The problem with the notebook
A shop's account notebook has two problems, and both are old.
One, you add and subtract by hand, and finding a mistake at month end is hard work.
Two, there is only one notebook. If it is at the shop it is not at home, and if it gets wet or lost, nothing is left.
An accounts app on the phone fully solves the first problem. It solves the second only in part, and that part is the most important thing in this post.
First, that important thing
In this kind of app, whatever you write stays inside that phone or computer.
That means:
- Accounts written on the phone will not show when you open it on a computer
- If you clear the browser's data, the accounts go too
- If you lose the phone, those accounts go too
Why: the app is a web page, and the page keeps its data in the browser's own space. There is an upside too. Your sales figures do not go to anyone's server, and it works without internet.
This can be changed, but it needs a plan. On the Business or Commerce plan there is a feature called "cloud data": set a passcode on the site manager page and turn it on, and the accounts are stored on our server. Anyone with the passcode sees exactly the same accounts from any phone or computer. If the phone is lost, the accounts are still there. How to turn it on is written step by step in the cloud data guide.
The whole post below is written assuming browser storage, because that is where most people start.
And one more thing to know right away, or the app will seem broken: the accounts are not kept in the builder's preview. If you test there, the entries will be gone after you refresh the page. They are kept once you Publish the site and open it at the real address (your-name.banglacodes.app). They are not kept on the free share link either, which is also run separately for safety.
But this means the backup is your job. So when you build the app, say "add a CSV download button", and once a week download it and keep it in a folder on the phone or send it to your own email.
That one habit also solves the notebook's second problem.
What to say to get a working app
Say it in general terms and you get a general thing. Be specific.
One working example: "Build a daily accounts app for a shop. Each daily entry has a date, a type (sale or expense), a category, an amount and a note. The expense categories are buying stock, shop rent, electricity bill, staff, travel, other. At the top show today's sales, today's expenses and today's profit. At the bottom, the month's total. Add a CSV download button. In Bangla, with big text on the phone."
Then try a few entries yourself. Tell it each difficulty you find one at a time, not ten together.
The fields you really need
More fields means more work, and more work means it is not written any more after three days.
| Field | Why it is needed |
| Date | Best if today's date fills in by itself |
| Sale or expense | Two buttons, not typing |
| Category | The only way to see at month end where the expenses go |
| Amount | A big field, a big keyboard |
| Note | Free text, for writing who got credit |
The rest can wait. For the first month, use just these five fields and see whether the habit of writing holds. If it holds, then add the rest.
The credit (baki) account
For a small shop in Bangladesh, the biggest accounting problem is not sales, it is baki, the goods sold on credit.
If you like, ask the app to keep a separate list: who owes how much, since when, and when they last paid something. This one list is, for many shops, more useful than the whole app.
But remember, this too stays inside that phone. Losing the credit list means losing money, so download the CSV of this list even more regularly.
What to look at at month end
The real gain from building the app is not writing the numbers, it is looking at them.
Looking at three things is enough to make most decisions:
Which is the biggest expense category. Many people assume it is buying stock, and it turns out to be something else.
Which week has low sales. Then the decision to give an offer that week is not a guess.
Whether profit is rising or falling. You cannot tell from one month, but you can from three.
If you want a chart or report from the numbers, you can say so in the chat and have that made too.
When more than one person is involved
If two people write the accounts in the shop, keeping the data inside the phone stops working, because two phones will hold two sets of accounts.
The simplest fix is cloud data, which is on the Business plan: one passcode, and both write into the same accounts from their own phones. One thing to know: if two people change the same row at the same moment, the one who saves later is kept. In a small shop this does not cause trouble.
If you do not want to take a plan, there are two older ways: keep one phone or tablet just for the accounts, or take the entries through a form on the site so that they collect in one place.
To build an accounts app to fit your own shop, start from the accounts notebook page.
Questions and answers
Does the accounts data go to your server? Not unless you want it to. Normally the data stays in the browser's own space, meaning on that phone or computer, and then the backup is your job too. If you turn on cloud data yourself on the Business plan, the accounts are stored on our server, and they are in our regular backups too. You can download all of it as one file any time, and you can delete it too.
If I change phones, will I get my accounts? Not if they are stored in the browser, which is why the habit of downloading the CSV matters. If cloud data is on, you will: open the site on the new phone and enter the passcode, and the whole accounts come down.
Will it work without internet? Once the page is open you can write, because the accounts are stored in the browser. But the page needs internet to open the first time, so if the network in your shop is weak, open it once in the morning. A Published site also works offline after it has been opened once.
I tested in the builder and nothing is kept, why? The storage is switched off inside the preview, so refreshing there loses the entries. Publish the app and open it at your-name.banglacodes.app, and it will be kept there. Publishing is free.
Excel can do this, so why an app? Excel can, if you are comfortable in Excel. The advantage of the app is big buttons and few fields, so you can put in an entry in ten seconds standing in the shop. And the CSV you download opens in Excel.
Can I have my employee write in it? Yes. If cloud data is on, give them the passcode and they write into the same accounts from their own phone. If they leave, change the passcode and their access stops at once. Without cloud data it works only on the same phone, and on a separate phone the accounts split into two places.
How do I bring in the accounts from the old notebook? You do not need to bring in all of it. Choose a date and start from that day, and keep the old notebook. After a couple of months, once the new habit has settled, you will not need to look at the old accounts at all.
Can this do the VAT or tax accounts? This is the shop's own account book, not a tax filing paper. The rules for tax or VAT accounts are separate, so find out from your accountant. But if the accounts are in order, their job is easier.
Can I make an invoice from the accounts? That is a separate job, and its rules are in the post on cash memo and invoice. If you like, you can ask for both parts in the same app, but for the first month it is better to run just the accounts.
In short
- The accounts are normally kept inside that phone or computer, not on a server
- If you want the same accounts on every device, use cloud data on the Business plan, turned on with just one passcode
- They are not kept in the builder's preview, they are kept after you Publish
- So add a CSV download button and download it once a week
- In the first month five fields are enough: date, type, category, amount, note
- Keep the baki list separate, in a small shop it is the most useful part
- At month end look at three things: the big expense category, the low-sales week, the pace of profit
- If two people write, keeping it in the phone stops working, and you have to take cloud data or the form route