360books has a practice layer built for accountants: every client's books under one login, the compliance calendar for your whole client base on one screen, and the day-to-day machinery a firm runs on. Pricing and the package are on the For accountants page; this guide is how it all works once you're in.
The practice dashboard
Practice (at /practice) is your morning screen: every client in one table with what needs attention — overdue invoices, unreconciled bank lines, and their next SARS deadline. A red dot means look; green means leave it. Click any client to jump straight into their books (you land on their Review page, which is exactly the "what's wrong here" question you opened them to answer).
+ Add a client creates a new client company right there — name, currency, year end, plan. You become its owner; use the invite field to give the client themselves admin access to their own books, or keep it practice-only.
The SARS deadline board
Below the client table: every VAT201, IRP6, ITR14 and EMP501 across your entire client base, sorted by due date, overdue in red with the days counted. This is the screen that replaces the deadlines spreadsheet. Click a row to land directly on that client's SARS page.
Jobs — who's doing what
The deadline board says what's due; the Jobs board below it says who's on it. One job per obligation per client per period, each with:
- a status — To do, Busy, Waiting on client, Done (overdue dates go red until done)
- an assignee — anyone on your firm's staff
- and the client, obligation and period it belongs to.
⚡ Seed from SARS deadlines creates a job for every upcoming obligation on every linked client in one click — it never duplicates, so re-seed whenever new periods roll in. Add anything else (annual financials, CIPC returns, once-off engagements) with a manual job. "19 VAT201s filed, 4 with Thandi, 2 waiting on clients" is now a glance, not a meeting.
Asking clients for documents
My firm → Document requests. Half of every practice's delay is chasing paperwork, so make it a link: pick the client, type what you need ("July & August bank statements"), and Create link puts a public upload link on your clipboard. Send it by email or WhatsApp.
The client opens it without any login — the link is the key (and it expires after 30 days; make a fresh one if a client takes a month) — and uploads PDFs or photos, several if needed. You get an email per upload, and the request card tracks waiting → files arrived → closed (you close it when you have everything).
Getting the files is right there in My firm: click 📂 Documents on any client in the Clients card (or View files on a request with arrivals) and every company document lists with a Download button — no need to open the client at all. The same files also live in the client's own file under Settings → Company documents. A bank statement sent this way still gets imported the normal way — download it, then run it through Banking → Import in the client's file.
My firm — staff, access and assignments
Practice → ⚙ My firm is the firm's own admin:
- Staff — add colleagues by email (they need a free 360books account first). Principals manage the firm; staff work in it.
- Clients — link the client companies you own or admin into the firm.
- Who works on which client — a grid of staff × clients; tick to grant access. A junior sees only the clients you've given them, and per-module permissions inside each client can narrow it further (capture without seeing payroll, for instance).
- Removing a staff member revokes every access the firm granted them, in one action.
Practice billing
The Your practice invoice card in My firm shows the live position:
- Under 6 client files there's no practice invoice — each file simply runs on its own subscription.
- From 6 files with books, every file moves onto the practice invoice at R300/month (payroll to 10 staff per file included; R30/month per head beyond that), your own firm's file is free (pick it in the dropdown), and empty shells with no books yet aren't counted or billed.
- Invoices generate automatically at month-end for the month just passed, the principal gets an email, and each row has Pay now (card/EFT via PayFast) and a PDF — the document your bookkeeper files against the bank debit. An invoice left unpaid past its due date locks the covered files (read-only, never deleted); payment unlocks them automatically.
Your referral link
Also on the billing card: your referral link. A business that signs up through it and subscribes on its own card counts toward your 6-file unlock — they pay their own way and are never billed or locked with your practice; they simply help you reach the practice rate sooner. The more of your world runs on 360books, the less your files cost.
The accountant seat, everywhere
Every 360books plan includes one free accountant seat — so clients who run their own books can invite you at no cost, and those clients appear on your practice dashboard alongside the files you manage fully. Either way, one login, one deadline board, one jobs list.