About this manual

This manual describes SAABI, a desktop accounting application that keeps your books in a single file on your own computer. It covers setting up a company, recording sales and purchases, managing inventory, reading the financial reports, working with the built-in assistant, and protecting your data with backups.

The manual is organised in ten parts. Parts One and Two get a new company running and explain the ideas the rest of the manual assumes. Parts Three to Seven follow the day-to-day work — sales, purchases, shared records, reports and inventory. Part Eight covers the assistant.

Part Nine covers backups and working with more than one company. Part Ten is the settings reference, followed by three appendices.

You do not need to read it in order. Each chapter opens by saying what the screen is for and when you would use it, so you can start wherever your question is.

Conventions used

Screenshots in this manual were taken from a demonstration company, Saabi Demo Trading LLC, working in US dollars. Your own figures, company name and currency will differ.

Licence and disclaimer

SAABI contains free software licensed under the GNU Affero General Public License v3.0, and comes with absolutely no warranty. You are welcome to redistribute it under the terms of that licence; the corresponding source is available from the Saabi team.

SAABI is not tax-compliance software. It does not file returns in any jurisdiction, and nothing in it — or in this manual — constitutes tax advice. Configure your own rates, and talk to a local accountant.