Mifumo

Accounting

Your books in one place. Invoices, receipts, bills, expenses, banking, journals, VAT returns and financial statements, all posting to one double-entry ledger in TSh.

Accounting is the core of Mifumo. Every invoice, receipt, bill, payment, expense and bank entry you post goes straight into the general ledger, so your reports are always up to date. Your company starts with a Tanzanian chart of accounts with VAT, PAYE and NSSF already set up.

What you can do depends on your role. Admins can do everything. Accountants can also post journals and manage the chart of accounts. Managers enter documents and approve. Viewers can only look. See /help/team for details.

Getting started

  1. Open Settings and expand Company Settings. Check the TIN, the VRN (if you are VAT registered) and Financial year starts, then click Save details.
  2. In Settings, under Other reports, open Chart of accounts. Look through the accounts and add any you need.
  3. Open Opening balances (also under Other reports) and enter what the company had and owed on the day before you started using Mifumo.
  4. Open Banking and Payments. Your bank, mobile money and cash accounts are listed. Add any missing ones in the chart of accounts.
  5. Add your customers under Sales, then Customers, and your suppliers under Purchases, then Suppliers.
  6. Put your bank details and payment terms in Invoice footer: bank details and terms in Company Settings, and choose a look under Invoice design.

How to

Add an account to the chart of accounts

  1. Open Settings, then Chart of accounts under Other reports.
  2. Click Add an account.
  3. Enter a Code and a Name.
  4. Choose the Statement, the Section and the Statement line. The statement line decides the normal balance and where the account shows in the cash flow statement.
  5. For a bank or cash account in another currency, choose its Currency (bank and cash accounts).
  6. Click the + button (Add account).

To copy an existing account, click its copy icon. The form opens filled in, with the code left blank. If you run several companies, Clone chart of accounts copies the accounts another company has that this one does not. Existing accounts and balances are never touched.

You need the Admin or Accountant role to change the chart of accounts.

Enter opening balances

  1. Open Settings, then Opening balances under Other reports.
  2. Set BALANCES AS AT to the last day before your first transaction, for example 31 Dec.
  3. Type each balance in the Debit or Credit column. Money owed by customers and to suppliers is entered per customer and per supplier, so add your contacts first.
  4. Click Post opening balances.

Any difference between debits and credits goes to retained earnings automatically. If you save again later, Mifumo reverses the old entry and posts the new figures.

Create and send an invoice

  1. Open Sales, then Invoices.
  2. Click the + button (New invoice).
  3. Choose the Customer, the Date and the Payment terms or Due date.
  4. If the customer pays in another currency, pick the Currency. Mifumo suggests the day's Exchange rate (TZS per 1).
  5. Add the lines with Add line. Pick the VAT code on each line: VAT 18%, Zero-rated (0%), Exempt or No VAT.
  6. Fill in the EFD receipt no. from your EFD machine if you have one.
  7. Click Approve and post, or Save as draft to finish later.

Once posted, open the invoice and use Print / PDF, Email, Send on WhatsApp or Copy link. The link opens the invoice for your customer without signing in. Email goes out in the background, so you can carry on straight away; if the mail server refuses it, Mifumo tries twice more over the next few minutes.

If invoices need approval in your company, the button says Submit for approval and an approver posts it.

Post or email several invoices at once

  1. Open Sales, then Invoices.
  2. Tick the invoices in the first column. The box at the top ticks every invoice on the page.
  3. Click Post drafts to post the ticked drafts, or Email to customers to send each ticked invoice to its customer's email address.

Mifumo does each one on its own and then says what it did, and which ones it couldn't do and why (not a draft, no email address). If invoices need approval, Post drafts sends them for approval instead. An invoice for a customer who is on hold or over their credit limit is left as a draft; open it to post it anyway. Bills have Post drafts too, and a bill with the same supplier invoice number as another bill is left as a draft so it isn't paid twice.

Find invoices by status and export them to Excel

  1. Open Sales, then Invoices.
  2. Click Add filter, choose Status, then pick one: Drafts, Awaiting approval, Approved, Unpaid (all), Awaiting payment, Part paid, Overdue, Paid or Void. Credit notes have Credit available and Used instead of the payment ones.
  3. Add any other filters you need (dates, customer, attachments, search) and sort by a column if you like.
  4. Click Export and choose Excel, CSV or PDF.

The file holds exactly the invoices the list shows, in the same order: number, date, customer, reference, due date, currency, subtotal, VAT, total, outstanding, status and number of files.

Raise a credit note

  1. Open the posted invoice.
  2. Click Raise a credit note.
  3. Change the lines to what you are crediting and give the reason in Original invoice / reason.
  4. Click Approve and post.

To use the credit against an open invoice, open that invoice, choose the credit note under Apply a credit note, enter the Amount and click Apply credit.

Set a credit limit or put a customer on hold

  1. Open the customer and click Edit. Only someone who can approve sees these fields.
  2. Fill in Credit limit with the most they may owe you, in shillings. Leave it blank for no limit.
  3. Tick On hold to stop new invoices altogether, and say why in Reason for the hold.
  4. Click Save. The customer page shows the limit and how much is left.

When an invoice or sales order would take the customer over the limit, or the customer is on hold, Mifumo stops and says why. Someone who can approve can click Post anyway; anyone else saves it as a draft and asks them.

Record a payment from a customer

  1. Open the invoice and click Record payment. Or open Banking and Payments, then Receipts, and click the + button (Record payment).
  2. Choose the Customer, the Date received and the account the money went Into.
  3. Enter the Amount settled and a Reference.
  4. If the customer kept back withholding tax, enter it in Tax withheld by the customer (or click 10%) and the WHT certificate no. if you have it. Mifumo shows what was Received in the bank.
  5. Under Apply to invoices, type amounts against invoices, or click Apply oldest first.
  6. Click Record payment.

Anything you do not apply stays on the customer's account as a credit. Open the receipt later and use Apply the rest to use it.

Record withholding tax a customer kept back

Some customers, such as a company renting your premises, pay you less than the invoice and pay withholding tax to TRA for you. The tax is a credit against your own income tax.

  1. Record the payment as above. Enter the Amount settled: the full amount the payment clears on the invoices, including the tax.
  2. Enter the tax in Tax withheld by the customer. The 10% button works out 10% of the amount before VAT.
  3. Click Record payment. The invoice is fully paid, the bank gets what you actually received, and the tax goes to Withholding tax receivable.

When the customer sends the WHT certificate, open the receipt, type the WHT certificate no. and click Save certificate no. To see which certificates you still need, open Receipts and click WHT certificates to collect.

  1. Open Sales, then Customers, and open the customer.
  2. Click Print customer statement.
  3. Set From and To and click Update.
  4. Click Print or save as PDF.

The statement shows open items and ageing by days past the due date.

Email statements to customers

Each statement goes out in the customer's language (English or Kiswahili) with their balance and a link to the full statement.

Let customers pay online

  1. Open Settings and click Online payments: customers pay your invoices with Pesapal.
  2. Paste the Consumer key and Consumer secret from your Pesapal merchant dashboard.
  3. Choose Account type and where Payments land in.
  4. Click Check with Pesapal and switch on.

The invoice link now shows a Pay button for M-Pesa, Mixx by Yas, Airtel Money, HaloPesa or card. Each payment posts as a receipt against its invoice. Only an Admin can set this up.

You can also send each customer their own page, with their invoices, balance and statement. Open the customer and use Copy link or Send the link under the customer's own page.

To send a customer their invoice reminders in Kiswahili, open the customer, click Edit and set Language for messages to Kiswahili.

Reminders never go out between 8 in the evening and 7 in the morning (Tanzania time), and a customer gets at most one reminder of each kind a day, even when several invoices are overdue. A reminder that falls in quiet hours goes out on the next morning's run.

Set up a recurring invoice

  1. Open a posted invoice and click Make recurring.
  2. Choose How often: Every week, Every month, Every 3 months or Every year.
  3. Set First copy on and, if you want, Stop after.
  4. Leave Approve and post each copy automatically ticked, or untick it to get drafts to check.
  5. Click Set up.

See all schedules under Sales, then Recurring invoices, where you can Pause, Resume or Delete them. Bills work the same way under Purchases, then Recurring bills.

Enter a supplier bill

  1. Open Purchases, then Bills.
  2. Click the + button (New bill).
  3. Choose the Supplier, the Bill date and the Due date.
  4. Enter the Supplier's invoice no. and the Supplier's EFD receipt no. TRA can disallow input VAT without it.
  5. Add the lines and VAT codes, then click Approve and post.

To record a credit from a supplier, open the bill and click Record a supplier credit, or choose Debit notes on the bills list. When stock goes back to the supplier, click Dispatch note on the debit note to print a note for the driver or supplier to sign.

Pay a supplier

  1. Open the bill and click Pay this bill. Or open Banking and Payments, then Supplier payments, and click the + button (Pay a supplier).
  2. Choose the Supplier, the Date paid and the account it was Paid from.
  3. Enter the Amount settled. If you withhold tax, fill in Withholding tax and Withholding amount. Mifumo shows what is Paid out of the bank.
  4. Apply the payment under Apply to bills, or click Apply oldest first.
  5. Click Record payment.

Record an expense

Use this for quick cash or bank purchases with no supplier contact, such as fuel or office supplies.

  1. Open Purchases, then Expenses.
  2. Click New expense.
  3. Fill in Paid to (optional), the Date and the account it was Paid from.
  4. Add the lines with their product or service and VAT code. The account comes from the product.
  5. Click Approve and post.

Paying several staff at once, such as a transport allowance? Add one line per person and pick each one under Employee. Paying freight, duty or clearing for an import? Turn on This expense is for a shipment and choose the shipment on the line.

Posting an expense needs someone who can approve. A product on an expense line does not change stock. Use a bill to receive stock.

Spend, receive or transfer money

  1. Open Banking and Payments.
  2. Click Spend money, Receive money or Transfer money.
  3. Fill in the Date, the account, the Amount (incl. VAT) and what it was for.
  4. For a transfer, add any Fee charged.
  5. Click Record.

Customer receipts and supplier payments have their own pages. Use them so the invoice or bill is marked as paid.

Request petty cash

  1. Open Banking and Payments, then Petty cash requests. Staff on the Employee (self-service) role open Petty cash in their menu instead.
  2. Fill in the Amount, the date it is Needed on and the Purpose.
  3. Click Send for approval (or Send request).

Every request waits for an approver, whoever asks. You can follow your requests and Withdraw one that has not been paid under My requests.

Approve and pay out petty cash

  1. Open Banking and Payments, then Petty cash requests. Requests also arrive in Mentions and approvals.
  2. On Waiting for approval, click Approve, or Decline with a reason. You can't approve your own request.
  3. On Approved, to pay, an accountant clicks Pay out, picks the cash account it is Paid from and the account it was Spent on, adds a voucher number as the Reference and clicks Pay out and post.

Paying out posts the expense against the cash account on that date. Nothing reaches your books before that.

Reconcile a bank account

  1. Download your statement from internet banking as a CSV file. M-Pesa, Airtel Money and Mixx by Yas statements work too.
  2. Open Banking and Payments and click Import statement on the account.
  3. Choose the Statement file (.csv) and click Import. Lines already imported are skipped.
  4. Click Reconcile. Lines that match your books are matched for you. Click Auto-match to try again.
  5. For each remaining line, click Match, or use Record and match for things not yet in your books, such as bank charges. Use Ignore (duplicate) for lines you do not need.
  6. Click Reconciliation report to see what is left to clear.

To save time, set up Bank rules. Each rule says: When the line contains some text, Record it to an account. Rules run after every import, or click Apply rules.

Post a manual journal

  1. Open Reports, then Journal.
  2. Click the + button (New journal entry).
  3. Enter the Date, Description and Reference.
  4. Add lines, each with a debit or a credit. Both columns must total the same.
  5. Click Post entry.

Posted entries cannot be edited. To correct one, open it, click Reverse this entry, give the Reversal date and Reason, and click Post reversing entry. Then post the right entry. You need the Admin or Accountant role.

File a VAT return

  1. Open Settings, then VAT return under Other reports.
  2. Pick the period dates and click Show. Monthly returns are due to TRA by the 20th of the next month.
  3. Check the Sales schedule and Purchases schedule. Purchases with VAT but no EFD receipt are marked Missing. Use Download CSV if you need the lists.
  4. Submit the return on the TRA portal.
  5. Back in Mifumo, enter the TRA acknowledgement / reference and click Mark as filed.

Marking it filed posts an entry that clears VAT output and VAT input into VAT payable to TRA. Leave Lock the books up to ticked to stop changes to that period. Only companies with a VRN in Company settings file VAT returns.

See your financial statements

  1. Open Reports.
  2. Choose Profit and loss, Balance sheet, Cash flow statement or General ledger.
  3. Pick a Period, such as This month or Last financial year, or Custom dates, then click Show.
  4. Tick Compare with a year earlier to add last year's figures.
  5. Use Download CSV or Print.

The Trial balance, Aged receivables, Aged payables and Withholding tax reports are on the Settings page under Other reports. Ledger checks: do the reports agree? confirms every report matches the ledger. Mifumo also runs these checks every night. If one stops agreeing, the people who post journals get a notification, and Ledger checks says since when.

Close a period

  1. Open Settings and find Close the books.
  2. Set Books closed up to and including to the last day of the period, for example after filing with TRA.
  3. Click Save closing date.

Nothing dated on or before that date can be posted or reversed. Clear the date to reopen. Only an Admin can do this.

Close the financial year

  1. Reconcile the bank accounts, file the last VAT return and post any adjustments (depreciation, accruals, prepayments, income tax).
  2. Open Settings, then Year-end close under Other reports.
  3. Find the year marked Ended, not closed. Leave lock the year ticked.
  4. Click Close year.

The year's profit or loss moves to retained earnings. Reports still show that year's profit and loss as normal.

Settings

All on the Settings page.

Questions

Why can't I edit a posted journal entry?

Posted entries are never changed, so your history stays honest. Reverse the entry and post a corrected one.

Why does Mifumo say a bill is already entered?

Another bill from the same supplier has the same Supplier's invoice no., so paying both would pay that invoice twice. Open the one shown to check it. If it really is a different invoice, click Save anyway. Payments and receipts ask the same when one with the same reference, or the same amount on the same day, is already recorded.

Why can't I post anything in last month?

The books are closed up to a date you or a colleague set, or a VAT return locked that period. An Admin can move the date under Close the books in Settings.

What happens when I void an invoice?

Mifumo reverses its ledger entry and keeps the invoice marked void, with the reason you gave. A draft is simply deleted.

Can I invoice in US dollars?

Yes. Pick the currency and rate on the invoice. Your books stay in TSh. Use Currencies and exchange rates to revalue open foreign balances at month end.

A customer is billed in both TZS and USD. How do I handle them?

Give each invoice its own currency; the customer's default currency is only where new invoices start. Their statement has one section per currency, each with its own balance and ageing, and the customer list and their page show what they owe in each currency next to the total in shillings.

When they pay a dollar invoice in shillings (or the other way round), record the payment in the currency that reached the bank:

  1. Open Banking and Payments, then Receipts, and record a payment for the customer.
  2. Pick the Currency of the money received, for example TZS, and the Amount settled.
  3. On the dollar invoice, enter what it clears in Clears (for example 1,000.00) and how much of the shilling payment went to it in From this payment (TZS). Mifumo suggests that figure from today's rate; change it to what the customer actually paid.
  4. Click Record payment.

The invoice is paid in dollars, and the difference between its own rate and what was paid is booked as an exchange gain or loss. A payment already on the customer's account can be applied to an invoice in another currency the same way from the receipt's page.

Where did Receipts and Supplier payments go?

They are under Banking and Payments, next to your bank accounts.

I got "a report no longer agrees with the ledger". What now?

The nightly check found that a report, such as aged receivables or stock valuation, gives a different total from its account in the general ledger. This usually means a manual journal was posted straight to a control account like Accounts receivable or Inventory. Open Ledger checks, click the line that differs, and correct the entry with a reversing journal. The note clears itself the night after the books agree again.

Did my email go?

Emails are sent in the background a few seconds after you click. Look at History on the invoice: each email shows Sending, Sent or Not sent. If one can't be delivered after three tries (a wrong address, or the mail server is down), it says Not sent with the reason, so check the address and send it again.

Did my customer open the invoice?

History on the invoice says Customer opened the link the first time each day your customer opens it. Previews that WhatsApp or Telegram make when you paste the link don't count, and neither do you or your colleagues opening it while signed in.

What does History show?

Every record with Chatter shows its History above it: when it was created, sent for approval, approved or rejected, posted, emailed, reminded and voided, and by whom. The latest five show first; click Show earlier for the rest.

Why does the VAT return say the ledger doesn't agree?

A manual journal, opening balance or document in another period touched a VAT account. Check the VAT accounts in the general ledger before filing.

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