Help Centre

Everything you need to get the most out of CWS Pocket Ledger

Getting Started
Creating Your Account

Sign up for a free account to start tracking your finances. No credit card is required. Your data is private, secure and only accessible by you.

  1. Go to the Home page and click Get Started — It's Free.
  2. Fill in your name, email address and a password, then click Register.
  3. Check your email for a confirmation message and click the link to verify your account.
  4. Log in and you will be taken through the short Setup Wizard to configure your profile and first wallet.
  5. Once the wizard is complete you will land on your Dashboard — you are ready to go.
Adding Your First Wallet

A wallet represents a bank account, mobile money account or cash fund. Every transaction you record must be linked to a wallet. Set your opening balance so your current balance is accurate from day one.

  1. From the Dashboard click My Wallets or go to Tools → Wallets.
  2. Click + Add Wallet.
  3. Enter a name (e.g. "MTN MoMo"), choose your currency and enter the opening balance — the amount currently in that account.
  4. Click Save. The wallet appears in your list with the correct current balance.
  5. Repeat for each bank account, mobile money or cash fund you want to track.
  6. Note: Free plan allows 1 wallet. Upgrade to Personal or higher for more.
Recording Your First Transaction

Transactions are the core of the system. Record every money in (income) and money out (expense) to keep your balance accurate and your reports meaningful.

  1. Click + Add Transaction from the Dashboard or go to Tools → Transactions.
  2. Select the type: Income or Expense.
  3. Enter the amount.
  4. Select the wallet the money moved in or out of.
  5. Choose a category (e.g. Food & Groceries, Sales / Revenue). You can create a new category directly from the dropdown if needed.
  6. Set the date, add an optional description and note.
  7. Attach a receipt image if you have one (JPG, PNG, PDF up to 5MB).
  8. Click Save. The wallet balance updates automatically.
Transactions
Managing Categories

Categories let you group your transactions so you can see where your money is coming from and going to. You can use the built-in categories or create your own at any time — even while adding a transaction.

  1. Go to Tools → Categories to see all your income, expense and inventory categories.
  2. Click + Add Income or + Add Expense to create a new one.
  3. Give it a name, choose an icon and colour, then save.
  4. Alternatively, when adding a transaction open the category dropdown and type a name that does not yet exist — a Create New Category button will appear at the bottom of the dropdown. Click it to create and select in one step.
  5. To edit or delete a category click the pencil or trash icon next to it. Note: system default categories cannot be deleted.
Filtering & Searching Transactions

Use the filter bar on the Transactions page to quickly find what you are looking for by type, wallet, category or date range.

  1. Go to Tools → Transactions.
  2. Use the Type dropdown to show only Income or Expense.
  3. Use the Wallet dropdown to narrow down to a specific account.
  4. Use the Category dropdown to filter by category.
  5. Set a From and To date to limit the date range.
  6. Click Filter to apply. Click Clear to reset all filters.
Invoices Business+
Creating an Invoice

Create professional invoices for your clients with line items, tax, discounts and your business branding. Invoices are auto-numbered and can be downloaded as PDF.

  1. Go to Tools → Invoices and click + New Invoice.
  2. Select a client from the dropdown. If the client does not exist yet, click Add New Contact directly from the dropdown to create one without leaving the form.
  3. Set the issue date, due date and currency.
  4. Add line items — description, quantity and unit price. Click + Add Row for more items.
  5. Apply a tax rate (%) and/or a discount (GHS) if needed.
  6. Select an Income Category and the default wallet for when the invoice is paid.
  7. Add notes and terms & conditions (both visible to the client on the PDF).
  8. Click Save Invoice. The invoice is saved as Draft.
Sending an Invoice by Email

Send a beautifully formatted invoice directly to your client's email address with one click. The client receives a branded HTML email with all invoice details.

  1. Open the invoice you want to send.
  2. Click Email to Client.
  3. Confirm the recipient email address (pulled from the contact record).
  4. Click Send. The invoice status changes to Sent automatically.
  5. Requires: Email settings configured in admin Options → Platform Settings, and the client contact must have an email address.
Marking an Invoice as Paid

When a client pays, mark the invoice as paid. This automatically creates an income transaction in your chosen wallet and links it to the invoice.

  1. Open the invoice.
  2. In the Mark as Paid panel on the right, select the wallet the payment was received into.
  3. Select the Income Category for the transaction.
  4. Click Confirm Payment.
  5. The invoice status changes to Paid, an income transaction is created automatically, and your wallet balance is updated.
Downloading a Payment Receipt

Once an invoice is marked as paid, you can download a formal payment receipt as a PDF — useful for your records or to send to the client as proof of payment.

  1. Open a paid invoice.
  2. Click the green Download Receipt button at the top.
  3. A PDF receipt is downloaded with the receipt number, payment date, client details, line items and a PAID stamp.
Bills Business+
Creating a Bill

Bills represent money you owe to suppliers. Record purchase bills to track your payables, receive goods into inventory and record payment when you pay the supplier.

  1. Go to Tools → Bills and click + New Bill.
  2. Select a supplier from the dropdown. Create a new one on the spot if needed.
  3. Set the bill date, due date and currency.
  4. Add line items — link them to inventory products if applicable.
  5. Apply tax and discount if needed.
  6. Click Create Bill. The bill is saved as Draft.
Receiving Goods (Step 1)

Mark a bill as Received when the goods arrive. This updates your inventory stock levels automatically and moves the bill to Step 2 — paying the supplier.

  1. Open the bill.
  2. Click Mark as Received.
  3. Stock quantities for linked inventory products increase automatically.
  4. The bill status changes to Received. Now proceed to pay the supplier.
Paying a Bill (Step 2)

Once goods are received, record the payment to the supplier. This creates an expense transaction and clears the bill from your payables.

  1. Open a Received bill.
  2. Select the wallet to pay from.
  3. Select the Expense Category.
  4. Click Confirm Payment.
  5. An expense transaction is created and the bill is marked Paid.
Budgets
Setting Monthly Budgets

Set a spending limit for each expense category each month. The budget page shows how much you have spent versus your limit so you can stay on track.

  1. Go to Tools → Budgets.
  2. Use the month selector at the top right to choose the month.
  3. Enter an amount next to each category you want to limit. Leave it at 0.00 to skip that category.
  4. Click Save Budgets for [Month].
  5. The page now shows the budget, amount spent and remaining for each category.
  6. Tip: Enter 0 to remove a budget for a category.
Budget Alert Emails

The system automatically sends you an email alert when you have reached 80% or more of any budget category for the current month.

  1. Budget alerts run automatically via the Joomla scheduled task Budget Alert Emails.
  2. No setup is needed — alerts are sent to your registered email address.
  3. The email lists every category that has reached 80% or above of its monthly budget.
  4. To adjust alert frequency, update the task schedule in Joomla admin → System → Scheduled Tasks.
Inventory Business+
Adding a Product

Add products to your catalogue with cost price, selling price, SKU and stock level. The system tracks margins, stock value and movements automatically.

  1. Go to Tools → Inventory and click + Add Product.
  2. Enter the product name, SKU (optional), and category.
  3. Set the cost price (what you paid) and selling price (what you charge).
  4. Set the opening stock quantity.
  5. Optionally upload a product image.
  6. Click Save Product.
Manual Stock Adjustments

Record manual stock increases (purchases, returns) or decreases (damage, loss, corrections) directly from the inventory list at any time.

  1. Go to Tools → Inventory.
  2. Click the green icon on any product row.
  3. Select Stock In (increase) or Stock Out (decrease).
  4. Enter the quantity, date and an optional reason/note.
  5. Click Record Movement. The stock count updates immediately.
  6. Click View Recent History to see the last 15 movements for that product.
Inventory Tracking Page

The Inventory Tracking page shows a full audit trail of every stock movement — manual adjustments, purchases from bills, and sales from invoices — all in one filterable view.

  1. Go to Tools → Inventory and click Inventory Tracking.
  2. Use the filters to narrow by product, movement type, or date range.
  3. The table shows the date, product, movement type, reference (Invoice/Bill number), note, quantity change and running stock-after balance.
  4. Movement types include: Purchase / Stock In, Sale / Stock Out, Manual Adjustment, and Returns.
Organisations Team
Creating an Organisation

Create a shared workspace that your team can collaborate on. All records created in the org workspace are visible to all members based on their permission level.

  1. Go to Tools → Organisations and click + New Organisation.
  2. Enter the organisation name.
  3. Click Save. You are automatically the Owner.
Inviting Members

Invite colleagues to your organisation by email. They will receive an invitation link and can join with their existing account or create a new one.

  1. Open your organisation's page.
  2. In the Invite a Member panel, enter their email address and optionally their name.
  3. Click Send Invitation.
  4. They receive an email with an accept link. Once accepted they appear as Active members.
  5. Pending invites show in the Pending Invites counter until accepted.
Member Permissions

Control what each member can do in the shared workspace. Permissions can be configured at the admin level to enable or disable specific levels.

  1. View Only — member can see all data but cannot create, edit or delete anything.
  2. Can Create — member can add new records but cannot edit or delete existing ones.
  3. Can Edit — member can create, edit and update records but cannot delete.
  4. Full Access — the Owner automatically has full access to everything.
  5. To change a member's permission, open the organisation page and use the dropdown next to their name.
Switching Between Workspaces

Easily switch between your personal workspace and any organisation workspace you belong to. All pages show which workspace is active.

  1. On the Dashboard, look for the workspace switcher dropdown in the welcome banner.
  2. Click it and select either your personal workspace or an organisation.
  3. All data shown on every page automatically switches to the selected workspace.
  4. A green badge with the org name appears on every page to remind you which workspace is active.
Recurring Transactions Personal+
Creating a Recurring Rule

Set up rules for income or expenses that repeat on a schedule — monthly salary, office rent, subscriptions, internet bills and more. The system creates the transactions automatically.

  1. Go to Tools → Recurring and click + New Rule.
  2. Enter a description (e.g. "Office Rent", "MTN Subscription").
  3. Select the type: Expense or Income.
  4. Enter the amount and select the frequency: Daily, Weekly, Monthly or Yearly.
  5. Select the wallet and optionally a category.
  6. Set the start date — the first transaction will be created on this date.
  7. Click Create Rule.
  8. The scheduled task Process Recurring Transactions runs daily and creates transactions automatically on their due dates.
Reports & Analytics
Monthly Financial Summary

The Reports page gives you a full financial picture for any month — total income, total expenses, net position, income by category, expenses by category, and a 12-month trend chart.

  1. Go to Tools → Reports.
  2. Use the month selector at the top right to choose any month.
  3. The page loads your income, expenses, net position, category breakdowns and the 12-month net position chart.
  4. Scroll down to see the All Transactions table for the selected month.
  5. Click Export → CSV to download the transaction list as a spreadsheet.
Inventory Report

The Reports page also includes an Inventory section showing stock levels, cost value, selling value, margins and low-stock alerts for all your products.

  1. Go to Tools → Reports.
  2. Scroll down to the Inventory Summary section.
  3. The table shows each product with current stock, cost price, selling price, stock value (cost) and stock value (sell).
  4. Products below their reorder point are highlighted in orange.
  5. Click Export → Inventory CSV to download the inventory report.
Plans & Billing
Upgrading Your Plan

Upgrade from Free to Personal, Business or Team to unlock more features and higher limits. Payment is processed securely via Paystack using card, mobile money or bank transfer.

  1. Click Manage Plans → Upgrade Plan in the navigation.
  2. Choose the plan that fits your needs.
  3. Select a billing period — 1, 2, 3, 6 or 12 months. Longer periods give a percentage discount.
  4. If you have a coupon code, enter it in the coupon box and click Apply.
  5. Click Pay — Upgrade and complete the Paystack payment.
  6. Your plan activates immediately after successful payment.
Using a Coupon / Voucher

Coupons give you a discount on a specific plan. Each coupon is locked to one plan and can only be used a limited number of times per user.

  1. Go to the Upgrade page.
  2. Select the plan the coupon is for — the coupon will only apply to the matching plan.
  3. Enter your coupon code in the Coupon Code box and click Apply.
  4. If the coupon is valid, a green confirmation shows the discount amount.
  5. The Pay button updates to reflect the discounted total.
  6. Complete payment normally via Paystack.