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Practice Settings

Overview

Practice settings is where you set up all of your default options for the various areas of AccountKit.

It's broken into logical areas by tab, as you can see below.

For each section in this article, there will be screenshots and detailed steps for quick reference, along with short videos in some sections, to easily demonstrate that particular area of the Practice Settings.

 

Jump straight to the applicable section:


 

Practice Settings Tab

 

 

Practice_Settings_-_display_page_for_help_v2.png

 

Area

Description
1
 Organisation Details

Set the core basic details of your practice

  • Organisation Name appears on most reports & in the header area
  • ABN is your Australian Business Number (or unique business number depending on your base of origin)
  • Industry is to enable us to track the types of businesses using our software enabling us to better cater the tools to the majority.
2
 Address Enter both the street and postal address for your head office.
3
 Regional Settings

Set the specifics pertinent to your practice:

  • Timezone effects the time stamps applied to all entries. Ensure this is correct so that all entries within the system have the correct time applied against them.
  • Set your base currency for display purposes only.
  • Set your financial year start; This impacts the time frames applied to various tools and reports. For example, the Equipment Finance schedule will show totals as at the end of each financial year as defined here.
4
 Contact Details

Set your base website and contact email for the practice.

  • These are used on some reports within AccountKit and who we contact if required.
  • The email is where your AccountKit invoice will be sent too.
5
 System Settings

Set the core security principles you require your practice to operate under

  • Two Factor Authentication
    • Toggle Mandatory 2FA for all users - Toggle this switch to enforce 2FA for all users. This will then force all staff to set up and use 2 Factor Authentication. (NOTE: 2FA is Mandatory in Australia but not yet in other countries, however, we recommend the use of this function to increase data integrity)
    • To learn more about the use of 2FA in AccountKit go to our Two Factor Authentication help article.
    • You can then toggle on and off which 2FA methods you want to allow for your practice based on your perception of risk for your business. It's best practice to NOT use security questions or secondary email.
  • Minimum Password Length
    • Here you can define the default length you would like you users passwords to be. Next time they reset their password, they will be required to meet this length requirement. The longer the more secure it will be.
    • Note that we enforce the use of special characters, upper and lower case characters and numbers in every password.
  • Whitelisted IP Addresses
    • For that extra level of security, if you want to lock down AccountKit so people can only login from certain locations, toggle this on. For example, you could white-list just the IP Address for each office;
    • From this, you could make your team members utilise a VPN to access the work IP Address.
    • By default it will include the current IP address so you don't lock yourself out.
    • IF you need to turn this off and can't login, you can contact support@account-kit.com to assist.
  • Sign-in Settings
    • Within these settings, you can enable Xero single sign-on for all users.
    • Where the Xero single sign-on is active you can deactivate a user's ability to sign in with their AccountKit username & password.
6
 Visual Settings

Make AccountKit your own by customising your logo and colours.

Your practice logo
Select choose file and browse to your logo file.

  • Press the "Upload" icon; The image will be automatically resized to 36 pixels high, but we recommend uploading a higher resolution image as we utilise a higher quality on the printable reports. 
  • For the best quality logo, utilise a lossless version of your logo such as an SVG.

Practice Colours

  • Experiment with the colours to see the impact on the look and feel of AccountKit for your practice.
  • The Top Strip colours will determine the blend utilised at the top of any exported PDF reports.
i
 If you would like a hand to get the look of the logo and icons just right, please contact us at support@account-kit.com with a high-quality version of your logo and an idea of the colours you would like us to use.

 

Subscription

This shows the key details about your AccountKit subscription:

Subscription_Settings_-_display_page_for_help_v2.png

Area

Description
1
 Renewal Period Identifies when your trial will expire or the next time your account will be charged.
2

to

4
 Pricing Breakdown

The pricing is then broken down according to the tier you are in as follows. See our website for more details.

  1. Base cost of subscription
  2. Power-ups
  3. Coupons Applied - This will reflect any coupons applied or the automated loyalty discounts that apply as you turn on more tools (see https://www.account-kit.com/pricing for more details)
5
 Subscription History

Here you can see:

  • Left - Any changes to your subscription with the date and the user details.
  • Right - Amounts and details of the changes which occurred.
6
 Payment Details

Your payment details can be viewed and updated from here.

Select "Update my billing method" to change the credit card you want your payments to be made from.

Note: We don't store your payment details. These are stored within Stripe, our payment gateway.

 

Integrations

These are the integrations that we are building out to add functionality that we believe will be beneficial to your practice by bringing visibility and simplifying how we deal with different pieces of cloud software.

 

 

Integration Name Description
Xero_logo_green.png

By connecting with your Xero Practice Manager subscription, you can synchronise your full client list, groups, addresses and relationships with AccountKit.

 

From here you can also toggle on the one-way sync. Option which allows you to only allow information to sync. from XPM. As a result of enabling the one-way sync., this will disable some fields/functionality in regards to client details/relationships, etc.

See here for more details on how to use it.
 
Xero_logo_blue.png

This integration enables you to pull through some pertinent practice stats from your own practice Xero file such as Top 10 Invoices and Bills along with selecting various accounts that you may like to watch. It's a one-way window into your accounting data for displaying or the AccountKit dashboard.

See here for more details on how to use it.
 

i
 This is not a global setting for the practice but instead set up on a per-user basis. It's only available to users of type Practice Administrator and Partner.
NI_Logo_New.png
Corporate Messenger		 Integrate with NowInfinity to get views into the company data via a company dashboard and entity dashboards for each family group.

See here for more details about the integration.
 
CAS_360.png
BGL		 Integrate with CAS360 to get views into the company data via a company dashboard and entity dashboards for each family group.

See here for more details about the integration.
 
Simple_Fund_360.png
BGL 		 Integrate with SimpleFund 360 to get views into the superfund data via entity dashboards for each family group.

See here for more details about the integration.
 

Integrate with GovReports to access client ATO and Government reports at your fingertips. 

 

See here for more information on setting up your connection to GovReports.
Slack_RGB.pngMicrosoft Teams Logo, symbol, meaning, history, PNG, brand

Slack and Microsoft Teams are for team collaboration and getting internal communication out of your emails and into a centralised space.

See here for Slack and here for Microsoft Teams for more details about these integrations.


 
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Document Management Systems (DMS)

We support a number of different DMS systems at the same time enabling you to link client and practice documents to the various registers and tools throughout AccountKit.

Those that we currently support include:


See here for more details on how to connect them and make the best of having your client files at your fingertips.
 
twilio-logo-red.png

Twilio is an SMS carrier. AccountKit integrates with Twilio which means you can now send & receive SMS messages directly from AccountKit to your clients. Useful for account updates, appointment reminders, wishing clients happy birthday etc. 

 

You must have a Twilio account and active number to use this feature. If you do not have a Twilio account click the logo to go to the Twilio website and set one up. If you do already have a number and account click here to be taken to our set up Help article. 

outlook_premium.png

Logo_Gmail_256.png

We support integration with the two main email providers. By connecting up your email and installing the applicable addon or extension, you can push emails from Microsoft Outlook and Gmail directly into the correspondence register. If you happen to have a DMS system attached as well, you are able to save the applicable documents and link them back to the correspondence register entry.

 

Follow these links to find out how to install and make use of this feature.

 

FuseSign-logo_300ppi1 – Media Database

Stevie-Winning Next Generation eSigning Platform

 

FuseSign and Annature are our e-signing partners. These integrations allow you to manage your out for signature workflows directly through AccountKit.

 

For more information on how the FuseSign integration works, please click here.

For more information on how the Annature integration works, please click here.

 

Tool Settings

In the tool settings we have various options across the Administration, Compliance and Consulting tools which can be adjusted here. Further to this we can add and update tags, text templates and the business types. For details regarding the various tool settings checkout each of the help articles regarding the relevant tool you're looking at updating. 

i
 A tag, template or business type cannot be deleted once used anywhere within AccountKit. Instead, select the applicable item and elect to archive instead.

   

General tools

Dashboard

Here under dashboard tools, you can toggle on/off whether you want team members' ages to be displayed in the birthday dashboard.

You can also connect the practice Xero file for review on the main dashboard screen. This information will only be available to users with privileges above the 'Partner' level.

 

Global Lists

Tags

Tags in AccountKit facilitate a way to mark anything in AccountKit with an identifier that can be used to filter information in different ways. Tags can be specifically allocated to a tool, area of AccountKit, and/or left to be available anywhere.

For example, you may want a tag like "Capital Gains" which you want to be available within the Important Items Register, Professional Development Register and Correspondence Register. But you don't want it available within Equipment Finance. 

To add or update any tags or list items:

  • Simply click on the line to edit it. Once completed click outside of it to save.
  • Select the 3 dot action menu and elect to Archive or Delete (noting you can't delete a tag that's in use, only archive)
  • Add new options by selecting the "Create new" option.

 

Text templates

Text Templates allow your practice to create and manage reusable templates that can be used across multiple areas of AccountKit.

These templates can be utilised for a wide range of communication and record-keeping tasks, including client emails, bulk messaging campaigns, meeting notes, correspondence register entries and other commonly used text responses.

Text Templates are available in Workflow and Correspondence Register.

Use the Search bar to quickly find a template. 

 

To create a new template:

  • Click which will open a dialogue box.
  • Add a template name and a description that will help other users decide whether this is the template they want to use for their current task.
  • Create the template utilising Placeholders (see below) to prefill elements as required.
  • The Preview panel on the right lets you test the template against a selected client and contact as it updates automatically as placeholders are added or edited.
  • From here please see the menus & shared elements help for details of each icon.


Placeholders

A placeholder enables you to drop text based on specific client or practice details. For example: client and contact details, client group list, user/practice data, date/time, month and period fields.

Placeholders are available in Text templates, Workflow and Correspondence Register.

  1. Press the mceclip0.pngicon to show the placeholder options.
  2. Filter by the applicable placeholder.
  3. Select the desired placeholder to insert it into the body of the text.
    (note: if a placeholder field is blank, upon insert it'll just leave the placeholder text there for you to edit)
  4. Format the placeholder how you would like it to appear (e.g. bold, italic, different colour etc).

The system supports multiple placeholder styles, including: 

  • double brackets ((contact_first_name))
  • square brackets [contact_first_name]
  • older bracket conventions {contact_first_name}
  • date offsets like +2 or +3 still work as expected.

You can also use formulas to alter numbers. 

For example, if you're creating a template to serve as the base for sending out annual tax planning emails, you might want to use placeholders to fill up client and date details:

Subject: {{finyear}}/{{finyearshort+1}} | Tax Planning
Subject: 2026/27 | Tax Planning
Hi {{contact_first_name}},
​
Tax Planning for the {{client_group_name}}, including:
 
{{client_list_bullet}}
​
Please contact us on {{user_email}} or {{practice_phone}} to book an appointment.
 
{{practice_signature}}
Hi Ashlee,
 
Tax Planning for the RJ & AJ Bull Family Group, including:
 

Bull Antics Pty Ltd
Bull Buckets Pty Ltd
Bull Horns Unit Trust
Bull Investments Pty Ltd
Bull Nominees Pty Ltd
Bullish Pty Ltd
Crazy Bull Family Trust
Joanne Bloggs

 
Please contact us on fernandag@account-kit.com or 08 8231 1234 to book an appointment.
 
Kind regards,
 
Fernanda Garcia
 

 

Here's a full list of available placeholders: 

Placeholder Description
Contacts
Within the correspondence register, this can be a client or contact - it's the individual that a message is being addressed to.
{{contact_first_name}} Selected contacts first name
{{contact_last_name}} Selected contacts last name
{{contact_name}} Selected contacts name
{{contact_salutation}} Selected clients salutation
{{contact_email}} Selected contacts email address
{{contact_phone}} Selected contacts phone number
{{contact_mobile}} Selected contacts mobile number
Client
This is usually the client entity that is being referred to (ie. With regards to...)
{{client_first_name}} Selected clients first name
{{client_last_name}} Selected clients last name
{{client_full_name}} Selected clients full name
{{client_name}} Selected clients name (eg. company name, or individual name without middle name)
{{client_email}} Selected clients email address
{{client_phone}} Selected clients phone number
{{client_mobile}} Selected clients mobile number
{{client_ABN}} Selected clients ABN
{{client_ACN}} Selected clients ACN
{{client_entitytype}} Selected clients legal entity type
{{client_code}} Selected client's code
{{client_other}} The "Other" field of the selected client
{{client_street_address_single}}

Selected clients street address in a single line

79 West Terrace, Bordertown SA 5268
{{client_street_address_multi}}

Selected clients street address over multiple lines (ie. like you'd see on a letter.)

79 West Terrace
Bordertown  SA  5268
{{client_postal_address_single}} Selected clients street address in a single line
{{client_postal_address_multi}} Selected clients street address over multiple lines
Client Group
This populates details related to the entity group.
{{client_group_name}} Client group name of the selected client
{{client_group_list}} Client group list of the selected client
{{client_list_text}} Clients of the primary group of the selected client separated by commas
{{client_list_bullet}} Clients of the primary group of the selected client in HTML unordered list format
User
This populates fields based on the user doing the text template insert.
{{user_first_name}} Current user first name
{{user_last_name}} Current user last name
{{user_name}} Current user full name
{{user_display_name}} Current user's display name
{{user_email}} Current user email address
{{user_phone}} Current user phone number
{{user_mobile}} Current user mobile number
{{user_signature}} The current user's signature
Practice Details
These are fields specific to the details of your practice (set within the practice settings)
{{practice_name}} Your practice name
{{practice_ABN}} The practice ABN
{{practice_primary_contact}} Your primary contact name
{{practice_phone}} Your office main contact number
{{practice_email}} The general practice email address
{{practice_website}} The practice website address
{{practice_street_address_single}} The practice street address in a single line
{{practice_street_address_multi}} The practice street address over multiple lines
{{practice_postal_address_single}} The practice postal address in a single line
{{practice_postal_address_multi}} The practice postal address over multiple lines
{{practice_logo}} The practice logo
{{practice_signature}} The practice signature
Date & Time
Use these to add details around date and time to your templates, noting that all of these can be altered by formulas utilising "+" or "-". Example: {{finyear+1}} will translate to 2027
{{finyear}} Current financial year in format YYYY
{{finyearshort}} Current financial year in format YY
{{finmonthnum}} Month number within the financial year (e.g. July in AU = 01)
{{finquarternum}} Quarter number within the financial year
{{year}} Current calendar year in format YYYY
{{yearshort}} Current calendar year in format YY
{{quarternum}} Quarter number within the calendar year
{{month}} Current month in full format (e.g. September)
{{monthshort}} Current month in short format (e.g. Sept)
{{monthnum}} Current month in numerical format (e.g. 09)
{{today}} Current day in numerical format
{{date}} Current date in the format configured in Practice Settings

 

People

Individual name format

Client settings allow you to choose how you want the naming convention of your individual contacts to display. This is a neat feature since you can make a change to the format in AccountKit and push it across to XPM for a bulk update.
mceclip0.png
 
There are 4 choices to how you can have the individual name layout based on the name Joe Bloe Blogs:
 
Convention Result
[Last Name], [First Name] Blogs, Joe
[Last Name], [First Name] [Other Name] Blogs, Joe Bloe
[First Name] [Last Name] Joe Blogs
[First Name] [Other Name] [Last Name] Joe Bloe Blogs

 

The other options available in this section are to do with where you want to see the naming convention updated:
  • Enforce individual display name in AccountKit
    • Enabling this toggle will push the selected naming convention for all individuals within the AccountKit database.
    • It will also take the entries put into First, Other and Last name and automatically apply the appropriate format to the Display Name.
    • If you do not have this on, anything can be entered into the Display name irrespective of the content within the First, Other and Last names.
  • Enforce individual display name in XPM
    • Enabling this function will then update the display name in XPM based on how it is displayed in AccountKit.
    • Note - this may take some time to complete the action due to API speed limitations, during which time the toggle will be greyed out while the update completes. You will receive a notification in app when the process has been completed. (Refer to pop-up dialogue below).

Practice_Settings_-_Indiviaul_naming_-_update_dialogue_box.png

 

Business types

The business types serve a number of different purposes. 

  • It enables us to cross-check against the ATO data with respect to the underlying structure type. (hence the ATO Client Type field)
  • It defines the different business structure types for the client map. Each structure type's visuals can be set within the client map settings.

Fields include:

  • Name - This is the visual name you will see it referred to as across AccountKit
  • ATO Client Type - This is specific to AU and enables a structure type to be aligned with the ATO available types.
  • Individual Checkbox- This ensures you have the ability to show first, other and last names. Also determines the visuals within the Client Map.
  • Actions - As usual, this is where you can archive or delete business types.

 

Document Management

This section allows you to set default template elements for use within your linked document management system. For more information on DMS integrations.

 

Template Folders & Documents

As part of the advanced DMS functionality, you will be able to set up templated folder structures and insert template documents into client folders. The reason behind this functionality is to help facilitate a standardised approach to setting up folders and work paper documents for clients so there is consistency regarding how to approach work across your business.

To view your template folder structures and template documents that can be surfaced in the DMS window you will need to head to your Practice Settings > General > Document Management.

screenshot

 

Folder Templates

Screenshot 10-1-2023 1-35-37 PM.png

Icon Action Detail
1
 3 dot action menu 3 dot.png

From the 3 dot menu, you can edit and delete the selected template.

Editing from here allows you to modify the template name and description.
2
 + Create Template You can add a new folder template structure.
3
 Click on the template name Allows you to edit the underlying folder structure.

 

Creating a new folder template

Click "+ Create New" and a pop-up window will appear, from this pop-up give your folder structure template a name to easily identify its purpose and optionally add a short description:

From here you'll be taken to a blank window to start adding folders, add your folder by typing a name into the "+ Add folder" field and pressing the tab key or pressing enter to add the folder. (Note this is the same functionality when editing an existing folder template).

The left side of the window is where you can add the folders and the right side provides a preview of how the template will look in your DMS.

 

Additional options next to the folder include:

Icon Function
Create a sub-folder under the current folder.
Duplicate the current folder
Rename folder.
streamline-icon-bin@48x48.svg Delete folder.

When you are done, click Close.

i
 This functionality is not supported in FYI docs. They use a filing system that is based on cabinets rather than the traditional folder structure.

 

Document Templates

The document templates section allows you to hold your document templates for various tasks which can be added to a client folder when in the DMS window in AccountKit.

Screenshot 10-1-2023 2-06-57 PM.png

Icon Action Detail
1
 3 dot action menu 3 dot.png

From the 3 dot menu, you can edit and delete the selected template.

Editing from here allows you to modify the template name and description.
2
 + Create Template You can add a new folder template structure.
3
 Click on the template name Allows you to edit the underlying folder structure.

 

Creating a new file template

Click "+ Create New" and a pop-up window will appear, from this pop-up give your file template a name to easily identify its purpose, optionally add a short description and a facility to select a file from your DMS:

NOTE - One thing to keep in mind is this document is inserted directly into the client folder, therefore, you DO NOT want to save a template file type here. For example; an excel document is saved as an .xlsx, however, traditionally, if you wanted a template document you would save it as an .xltx. This is not the case when linking a 'template' document to AccountKit.

 

 

Integrations

The practising setting for integrations allows you to restrict who makes Xero blue connections to just being practice administrators. This can be toggled on or off.

 

Restricted Client Access 

Access groups are used to limit access and edit capabilities of specific clients. Any clients and their associated records added by way of group or individually will be controlled specifically by the groups below and no longer be available to all users. Where users and clients are assigned to multiple groups, the highest access right takes priority.

Restricted access groups once created will be listed like the ones above, however, to create a new user group select the '+ Create New' from the bottom of the list.

 

See below the following option you have to customise access to specific clients and/or groups:

restricted access group table breakdown

# Area Description
1 Restricted access-group name Define the name that best describes the restricted access group.
2 Restricted access-group description this element allows you to include further details about what this restricted access group is used for.
3 Restricted client selection

From here you can define the clients you want to be restricted via the restricted access group.

You can do this by selecting groups from your client database or by selecting individual clients.
4 Restricted tool access This section allows you to define tool(s) which will be restricted within the group
5 Tool access level

When defining the tool access you can also define the level of access users in this group have for the tools selected:

View - View access allows users to view the information within the selected tools.

Modify - Modify access allows users to create, edit and update schedules/details within the selected tools.

Full - Full access gives the same function as modify with the added benefit of being able to delete schedules as well.
6 User assignment

From here you can toggle to provide specific access to all users or assign this access to individual users of your choosing.

You can also add users to restricted access groups within the user management area.

 

Practice Settings for Tools

Please see below relevant links to take you to each specific tool help area which details out the Practice Settings for that specific tool.

Administration Tools

 

Compliance Tools

 

Consulting Tools

 

Practice Registers

 

Practice Address Register

The Practice Address Register's purpose is to ensure you can keep your global address list nice and tidy. It's easy to search and spot any duplicate or incorrect entries and tidy up as required.

To edit an address

  • Simply click on the address;
  • Make the required changes in the pop-up
  • Press [SAVE]

To update an incorrect address applied to some entities within a group.

  • Expand the client list in the first column for the incorrect address.

Practice_Settigns_-_Practice_Registers_-_Address_Registers.png

  • Open one of the clients on this list.
  • Edit the address for that client, changing it to the correct address
  • It will then apply this address to any other related clients within the group.

 

Client History Register

This is a full tracking log of all client changes over time. You can view at a client detail level, filtered by that client, or you can view the full history here and filter by users, clients, groups and dates.

 

User History Register

Similarly, this is a full tracking log of your users' access to AccountKit. You can filter these details on a per-user basis via User Management or you can view across your whole practice here where you can filter by user login details, password resets, resetting of 2FA etc. You can find out more here.

 

 

Shared Elements (Eg. Action Menu) Check out this link for various elements shared throughout the various toolsets.
Document Management System (DMS) This page will take you through how to connect to and utilise any number of cloud-based storage systems.
User Permissions How to add, remove, delete and set user permissions with AccountKit.

 

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