3.2. Configuring your business

Once you open a repository, everything you record in Fanurio is for the same business. A business can manage a list of clients, a list of projects, and so on. A business is set up when a repository is created and it can't be deleted, you can only change its settings from Business » My Business Details.

The settings of a business are organized in five sections and are explained below.

3.2.1. Registration and contact

The name, registration and contact details of your business are optional, but if present they can be included in reports and invoices. On OS X you can update your contact details from Apple Contacts.

Here's what each registration field means:

  • Business Number: The number assigned to your business when it was registered. Some users need to display this number on their invoices.

  • Tax Number: The tax number assigned by the government to your business. In many countries, invoices must include the client's VAT number. In such cases, the tax number is the VAT number.

  • Other Number: A generic field that could be used to record the trade register number.

3.2.2. Currencies

Fanurio needs at least one currency if you use it for billing or to track expenses. If you don't use Fanurio for billing or to track expenses then you don't need to worry about currencies.

Usually, you don't need to define any currency since Fanurio automatically detects your currency from your computer settings. But if it doesn't detect it correctly or if your business bills in multiple currencies, this is the place where you can make the changes.

3.2.3. Taxes

Many businesses need to charge taxes on their sales and then remit those taxes to the government or pay taxes on their expenses. Since tax laws and regulations are complex and can change often, Fanurio can be configured to handle most situations.

If your business needs to handle taxes but you haven't enabled them in the setup guide, you can enable them from Business » My Business Details+Taxes. Once you enable taxes, you can:

  • Define taxes that you need to handle,

  • Specify how invoice tax totals are rounded,

  • Mark certain clients as tax-exempt,

  • Specify default taxes for your invoices,

  • Specify taxes for tasks, expenses, products, and invoice items.

  • Record tax amounts for your expenses.

To quickly define your taxes, go to Business » My Business Details+Taxes and click the Create taxes using the tax wizard button. The tax wizard allows you to create combinations of up to three taxes.

For instance, you can define a single tax like VAT in Europe or GST in Australia, combinations of two taxes like GST + PST in Canada or combinations of three taxes like "Rivalsa previdenziale" + "IVA" - "Ritenuta d'acconto" in Italy. If you need to define multiple rates for a tax (for instance a standard VAT rate and one or more reduced VAT rates), just run the tax wizard several times to create all the rates you need.

To deal with a whole range of possible taxes and tax combinations, Fanurio uses two concepts: the Tax and the Tax Group. The Tax defines the actual tax and its rate while the Tax Group defines the combination of taxes that need to be applied together. Tax groups need to be created even if they contain just one tax.

3.2.4. Billing

Billing is optional and can be enabled or disabled at business level but it can't be disabled if you have at least one invoice or product.

If billing is enabled, you can create regular invoices that bill clients directly and project invoices that bill their projects. Also, if billing is enabled you can configure the following settings:

  • Default terms: Terms specify when an invoice is due. The default terms specified at business level are used when new clients are created. Clients have their own terms that may be different from the business terms.

  • Catalog: If your business sells some items more frequently, you can add them to the business catalog. Catalog items make it easier to create regular invoice items.

  • Invoice tax totals rounding

  • Invoice numbering

  • Financial year: The start date of the financial year makes it possible to select the current or the last financial year when creating sales reports (Reports » Sales Report) or when filtering invoices and payments. The default start date for the financial year is January 1st.

If billing is disabled, the user interface is updated to remove all billing references:

  • The Invoices and Payments views are removed.

  • The menu and toolbar actions related to invoices and payments are removed.

  • All billing columns are removed from the projects, tasks, expenses and trips tables.

  • All billing filters are removed from all views.

  • All clients, projects, tasks, expenses and trips are changed to non-billable.

  • Projects can no longer manage products.

3.2.5. Projects

The Projects section contains projects-related settings like project numbering. Most settings are organized by the type of element a project can manage (tasks, expenses, trips, and products).

  • The Tasks section allows you to manage the list of task categories that you can use to organize tasks. If billing is enabled, you can also:

  • Expenses are optional and can be enabled or disabled at business level. If expenses are enabled, you can also manage the list of expense categories that you can use to organize your expenses.

  • Trips are optional and can be enabled or disabled at business level. If trips are enabled and billing is enabled, you can also manage the list of trip rates that you can use to bill your trips.

    Also, if trips are enabled, the Trips section allows you to specify the default distance unit (kilometer or mile) for your trips.

  • Products are optional and can be enabled or disabled at business level but only if billing is enabled. If billing is not enabled, products are not available for projects.