Sage synchronisations: For the first year in Silverfin, you will need to post an adjustment in the prior year to bring in the opening balance adjustments for the Profit and Loss codes (as normally you would not be able to adjust these in Sage itself). For future years, this will not be required as your adjustments will always be held in Silverfin and will overlay your Sage data to ensure that the Profit and Loss values showing are correct.
Mapping: If you need a hand with mapping, please refer to this handy guide here
Mapping: If you have made any errors in your mapping, you can easily amend it by navigating to the Client Overview page, clicking Accounts then Mapping and find the item you want to amend, make the change, then click Save.
Import data from Excel - Silverfin can be very picky in terms of the formatting of data in spreadsheets from which you import data from. See here for guidance
Planning: You must complete the Permanent Information reconciliation in Planning first, as other reconciliations will remain blank unless it is completed. The info in Permanent Information is used to tailor the rest of planning, i.e. not asking company only relevant questions for a partnership.
Planning: You should assign all checklists within planning and completion to the manager and partner (for completion), these should never be left as "Any".
Screen size - Silverfin works bets when maximised on your screen to avoid any truncations of Menu bars or text input boxes. You should also be regularly using "Open in New Tab" from right clicking on an item to have multiple tabs open at once on a file, but ensure you press refresh when coming back to a main screen to ensure you are working on the latest iteration.
Working papers: If you have supporting files in Excel, please ensure that you check the file will print to one page (if not, then tidy over multiple pages) on a PDF as if it not done correctly at the upload point, when the client meeting export is produced and the supporting files are included, it looks really poor, prints over multiple pages and needs lots of adjusting at that point. This might be just before the client meeting by the partner so can create unnecessary pressure.
Documents - To insert a new document from a template, use Actions / New Text and choose from the list.
Points for client / meeting: All points for the client should go in the "Points for client / meeting" template rather than dotted through the file like you would have done previously. This means that they are in one place for running through in the client meeting, or to copy into a client email or letter - rather than the manager or partner having to hunt through the file for all of the points.
Points for client / meeting: If you leave off numbering your "Points for client / meeting" until you are finished, you can then number these in the order that you wish them to appear for the reviewer and Silverfin will then sort them based on the numbers that you assign to them.
Drag and drop - when using Chrome to drag and drop a file from Explorer or M-Files, you need to drop the file onto the below cloud logo to save it within Silverfin - don't then forget to move it to an appropriate folder.
Client name for sole traders: As there are no reconciliations for stat info or partners for sole traders, the sole trader's name (for accounts purposes) is captured in Workflow 3: [Unincorporated] General settings - Sole Trader reconciliation.
Manual jobs: You need to make sure you have selected for the balance sheet items to roll forward into your period (do this via edit client, select the 'Periods' tab / section, hover over fiscal year and make sure the roll forward sign has been enabled – will be black if on, grey if not - it is an arrow sign).
Manual jobs: You also need to make sure on a manual job that you add the prior period profit as an additional line at the bottom when you are uploading your next years information. If you have forgotten to add the prior period profit after importing your data, go to your main client screen, actions, replace bookkeeping data and upload your new file with this included.
Internet Browser: You should use Chrome as your preferred browser to use Silverfin and not IE/Internet Explorer. You can use the latest Microsoft Edge browser if installed but it is slightly more awkward to use for, amongst other, drop down box selections where you will need to use the arrow keys for consistent results.
Future years - after you set up a live sync, if your starting screen is in a future period, say 2023 or even 2040, this is because of either recurring journals in Xero (or similar) or future journals which have subsequently been reversed or cancelled. Simply select the correct period at the middle of the top menu bar to start work on the current year.
Text boxes: If you hit Enter in a text box in Silverfin, you may simply move to a new line in the text box. To register the entry and save it in Silverfin, you need to select outside the box with your mouse and then click in the silver box at the bottom right of the screen or press Enter again.
Multiple persons signing accounts: You can have as many partners or directors signing the accounts as there are partners or directors for that client - this option is under Workflow 3: General Settings, Signing person of Financial Statements, Please select number of signees. However, details of signatories beyond 2 will only be created and available for completion once you have entered details for the previous signatory and they are created one at a time, so altering the number in the drop down box will not immediately create additional text boxes for completion.
Fixed Asset additions: In general we should be importing individual additions into Silverfin to maintain a fixed assets register. However, if there is significant work needed to import the b/f balance, this should be discussed with the manager or partner beforehand.
First Order - Apart from the preparation of dividend paperwork required for relevant year end dividends, we should still be using First Order as appropriate for Companies House submissions and changes as well as dividend paperwork during the year.
Farm stock valuations: If you have prior year stock valuations and you want to show them as a comparison, you should enter the figures into the prior year valuation template, go to the current year template, click Actions, then Copy Data and select the prior year. Be careful, this overwrites anything you have entered for the current year (including attachments), so please ensure you do this before entering your current year information or if you forget, ensure you take a screen print or grab of the data that is currently there.
"To enable adjustment calculation, please copy data from a previous period" - If you receive the below error message, probably on a prepayment or accruals like template, then you need to enter the relevant data into that template in the previous period, move into the current period and at the bottom of the reconciliation, select Actions/Copy below template data above/Overwrite. Again be careful, this overwrites anything you have entered for the current year (including attachments), so please ensure you do this before entering your current year information or if you forget, ensure you take a screen print or grab of the data that is currently there.
Report are blank: Although we are not yet using these fully, if you do select Balance Sheet (Master) or Income Statement (Master) from Reports and they are blank, you need to select a different type of report from the drop down box that probably currently says "Analytical Dimension" - we do not use Analytics on most clients so this will be blank.
Campus - this is the interactive Silverfin help guide, but we have found it less than useful and rather buggy so we do not recommend its use.
Client name for sole traders: As there are no reconciliations for stat info or partners for sole traders, the sole trader's name (for accounts purposes) is captured in Workflow 3: [Unincorporated] General settings - Sole Trader reconciliation.
Client name for sole traders: As there are no reconciliations for stat info or partners for sole traders, the sole trader's name (for accounts purposes) is captured in Workflow 3: [Unincorporated] General settings - Sole Trader reconciliation.