Sales
The Customer Portal
Give every customer their own account page with you: all their invoices, the payments they’ve made, what they still owe and a statement they can print — on their phone or computer, with no password to remember.
For your customers
1What your customers see
A customer who opens an invoice link you’ve shared sees a View all your invoices and payments button under the invoice. That takes them to their own account with your business: your logo and name at the top, their name, and their balance with you in your own currency.
A customer is anyone in Contacts marked as a Customer with an email address. They only ever see invoices made out to them. Drafts and invoices still waiting for approval stay hidden until you send them.
2How they sign in
- They enter their email address (it’s filled in for them when they come from an invoice).
- We email them a one-time sign-in link, with your business name and logo.
- They tap Open my account in the email, then Open my account once more on the page that opens.
The link works once and expires after 30 minutes. They then stay signed in on that device for 30 days, or until they tap Sign out.
Whatever email is typed, the page always says “If that email is on file, we’ve sent a link”. Nobody can use the form to find out who your customers are.
3Their account page
- Six summary cards: total invoiced, total paid, outstanding balance, overdue (with how many invoices), last payment, and average days to pay.
- Three charts: payments made each month, invoices by status (paid, outstanding, overdue), and invoiced versus paid over the last 12 months.
- Invoices: number, date, due date, amount, balance and status, with search and quick filters for Outstanding, Overdue and Paid.
- Payments made: date, amount, method (for example Mobile Money or Cash) and which invoice it paid.
- Statement: every invoice and payment in date order with a running balance.
If the same email is a customer of more than one business on FinAccounting, a Your suppliers on FinAccounting bar lets them switch between those businesses. Each business only ever shows its own invoices.
4Statements and invoices
View on any invoice opens that invoice’s own page, where it can be printed or saved. Download / print statement opens a clean printable statement. Use the browser’s Print and choose Save as PDF to keep a copy. CSV downloads the same statement as a spreadsheet.
For your business
5Invite a customer
Open the customer from Contacts, Sales or Receivables (click their name). Under Customer Portal, click Send portal invite. They get an email from your business with a link to their account. An invite link works once and lasts 7 days. After that they can always ask for a fresh link at the sign-in page.
The customer needs an email address in their contact details first.
6See when they last signed in
The same Customer Portal box shows Portal: Last signed in … (or “Not signed in yet”) and the date of your last invite. It’s a handy way to see whether a customer has looked at their balance before you call them.
7Turn the portal off
The portal is on for every business by default. To turn it off, go to Settings → Company, untick Let customers view their invoices and payments online and save. The button disappears from your invoice pages, and your customers can no longer sign in to see your invoices. Shared invoice links still work.
Privacy and security
- Customers never get a FinAccounting login and can’t reach your business’s app, reports or other customers.
- They see only the customer side of their invoices. Your costs, profit, internal notes, bank accounts and ledger are never shown.
- Sign-in links are single-use, expire quickly and are limited per email address and per network, so the form can’t be used to flood an inbox.
- If you remove a contact, or change their email, their access to your invoices ends straight away.
Common questions
A customer says the email never arrived. Check that the email in their contact details is correct, and ask them to look in their spam folder. They can request a new link after a few minutes.
Can customers pay online from the portal? Not yet. They can see what’s due and download their statement, then pay you the usual way. When you record the payment, it appears in their account.
What’s the “Run your own business on FinAccounting — free” card? Customers who run a business themselves can start their own free FinAccounting account in a couple of taps, with their name and email already filled in.