If you keep books for clients, the dashboard's cards stop being a way to find anything once there are more than a handful. Clients is the list built for that: one row per company whose books you keep, on any of your logins, with the state of each one read straight from the books and the one thing to do next.
Open it from the Clients button at the top of the dashboard.
Who sees it
The list is for accountants and bookkeepers, so a business keeping its own books never meets it. You see it when any of these is true:
- your account says it is an accounting or bookkeeping practice (the account owner turns this on under Plan and standing, "Do you keep books for clients?");
- a client let you into their books at the Accountant level;
- a client let you in as The books and nothing else (an outside bookkeeper).
Owning several companies of your own does not bring it up: the dashboard's cards are the view for that. The title's chip says which practice you are, and its help mark says why you are seeing the list.
What each row tells you
- Client: the full legal name and the short code. The line under it says whose books they are (Mine when you own that account), the dashboard group it sits in, and your role here: Accountant, Bookkeeper, Read only or Full access. Changing your role is the client owner's job, on their access list.
- Status: one word for the state of the books, with the first reason written right under it ("48 bank lines to review +2 more"). Hover it for every reason.
- Next step: the one piece of work to do first, as a button that opens it inside the client's books: Read 2 answers, Review 48 lines, Reconcile 2 accounts, Decide 3 suggestions, Close 3 months, Enter 5 documents, Chase 1 request.
- Review: bank lines waiting in For Review. Opens the account whose lines have waited longest.
- Unrec.: active bank and card accounts with no completed reconciliation in the last 45 days, out of how many there are. Opens Reconcile on the one waiting longest.
- Docs: receipts and invoices tagged to this client with no entry yet. Opens Documents on Receipts to enter, which shows exactly those.
- Closed: the last month closed, by a period close or a lock date, with an amber count when two or more full months have ended since.
- Sugg.: correcting entries suggested and not yet decided. Opens the suggestions queue itself.
- Requests: answers from the client (your turn), what still waits on them, what is overdue and what has been quiet for two weeks. Each chip opens their Requests tab on exactly that slice.
- Last entry (on wide screens) and Cash. On a narrower screen the last-entry date steps aside so the table fits; a client with no entry in 45 days says so in its status line, and print and download keep the column.
The four statuses
- Needs attention (amber): bank lines to review, an account not reconciled, two or more months not closed when the client usually closes, or suggestions for YOU to decide.
- Watch (blue): nothing blocking, but something waits: documents not entered, a client's answer to read, a request overdue or quiet, an item coming due, suggestions you made waiting on the client, or no entry in 45 days.
- On track (green): entries flowing, nothing waiting.
- Quiet (gray): books not set up yet, or nothing posted and nothing waiting. A brand-new client with bank lines already waiting is not quiet: it needs attention.
The list opens loudest first. Sorting Status keeps that order (Needs attention, Watch, On track, Quiet); My access sorts by what you may do.
Where to start
The band above the table names one client under Start here, with its next step as a button: the loudest client in view. It also counts every state and every kind of waiting work, and each figure is a filter: press 3 need attention and only those three clients remain; press it again for everyone. The figures count what the Group and Whose books menus leave in view, so a chip that says 12 opens 12.
Your dashboard's groups
The list follows the groups you arranged on the dashboard, and opens in your dashboard's group order. Move a company on the dashboard and it moves here too. Companies you hid on the dashboard stay out of the list until you pick Hidden on my dashboard in the Group menu; when you have hidden every one, the list says so and offers the button.
Always current
Coming back to the list, from a client's books or from another browser tab, reads it again, and the refresh button beside "Updated" does it on demand. Clearing a client's bank lines shows on the list the moment you return.
Land here every time
Turn on Open the client list when I sign in and the books open on this list instead of the dashboard cards. The Dashboard link at the top of the list still opens the cards whenever you want them. The choice follows you to any computer you sign in from.
Getting in
Clicking a row opens that client's books, on the login you are using: kBooks never switches you to another account. Two clients who happen to share a short code each open their own books. Print and the download menu produce the list as you have filtered and sorted it, with the reasons and the next step as columns.