Setting up WispBooks

Setup takes about fifteen minutes. You need your business name, how you file, and — if you use them — your Square login and your bank login.

1. Create your business

Sign up at app.wispbooks.com with an email and password or with Google, and the first screen asks for your business name and what kind of business it is: food & drink, retail, salon & beauty, services, events, contractor, or other. The type isn't cosmetic — it decides which chart of accounts you start with and which deduction checklist you get, so pick the closest match rather than the most flattering one.

2. Choose an accounting basis

Cash basis records money when it moves. Accrual records it when it's earned or owed. Most small owner-operated businesses use cash; businesses carrying inventory often use accrual. If you already file one way, match it. The basis is printed on every report, so nobody downstream has to guess which one they're reading.

3. Set your fiscal year and opening balances

Fiscal year start is January for almost everyone. Opening balances are optional: if you're moving over from a spreadsheet or another system, enter what each account held on your start date and WispBooks posts one balanced opening entry. Leave it blank to start from zero and add it later.

4. Connect Square

Square is optional but it's what WispBooks was built for. Go to Settings → General → Connections and choose Connect. You sign in on Square's own page and grant read access; when you come back, WispBooks backfills roughly two years of sales history and keeps syncing from there. Sales, tenders, and processing fees post themselves — see Connecting Square.

5. Connect your bank

Bank feeds arrive through Plaid, also read-only, from Settings → General → Connections or the Banking screen. Once linked, transactions arrive matched to entries you already have, or waiting for you to say what they were. You can skip this and add it later.

6. Capture your first receipt

Open the iOS app and tap the shutter, or upload a photo from Spending → Receipts on the web. Within a few seconds you'll see what WispBooks read, what it thinks the category is, and how sure it is. Approve it, and you have your first journal entry with the original image attached to it.