set. It does not change entries already in your books.

What percentage you are allowed to claim is something to check with your accountant.

Inside your receipts folder is a folder called Receipts Inbox.

Drop receipts there when you want to save them now and deal with them later.

When you press Check Inbox, Brick Books picks up the files and lists them on the Receipts screen, ready for you to review.

The file is removed from the inbox as it is picked up, so it is not left there twice. If the same receipt is dropped in again, Brick Books recognises it and skips it.

Nothing is recorded until you create the entry.

Drag them into the Receipts Inbox folder, then press Check Inbox.

They will appear on the Receipts screen. As you create entries from them, Brick Books files the receipts into the correct year and month folder.

If the expense is already recorded in your books, attach the receipt to the existing entry instead of creating another one.

A Check Old Receipts tool for comparing an existing folder of receipts against your books is coming soon.

Your books are stored in a database file on this computer, inside your Windows user data.

Receipts, backups, imports and end-of-financial-year packs are stored in your documents folder, usually Brick Books Documents unless you chose another location.

You can change the documents folder under Set Up or Data & Imports.

When you change it, Brick Books can copy your existing files into the new location and checks each copy before switching over. The old files are not deleted automatically.

Go to Data & Imports → Files & Backups and press Back Up Now.

Brick Books creates a backup copy of your books and a spreadsheet version you can open without Brick Books.

Receipt files are not included inside the database backup. They remain in your documents folder, so back up that folder as well or place it inside cloud storage that syncs to your computer.

Imported entries can be flagged for review so you can check them before treating them as finished.

This may happen because the category is missing, the date looks unusual, or something else needs confirmation.

Financial years containing only a small number of entries far away from the rest of your records are often caused by mistyped dates. Brick Books may leave those years out of charts and normal year lists.

Run Check My Books to find and review those entries.

Brick Books uses the category to decide whether money came in or went out, so you normally enter amounts without a minus sign.

If you type one, Brick Books will ask what you meant.

For a refund you gave a customer, use the Refunds to Customers category and enter the amount as a positive number. Brick Books will deduct it from your sales.

Yes.

Add each vehicle on the Travel Log screen.

You can also add and remove saved places. Removing a place does not delete trips that already used it.

No.

Entries already recorded against an account still need somewhere to belong.

Switch the account off instead under Set Up → Where Your Money Is. It disappears from normal lists, while the existing entries stay unchanged.

You can switch it back on later.

Two, so using Brick Books on a desktop and laptop is fine.

If you replace one of those computers, contact support and the old activation can be freed up for the new one.

Your existing books remain readable regardless of the current licence state.