Quick Start — Accounting

For businesses using eSecured ERP as a standalone accounting and invoicing platform — no logistics or fleet modules required.

1. Log in

Go to erp.co.tz and sign in with your email and password. Your administrator will provide these.

First time?

Ask your administrator to reset your password from Settings → Users & Access if you need a new one — there is currently no self-service password change on your own account.

Finding pages

Where a page sits in the menu depends on which modules your company has and which menu layout it uses. The quickest way to any page in this guide is Search: press Ctrl+K (Windows), ⌘K (Mac), or Alt+Q and type the page name — "Chart of Accounts", "Posting Setup", "Customers", and so on.

2. Set up your Chart of Accounts

1. Go to Accounting → Chart of Accounts
2. If the chart is empty, click Set up Tanzania Standard CoA and confirm. This adds 78 accounts across all six categories — a double-entry structure aligned with TRA and IFRS for SMEs. (Companies set up with sample data already have it.)
3. Review the accounts. Most businesses can use them as-is.
4. To add your own account, click + New Account, enter a number and name, choose the category (Income, Cost of Goods Sold, Expense, Assets, Liabilities, Equity), and save.

Key accounts in the Tanzania Standard CoA

Accounts Receivable (75110), Accounts Payable (76110), VAT Payable (70110), VAT Recoverable/Input (75130), WHT Payable (70120), WHT Tax Credit Receivable (75140), bank accounts (402xx), revenue accounts (10xxx), and the standard expense categories. You rarely need to add accounts from scratch.

3. Check Posting Setup

Posting Setup maps key transaction types to GL accounts so journals are created automatically when invoices are raised and paid and vendor bills are approved and paid.

1. Go to Accounting → Posting Setup
2. A new company starts with these mappings already filled in — they point at Tanzania Standard CoA accounts, so seed the chart (step 2) first:
   • Accounts Receivable → 75110
   • Accounts Payable → 76110
   • VAT Payable → 70110
   • VAT Input (Recoverable) → 75130
   • Default Revenue → 10120 (Freight Revenue — Regional Corridor) — credited when an invoice line has no account of its own. Change this to the revenue account that fits your business.
   • Default Bank / Cash → 40220 (Bank Account — CRDB). Change this to your main bank account.
3. Each field is a searchable lookup — type part of the account number or name. Save when done.

Getting this right once means every invoice, vendor bill, and payment posts to the correct GL automatically — no manual journal entries needed for routine transactions. See Posting Setup → for the expense-category map and the other optional accounts.

4. Add your first customer and vendor

Customer:

1. Open Customers and click + New Customer
2. Enter company name, TIN, email, and contact person
3. Save

Vendor:

1. Open Vendors and click + Add New Vendor
2. Enter company name, TIN, and contact
3. Save

You can also create either one on the spot later: wherever you pick a customer or vendor, + New Customer / + New Vendor appears at the bottom of the list.

5. Issue your first invoice

1. Open Invoices and click + New Invoice — it opens as a Draft
2. In Bill To, pick the customer (or + New Customer). Their address, email, TIN and VRN are copied onto the invoice
3. Check the issue date, then add line items with a description, quantity and rate. Each line's TRA Cat. sets its VAT: A is standard-rated 18%, C is zero-rated
4. When it's ready, move it from Draft to Sent with the Document Lifecycle buttons. Changes save as you make them — there's no Save button. If your company requires invoice approval, you'll see Submit for Approval instead

An invoice can't leave Draft without a customer, and once it has, its customer can't be changed. If you quote first, an accepted quotation's 📄 Convert to Invoice creates the draft for you with the customer and lines filled in.

Moving out of Draft is when the invoice posts to the GL (Dr Accounts Receivable, Cr Revenue and VAT Payable). When the customer pays, move it to Paid — that posts the payment (Dr Bank, Cr Accounts Receivable).

Withholding Tax (WHT): If your client is required to deduct WHT before paying you, tick Subject to Withholding Tax on the invoice and pick the rate (2% resident supplier, 5% non-resident transporter, 10% other services, 15% non-resident other). The invoice shows the total, the WHT deduction, and the net you'll receive. Record the WHT Certificate No. once your client provides it. If your business never deals with WHT, switch it off in Accounting → Accounting Settings.

Print, PDF and sending

Click 🖨 Print & Send on the invoice: 🖨 Print / PDF opens a print-ready A4 invoice (use your browser's Save as PDF), and 📧 Send emails it. See Invoicing →.

6. Record a vendor bill

When you receive a bill from a supplier:

1. Open Purchasing (under Accounting) and click + New Bill
2. Select the vendor and enter their invoice number and dates
3. Add lines — either type them, or click 📦 to pick from your Items catalog. Each line's expense account comes from the catalog item, or from its expense category's mapping in Posting Setup — make sure every line has one of those before approving
4. Click ✓ Approve — this posts the liability to Accounts Payable automatically

When you pay: Click 💳 Mark Paid. If you ticked Subject to WHT on the bill, the payment dialog shows the deduction and splits the GL entry: debit AP in full, credit Bank for the net amount, credit WHT Payable (70120) for the withheld amount. Enter the WHT Certificate number you issue to the vendor.

7. Run your first financial report

1. Go to Accounting → Financial Reports
2. Pick a report:
   • P&L — revenue vs expenses for a period
   • Balance Sheet — assets, liabilities, and equity at a point in time
   • Trial Balance — all account balances to verify the books balance
   • VAT Report — output and input VAT for TRA filing
   • AR Aging — unpaid customer invoices, grouped by age since the invoice date
   • AP Aging — unpaid vendor bills, grouped by days past their due date
3. Pick the period — This FY, Last FY, This Month, Last Month, or Custom dates. The report updates straight away.

Click any account row to drill through to the underlying GL entries, and from there to the source document (invoice, vendor bill, or journal).

8. Record opening balances (migration only)

If you are migrating from another system, post opening balances before entering new transactions:

1. Go to Accounting → Journal Entries and click + New Journal
2. Enter a description: "Opening Balances — [date]"
3. For each balance sheet account, enter a debit or credit line
4. The journal must balance (total debits = total credits) before you can post

Alternatively, use Settings → System → Data Import to bulk-import opening balances from the Excel template.

See the Data Import guide → for the full recommended sequence.

9. Fixed assets (optional)

If your company has the Asset Management module and owns vehicles, equipment, or property:

1. Go to Accounting → Fixed Assets and click + New Asset
2. Enter asset name, TRA depreciation class (Class 1–4), acquisition cost, and purchase date
3. Save — the asset is added to the register

Click Run Depreciation at month-end to calculate depreciation across all active assets. It creates a draft journal (DR Depreciation Expense / CR Accumulated Depreciation) that reaches the GL once you post it.

See the Fixed Assets module guide → for disposal, maintenance logs, and TRA compliance notes.

Next steps

• Data Import → — bulk-load Chart of Accounts, customers, vendors, opening balances, and historical invoices
• Invoicing → — invoice layouts, VAT categories, TRA fiscalization, approval
• Quotations → — the quote pipeline and converting to invoices
• Purchasing → — full vendor bill lifecycle and GL posting
• Accounting → — GL engine, journals, financial reports, bank reconciliation
• Fixed Assets → — TRA depreciation classes, disposal, maintenance log