Installation & Setup Guide

1.Before you begin

Set aside about 30 to 45 minutes for a first installation. Most of that time is the SQL Server download and install, which runs unattended once started.

What you need

The order to do things in

1. Decide which database you will use (section 2). This is the one decision worth thinking about first.
2. If you chose SQL Server, install and configure it (sections 3 to 5).
3. Install AcctApp and activate your licence (sections 6 and 7).
4. Point AcctApp at the database and let it build itself (section 8).
5. Create your administrator account and set up your company (section 10).

2.Choosing your database

AcctApp does not store your data in the cloud. Everything lives in a database that you own, on your own machine or on a server in your own office. Which database engine holds it is up to you, and you pick one the first time you launch the application.

Microsoft SQL Server

SQL Server runs as a Windows service in the background. Your data sits inside it, and AcctApp connects to it, either on the same machine or across your office network. It is what we build and test against, and it is what we would put a business on.

The reason that matters most is concurrency. A server database lets several people read and write at the same time without locking each other out or leaving half-written records behind, which is precisely what a shared file cannot do. Everything is written through a transaction log, so a power cut in the middle of an invoice is a non-event.

The rest follows from being a proper server: it stays quick as the years of invoices, stock movements, bank lines and POS transactions pile up, it can be backed up on a schedule and restored to a point in time or onto different hardware, and if you eventually need more than the free edition allows, you change the licence rather than the data.

What it costs you is one install and a handful of settings, which sections 3 to 5 cover in full.

SQLite (portable)

The alternative is a single database file sitting on disk. No server, no service, nothing to configure; AcctApp opens the file and writes to it directly. Point it at a path and you are running, and the entire database is one file you can copy onto a laptop or a USB stick.

The catch is that it is genuinely one person at a time. Putting the file on a network drive so two people can share it is the classic way to end up with a corrupt database, so please do not. There is no scheduled backup and no point in time recovery either, just you copying a file and hoping it was not mid-write when you did. Large tables also start to drag on reports and searches in a way they do not under SQL Server.

None of that makes it useless. For evaluating AcctApp, for training someone, or as a test copy alongside a real database, it is exactly the right tool, and nothing you enter is stranded there: section 8.4 covers moving it into SQL Server when you are ready.

Side by side

Our advice, then: use SQL Server Express. It is free, it is the same engine the paid editions run, and it lifts every restriction in that table except raw size. If you are only kicking the tyres this week, start on SQLite and switch once you are ready to enter data you care about. Whatever you entered in the meantime can be carried across, and section 8.4 sets out how.

3.Which SQL Server licence to choose

Microsoft ships SQL Server in several editions. They are the same engine underneath; what differs is the licence, the price, and the ceilings the engine will let you hit. This trips up a lot of people, so here is the short version.

Why Express is the right starting point

Express is not a trial edition and it does not expire or nag. Plenty of businesses run on it for years and never move off it. The SQL that AcctApp issues against Express is identical to the SQL it issues against Enterprise, so nothing in the application behaves differently on the free edition.

As for the 10 GB, that is far more accounting than it sounds. Invoices, journals, contacts and stock records are small rows of text and numbers. Document attachments, POS product images and mobile receipt captures are written to disk as files rather than into the database, so they do not count towards the limit at all.

And if you do outgrow it, moving up is a licence change rather than a migration: run the SQL Server installer, choose Edition Upgrade, enter a Standard key. The database files are left where they are, so your data and your AcctApp settings come across untouched.

Checking how much of the 10 GB you have used

Run this in SQL Server Management Studio against your AcctApp database at any time:

SELECT
    CAST(SUM(size) * 8.0 / 1024 AS DECIMAL(10,1)) AS AllocatedMB,
    CAST(SUM(FILEPROPERTY(name,'SpaceUsed')) * 8.0 / 1024 AS DECIMAL(10,1)) AS UsedMB
FROM sys.database_files
WHERE type_desc = 'ROWS';

Express stops accepting new data at 10240 MB used. If you see yourself passing about 8000 MB, it is time to plan the upgrade to Standard.

4.Installing SQL Server Express

Do this on the machine that will hold your data. In a single-PC business that is simply your PC. In an office, it is whichever machine or server stays on during business hours.

Download

1. Go to microsoft.com/sql-server/sql-server-downloads.
2. Scroll to the free editions and choose Express, then Download now. Take the current version; AcctApp works with SQL Server 2016 and later, and the current release is the sensible choice.
3. Run the small file you downloaded. It is a bootstrapper that fetches the real installer.

Run the installer

1. Installation type. You are offered Basic, Custom and Download Media. Choose Custom. Basic makes several decisions for you that you will have to undo, including the authentication mode.
2. Accept the download location and let it pull down the installation files, then choose New SQL Server stand-alone installation when the Installation Center opens.
3. Work through the licence terms, the update check and the rule check. Warnings about Windows Firewall at this stage are expected and are dealt with in section 5.
4. Feature selection. Tick Database Engine Services. Nothing else is required. Full-Text and Semantic Extractions is harmless if you want it, and Machine Learning Services, Integration Services, Reporting Services and Analysis Services are all unnecessary for AcctApp.
5. Instance configuration. See the box below before you choose. The default is a named instance called SQLEXPRESS.
6. Server configuration. Leave the service accounts as they are. Set the SQL Server Browser service startup type to Automatic if you are using a named instance and other PCs will connect.
7. Database Engine Configuration, Server Configuration tab. Choose Mixed Mode (SQL Server authentication and Windows authentication). This step is not optional. See the warning below.
8. Set a strong password for the sa account and write it down somewhere safe. Then click Add Current User so your Windows account is also a SQL Server administrator.
9. Collation tab. Leave it alone. AcctApp creates its own database with the collation it needs (Latin1_General_CI_AS), regardless of the server default.
10. Data Directories tab. If the machine has a second, larger or faster drive, point the data and log directories there. Otherwise leave the defaults.
11. Install, then restart the machine if prompted.

Also install SQL Server Management Studio

SSMS is a separate free download, offered as a link at the end of the Express installer or from Microsoft's SSMS download page. You do not need it for day to day AcctApp use, but it makes creating logins, taking backups and checking database size far easier. Install it.

5.Configuring SQL Server for AcctApp

Three things to set up: a login for AcctApp to use, network access so the connection can be made, and the firewall if other machines will connect.

5.1 Create a login for AcctApp

You can use the sa account, but a dedicated login is better practice and makes it obvious in the logs what is connecting. Open SSMS, connect to your instance, click New Query and run:

-- Create a login for AcctApp
CREATE LOGIN acctapp_user
    WITH PASSWORD = 'ChooseAStrongPasswordHere',
    CHECK_POLICY = ON;

-- Let AcctApp create its own database on first connect
ALTER SERVER ROLE dbcreator ADD MEMBER acctapp_user;

That is all that is needed. On first connect, AcctApp creates the database itself and becomes its owner, which gives it full rights over its own data and none over anything else on the server.

If your policy does not allow dbcreator

Create the database yourself and grant the login ownership of just that database:

CREATE DATABASE AcctApp COLLATE Latin1_General_CI_AS;
GO
USE AcctApp;
CREATE USER acctapp_user FOR LOGIN acctapp_user;
ALTER ROLE db_owner ADD MEMBER acctapp_user;

5.2 Enable TCP/IP

SQL Server Express ships with network access switched off. This must be turned on even for a connection from the same machine.

1. Open SQL Server Configuration Manager. It is not on the Start menu on newer Windows builds; press Windows+R and run SQLServerManager16.msc (adjust the number to your version: 16 for SQL Server 2022, 15 for 2019).
2. Expand SQL Server Network Configuration, then click Protocols for MSSQLSERVER or Protocols for SQLEXPRESS.
3. Right-click TCP/IP and choose Enable.
4. For a named instance where you want a fixed port, double-click TCP/IP, go to the IP Addresses tab, scroll to the IPAll section at the bottom, clear TCP Dynamic Ports and set TCP Port to 1433. This is worth doing: a fixed port means you do not depend on the SQL Server Browser service.
5. Go to SQL Server Services, right-click SQL Server and choose Restart. Network settings only take effect after a restart.

5.3 Open the firewall (only if other PCs will connect)

Skip this if AcctApp and SQL Server are on the same machine. Otherwise, run PowerShell as Administrator on the SQL Server machine:

New-NetFirewallRule -DisplayName "SQL Server (TCP 1433)" `
  -Direction Inbound -Protocol TCP -LocalPort 1433 -Action Allow

# Only needed if you kept a dynamic port on a named instance
New-NetFirewallRule -DisplayName "SQL Server Browser (UDP 1434)" `
  -Direction Inbound -Protocol UDP -LocalPort 1434 -Action Allow

5.4 Confirm it works before touching AcctApp

From a Command Prompt, test the login you just created:

sqlcmd -S localhost -U acctapp_user -P "YourPassword" -Q "SELECT @@VERSION"

For a named instance, use -S localhost\SQLEXPRESS. A version banner means everything above worked, and any problem AcctApp reports afterwards is a setting in AcctApp rather than in SQL Server.

6.Installing AcctApp

1. Download AcctApp Setup 9.7.0.exe from acctapp.com.au.
2. Run it. Windows SmartScreen may show a blue "Windows protected your PC" panel because the installer is newly published. Click More info, then Run anyway.
3. Choose the installation folder, or accept the default. The installer creates a desktop shortcut and a Start menu entry.
4. Launch AcctApp.

On a networked setup, repeat this on every workstation. SQL Server is installed once, in one place only.

7.Activating your licence

The first screen asks for your licence key.

1. Paste the key from your trial or purchase email, in the form XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX.
2. Click Activate. AcctApp checks the key online, which takes a second or two.
3. The application then moves on to the database screen.

Trial keys unlock every feature for 30 days. After that, entering a purchased key in the same place picks up exactly where you left off; nothing is lost and nothing needs reinstalling.

AcctApp rechecks the licence online from time to time. If the machine has been offline for an extended period you may see a Licence verification required prompt, which clears with a single click once you are back online.

8.Connecting to your database

This is the screen headed Database connection needed. It appears on first launch, and any time afterwards that AcctApp cannot reach its database, so you are never locked out by a connection problem.

At the top are two buttons: SQL Server and SQLite (portable). Choose one, fill in the fields, then use Test connection before Save & connect.

8.1 The SQL Server fields

Server / hostname

The machine SQL Server runs on. Use localhost if it is this PC, otherwise the computer name (for example OFFICE-SERVER) or its IP address. Enter the machine name only here; the instance goes in its own field below.

Port

Leave at 1433 unless you deliberately changed it. This field is ignored when an instance name is supplied.

Database name

AcctApp is the default and is a good choice. If the database does not exist yet, AcctApp creates it. Letters, numbers and underscores only.

Instance name (optional)

Leave empty for a default instance. Enter SQLEXPRESS (or your instance name) if you installed a named instance. When this is filled in, AcctApp asks the SQL Server Browser service to locate the instance and ignores the Port field, so the Browser service must be running.

Username and Password

The SQL Server login from section 5.1, for example acctapp_user. Windows authentication is not used for the database connection, which is why Mixed Mode is required.

Trust server certificate

Leave ticked for a normal installation. A default SQL Server install uses a self-signed certificate, and unticking this makes the connection fail unless you have installed a proper certificate issued by a certificate authority.

Worked examples

8.2 The SQLite field

One field: the path to the database file, for example C:\AcctAppData\acctapp.db. The folder must already exist; the file is created if it is not there. Choose a location that is backed up and that is not inside a folder synchronised by OneDrive, Dropbox or similar, since sync clients can corrupt an open database file.

8.3 What happens when you click Save & connect

This is the moment AcctApp builds itself. In order, it:

1. Creates the database if it does not exist, with the Latin1_General_CI_AS collation.
2. Creates and updates every table and index it needs. This runs again automatically after each future update, which is how your database stays in step with the application.
3. Seeds the reference data: currencies, account types, the Australian GST tax codes (GST, CAP, FRE, INP, N-T) and a starter Australian chart of accounts.
4. Creates a placeholder company called My Company, which you rename in the setup wizard.
5. Reloads into the login screen.

The first connect takes a little longer than later ones while all of this is created. If the screen sits for 30 seconds, that is normal.

8.4 Moving from SQLite to SQL Server later

If you started on SQLite to have a look around and now want to do this properly, your data comes with you. What it does not do is come across on its own: changing the connection points AcctApp at a different, empty database, so you have to carry the data over deliberately. The mechanism is a snapshot, which is a complete dump of every table as JSON and is not tied to either database type.

1. While still connected to SQLite, go to Settings, then Backup & Restore and click Snapshot now. It will report how many tables and rows it wrote.
2. Install and configure SQL Server (sections 4 and 5).
3. Point AcctApp at the new SQL Server database and connect, exactly as in section 8.1. You will get a fresh, empty company; ignore it, and sign in with the administrator account it asks you to create.
4. Go back to Settings, then Backup & Restore, find your snapshot in the list, and click Restore. You will be asked to type RESTORE to confirm, because this overwrites everything in the database you are currently connected to. That is the point here, but read the dialog and make sure you are connected to the new database and not the old one.
5. AcctApp reloads. Everything you entered on SQLite, including your users and settings, is now in SQL Server.

The same procedure works in reverse, and is how you would take a copy of a live SQL Server database down onto a laptop for training.

9.Connection troubleshooting

Test connection reports the exact message SQL Server returned. The common ones:

10.Setting up your first company

10.1 Create the administrator account

The first time you reach the login screen, AcctApp has no users, so it offers Create your administrator account instead. Enter your full name, a username and a password of at least six characters.

This first account is granted the System Administrator security card, which has full unrestricted access, including the ability to create the other users and to decide what each of them can see. Treat it accordingly.

10.2 The setup wizard

After the first sign-in, a short wizard collects the details that shape the rest of the system:

• Business name, ABN or ACN, business type and industry
• State and whether you are registered for GST
• Financial year end (30 June for most Australian businesses)
• Base currency and whether you deal in more than one
• Default invoice payment terms and date format

You can dismiss the wizard and complete it later. Everything it asks is also available in Settings.

10.3 Recommended first hour

1. Go to Accounts, then Chart of Accounts, and read through what AcctApp has seeded. It is a standard Australian chart, and it is meant to be changed: rename accounts, add the ones you need, deactivate the ones you do not. Doing this before you enter transactions is far easier than doing it after.
2. Check the tax codes while you are there. GST at 10%, CAP, FRE, INP and N-T come pre-loaded.
3. Set up your bank accounts, so reconciliation and bank feeds have somewhere to land.
4. Enter your opening balances as at your start date, using a journal. If you are coming off other software, the Migration page will bring contacts, stock and balances across for you.
5. Add your users in Settings and give each one a security card that matches their role.
6. Turn on backups (section 12). This is the one people put off.
7. Run the Health Check in Settings. It reviews the setup and flags anything missing, such as a system account that has not been assigned.

11.Multi-user and networked setup

AcctApp licences do not limit how many people can use the system. The arrangement is one SQL Server holding the data, with AcctApp installed on each workstation and pointed at it.

1. Install and configure SQL Server once, on the machine that stays on (sections 4 and 5), including the firewall rules.
2. Install AcctApp on each workstation (section 6) and activate it.
3. On each workstation, enter the same server, database, username and password on the connection screen. The first machine creates the database; the others simply find it.
4. Create a user account for each person, and assign security cards to control what they can reach.

Live and Test databases

Settings, then Database Connections lets you define named connections such as Live and Test, switch between them from the login screen, open a second window against a different one, and copy data from Live into Test for training or trialling a process. Connections marked as protected cannot be overwritten by a copy, which stops the obvious accident.

Point of sale terminals

The tablet and mobile POS clients connect to the AcctApp machine over your local network rather than directly to SQL Server. Set them up from POS Admin once the main installation is working.

12.Backups

Keeping your data on your own hardware is the whole point of AcctApp, but it does mean the backups are yours to arrange. Do it on day one, before there is anything worth losing.

Built into AcctApp

Under Settings, then Backup & Restore, you can take a snapshot of your data on demand, or nominate a folder and have AcctApp write backups there automatically. Put that folder on an external drive or a network share rather than the disk the database lives on. There is a backup-on-exit option as well, which writes a copy every time you close the application.

Backups can be encrypted with a passphrase, which is what makes an off-site copy safe to store anywhere. Keep the passphrase somewhere other than alongside the backup, or you have an unreadable file. There is also a cloud backup option if you have a remote destination configured.

At the SQL Server level

Worth adding as well, particularly if the whole business is running on this. A simple full backup:

BACKUP DATABASE AcctApp
TO DISK = 'D:\Backups\AcctApp.bak'
WITH INIT, COMPRESSION, STATS = 10;

On Express, run this from a scheduled task rather than the SQL Server Agent. Save the statement as a .sql file and schedule it with Windows Task Scheduler:

sqlcmd -S localhost -U acctapp_user -P "YourPassword" -i C:\Scripts\backup.sql

13.Where AcctApp keeps things

Application data lives in %APPDATA%\AcctApp. Paste that into File Explorer to open it.

Your accounting data itself is not here. It is in SQL Server, or in the SQLite file you nominated.

14.Updates

AcctApp checks for new versions on launch and can download and install them for you. When a new version starts for the first time, it applies any database changes automatically, so there is nothing to run by hand.

Updates are included for 12 months from purchase, and keep coming after that with the optional annual maintenance plan.

On a networked setup, update the workstations reasonably close together. Whichever one you update first will bring the shared database up to the new structure. And take a backup before a major version change; it takes a minute and occasionally saves an afternoon.

15.Getting help

If something here does not go to plan, we would rather hear about it than have you fight it.

• In the application: Help, then Submit request. Your product key and version are attached automatically.
• On the web: acctapp.com.au/support.php. You will need your product key.
• By email: support@acctapp.com.au.

When reporting a connection problem, include the exact message from Test connection and whether the sqlcmd check in section 5.4 succeeded. That usually gets straight to the answer.