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Getting Started With Ember (Sole Traders)

An article helping you get the most out of Ember from day one by ensuring you are set up correctly in-app.

Tas Liasis avatar
Written by Tas Liasis
Updated yesterday

Welcome to Ember!

We're thrilled to have you onboard.

To get you set up for success, we’ve put together a few essential resources and tips that will help you hit the ground running and get the most out of Ember.

1.Tell us about your business

The Settings tab within Ember is where we store important information about your company, which we need to help everything run smoothly.

Within the Settings tab, there are several important sections.


Business

In this tab you will find several things to update.

UTR - This is your Unique Taxpayer Reference- a 10 digit code unique to you used for tax returns.

Description of business - Here we need your to enter what your company does. This would show on your annual accounts when you file these.

Address - This will show up on your invoices sent through Ember!

Industry - Here we need you to select the most appropriate industry for your company.


Your Information

This is where you tell us if you’re registered for self assessment. We will then send you key reminders of your filing & payment dates to ensure you remain compliant!


Manage Connections

Connect your HMRC and bank account(s) to feed real-time information to your Ember account:


Self Assessment

If you are registered for self assessment, enter your country of residence and National Insurance number in this section.


VAT

If you are VAT registered, please enter the information requested, including your VAT number, and which VAT scheme you are a member of.

If you are not VAT registered, you can disregard this section.


Transaction Rules

Review and edit transaction rules you have set. (Feature guide: Automate your bookkeeping with transaction rules)


Notifications

Set tax reminders to be received via email (by default you are opted in).


2.Review your transactions

Your transactions power the real-time insights. This is where your income and spending show up, ready to be reviewed and categorised.

Below are some helpful guides to refer to:

If you use a payment provider or sales platform that takes a fee for transactions, you will need to split the transaction to account for the fee and sale. Our guide on splitting transactions is a useful reference point for this process.

3.Create your first invoice

The Invoices tab is where you create and send your invoices from. A couple of important notes when creating your first invoice:

Invoice number

When you create your first invoice in Ember, it will automatically be assigned the number #1. However, if you prefer to start from a different number, you will see a prompt to set your preferred starting invoice number when you click the + New invoice button for the first time.

Once you've sent your first invoice with Ember, you won't be able to change its number.

VAT registration number and registration date

For VAT-registered businesses, it's essential to provide your VAT details to ensure accurate invoicing. You'll need to include your VAT registration number on invoices as required by law.

You can enter these details in the provided modal after confirming your invoice number if you haven’t already added these details in VAT Settings.

Here are some useful guides, with more available in our Help Centre:

How to mark an invoice as paid (*if you invoice outside of Ember, just categorise and review the invoice payment to Sales)

4.Log any out-of-pocket expenses

You can add any business expenses paid for with personal funds into Ember via the Manual Entries tab.

5.Invite your accountant or team

You can collaborate in Ember with your accountant and other team members. To do this, the Ember account owner can give them access by going to Settings > Manage Users and send them an invite.

Right now, invited users will have full access to everything.

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