Create your Bokio account

Create your account at app.bokio.co.uk. Click “Create account”.

First you should enter your e-mail address and your first and last name. Make sure you read our general terms and conditions and the privacy policy.

When you click “Continue”, an e-mail will be sent to you containing a link to activate your e-mail address. Alternatively, you can enter the code included in the e-mail and then click “Continue”.

Check your spam folder if you don’t receive the e-mail, or click “Send again” to get a new activation code. If you still don’t receive the e-mail, please just get in touch with us at support@bokio.co.uk and we’ll be happy to help.

enter 4 digit code

Step 1: Select a password

Once you’ve activated your e-mail address, you’ll need to choose a password. Choose a password that is as strong as possible. Click “Continue”.

choose your password

Step 2: Add your company

You can now search for your company from Companies House and retrieve the company information directly from there. If the company isn’t registered yet, or if you can’t find the right company, just click “Continue” to proceed.

I can’t find my company when searching in Companies House

  • Is your company registered with Companies House?
  • “Ltd” can sometimes be entered as “limited” with Companies House. Try searching for this instead.
  • The system may struggle to find your company name if it contains characters other than letters. Try removing these and then search again (for example, if your company is called “Hannah & Co” try “Hannah Co” instead).

Once you’ve created your first company in Bokio, you can create multiple companies under the same username.

search for your company

Once you find your company, click on it, then “Continue”, and the details will be imported directly.

Step 3: Enter the company details

In this case, the company was not listed with Companies House, because the company is a sole trader and we can only fetch information from Limited Companies. The details have to be entered manually. This can also be done and changed later after you’ve created your company in Bokio.

enter company details

In terms of company type, in Bokio you can choose Limited Company, Sole Trader or Partnership.

The address is the registered address of the company.

Not all details need to be filled in now. You can edit them later in Settings → Contact details & Company type. Click “Continue” to proceed.

Step 4: Customise your business

Set whether or not your business is registered for VAT. You then may receive another question depending on your type of business (sole trader, limited company or partnership) and also based on whether or not you’re registered for VAT.

Sole Trader - Not VAT Registered - What accounting method do you use?

  • Accrual or invoice basis records revenues and expenses when they are incurred, regardless of when cash is exchanged.
  • Cash basis recognises revenue and expenses only when money changes hands.

Sole Trader/Partnership - VAT Registered - What accounting method and VAT scheme do you use?

  • Accrual or invoice basis with accrual VAT records income and expenses based on the date they occurred (when the invoice is raised). This is also known as invoice basis. This also means that you pay or reclaim VAT to or from HMRC based on invoice date.
  • Accrual or invoice basis with cash VAT records income and expenses based on the date they occurred (when the invoice is raised). However, you pay or reclaim VAT to or from HMRC based on the date invoices were paid.
  • Cash basis records income and expenses based on the date that invoices and expenses were paid and VAT is paid or reclaimed to or from HMRC based on the date invoices were paid. In this method invoices are not recorded until the invoice is paid.

Limited Company - Registered for VAT - What VAT Scheme do you use?

  • Accrual VAT: you pay or reclaim VAT to or from HMRC based on the date invoices were paid.
  • Cash VAT: you pay or reclaim VAT to or from HMRC based on the date invoices were paid

Limited Company - Not registered for VAT - No additional questions

Finally you should choose your fiscal year. You should select first fiscal year if you are preparing the bookkeeping for the first fiscal year, you will then need to enter the start date and your fiscal year end. Or, if it is another fiscal year end you just need to enter your fiscal year end.

customise your account

Done! Now you can start using Bokio.