Partners: how to make the most of your free account!
Did you know that accounting and bookkeeping firms on the Float partner program get a free Float licence? You can use this to test-drive our software, and show clients how it works. It’s free for life, so you don’t have to worry about losing it.
We want to give you the chance to use Float yourself, helping you better understand its value, as well as which clients to recommend it to.
But what is the best way to test Float out? We’ll walk you through how to get the most out of your firm’s free Float partner account and start making cash flow forecasting a breeze.
Getting Started
Watch a demo
When you sign up to the Float partner program, we’ll do our best to give you a call to help you get set up. If you’d rather watch something on demand though, check out our most recent webinar recording.
Book a spot on a webinar
We run getting started webinars at different times every week. Find a time that works for you here! This is a great option if you have questions you’d like answered, as we can respond to those live on the webinar.
Connect your account
Once you’re ready, just log into Float and add your partner company.
Once you’ve done that, you can choose your accounting platform:
Connect to whichever company you prefer. If you are a Xero user, we recommend using the Xero Demo Company if you’d prefer not to use your own books.
Once you connect, Float will begin to import your accounting data. This can take a few minutes.
Using Float
Setting up your forecast
To get started, we recommend you enter some placeholders of future cash movement into your cash flow table on the first tab. Here’s a video explaining how to budget in Float.
To do this, just click into the cell in the month and accounting category you want. We’ll look at Advertising & Marketing in November:
Then what you’ll need to do is enter what we call a ‘budget’. This just means a cash placeholder for a future cash movement on the date you expect it to move.
I’ve already got a few budgets in here, but to add another, click on the Create Budget button, and fill in the details and repeating pattern.
A second way to enter forecasts more quickly is to use Spreadsheet Input. This lets you copy and paste from outside of Float, and easily add lump sum budgets each month. We recommend you do this for accounting categories where you expect to spend the same every month, such as rent, telephone and internet, and insurance, as it’s faster than clicking into each month on the main table.
Set up expected dates
The next most important thing to do is to go to your Invoices Due and Bills to Pay tabs, and set up your expected payment dates on upcoming invoices and bills. Here’s how to do that.
Click into each invoice or bill, or select them and go to batch actions > Set expected date. You can add a number of days to the date, or choose a specific date.
Do this for all overdue invoices and bills, and if you can, your upcoming but not yet overdue items. This will make your forecast much more accurate, as we base the forecast on payment dates.
Set up a scenario
We recommend you check out Float’s scenario planning tool. This is a powerful tool that can help you and your clients understand the cash impact of future plans. For instance, what if they hire new staff, or if a customer pays late? Model anything and everything cash-related in our scenario planning tool. Here’s a video explaining how to use scenarios.
Then go and change any forecasts you like to see the cash impact:
Export your forecast
Did you know you can export Float’s forecast to a CSV or a PDF? This can be really handy to send to clients and their stakeholders. Just go to this button on the Cash Flow tab:
Tips to optimise Float
Reconcile / match frequently
It’s really important that bookkeeping is up to date in the accounting software in order for Float to function at its best. If there are any unreconciled / unmatched transactions in the accounting software, these won’t pull through to Float. So we recommend that you or your clients reconcile or match transactions as frequently as possible in the accounting software.
Use expected payment dates
If you’re a Xero user, we recommend taking advantage of their ‘expected payment date’ feature on upcoming invoices, so that you not only have a due date, but an expected date when the clients will actually pay. This saves you work in Float!
Need help? Just ask!
If you have any questions along the way, we’re more than happy to help. Email us at support@floatapp.com, or send us a message while you’re using Float via our chat icon in the bottom right of your screen.
For more information on how to use, promote and price Float, check out our Accountant & Bookkeeper Resources Hub
