Set up Moneybird so it produces financial reports (balance sheet and P&L) your annual report can use, correct VAT filings, and the necessary data to be used for financial monitoring. A new administration takes seven steps; switching from another accounting system adds five.
🧭 Why the order matters
Moneybird builds on what you enter first. It selects your default categories based on the legal form behind your KvK number, and it only files VAT returns once your organization is verified. Follow the steps in order and nothing needs redoing.
🔀 Which situation are you in?
- Starting a new administration. Your organization has never kept books in any system. Do steps 1 to 7. Moneybird's starter guide covers everyday invoicing and booking costs (see Moneybird kennisbank: Starten in Moneybird ).
- Switching from another accounting system. Your organization keeps its books in another package, such as Twinfield or Exact, or in Excel. Choose your switch date first (step A). Then do steps 1 to 7, followed by steps B to E.
🚀 Switching or starting from scratch: always start here
Step 1: Start a trial and choose a plan
Use our recommendation link for an extended trial period (see Non-profit software tools discounts ).
Choose a plan based on your needs. We recommend a plan that includes the automatic bank connection and the possibility to file VAT returns from Moneybird. Also consider your (expected) number of bank transactions, since some plans limit the number of transactions you can process per month.
You don't need to choose your plan right at the start. Moneybird offers a 60-day trial period (120 days if you sign up using a "tell a friend" link) with unlimited access. This allows you to get to know the system and your needs before you commit to a plan.
Step 2: Enter and verify your KvK and VAT numbers
Fill in the KvK number and VAT number at Instellingen > Bedrijfsgegevens.
Verify the organization at Instellingen > Vertrouwen en verificatie. The owner of the Moneybird administration does this; an accountant or adviser can send the owner a request from that page. Verification takes 5 to 10 minutes with an ID in the Moneybird app, or 2 to 4 days by letter to the KvK address. Moneybird then verifies the VAT number automatically, provided the address at the KvK matches the address known to the Belastingdienst (see Moneybird kennisbank: Verificaties voor btw-aangifte ).
Without verification, Moneybird cannot send your VAT return, and you will in turn have to file your return by typing the figures into the Belastingdienst portal by hand (see Moneybird kennisbank: De btw-aangifte indienen ). For what VAT your organization charges, see VAT for Dutch Nonprofits .
Step 3: Connect the bank
Connect each bank account at Instellingen > Bank > Rekeningen > Toevoegen. Moneybird connects through Ponto, which loads transactions four times a day (see Moneybird kennisbank: Bankkoppeling via Ponto ). From then on, Moneybird matches incoming transactions to invoices automatically when it is certain of the match.
Step 4: Set up categories for the balance sheet and P&L
Moneybird calls ledger accounts categories. Every category carries an RGS code. You cannot import categories or create one outside the RGS list (see Moneybird kennisbank: Categorie toevoegen ).
Start from the standard set at Instellingen > Categorieën > Toevoegen, then add single categories only where your reporting needs them. The minimum set:
- Balance sheet: your bank accounts, VAT to pay and reclaim, debtors and creditors, and the reserves and funds your annual report shows (see Annual Financial Reporting for Dutch nonprofits and Restricted funding and conditional grants ).
- P&L: one income category for each type of income you report separately, such as donations, grants and sales, and cost categories that follow your budget lines.
Categorize consistently from the first booking. Re-categorizing a year of bookings afterwards costs far more time than setting up categories now.
Switching? Map every account in your old chart of accounts to a Moneybird category before you enter the opening balance in step B.
Step 5: Add projects for budget tracking
Create one project for each budget you track, such as a program or a grant. You attach a project to each invoice line, so one invoice can serve several budgets. Projects attach only to P&L categories, not to balance sheet categories (see Moneybird kennisbank: Projecten gebruiken en bewerken ). For the monthly routine, see Budget tracking: see actuals against your budget all year .
Step 6: Prepare layouts for invoices and proof of donation
Create two huisstijlen at Instellingen > Facturen en offertes > Huisstijlen: one for invoices and one for proof of donation. A huisstijl holds your logo, font, sender address and layout (see Moneybird kennisbank: Huisstijl instellen ).
Create a separate workflow for proof of donation. The workflow, not the huisstijl, sets the document title, payment terms and automatic reminders (see Moneybird kennisbank: Instellingen voor je facturen en offertes ). Give this workflow its own title and switch off payment reminders, so a donor never receives something that looks like a bill.
Step 7: Connect Moneybird to Moral Fabric
Connect the Moneybird administration in the Moral Fabric app at Settings → Integrations, and map each Moneybird project to a team (see Moneybird integration ). The categories from step 4 and the projects from step 5 decide what the dashboard can show.
🔁 If you are switching: five extra steps
Moneybird cannot import an old administration in one go. We advise starting with an opening balance: a single entry that captures the balance sheet on your switch date (see Moneybird kennisbank: Overstappen naar Moneybird ).
Step A: Choose your switch date
Switch at the start of a financial year, usually 1 January. The old system closes the old year and Moneybird starts the new one clean, so each VAT period and each annual report comes from a single system. You can enter the opening balance later, once the old year is closed (see Moneybird blog: Overstappen naar Moneybird: zo pak je het slim aan ).
Step B: Enter the opening balance sheet
Book the closing balance from the old system as a memoriaalboeking in the Inkomend tab. Date it the day before your switch date: switching on 1 January 2027 means an opening balance dated 31 December 2026 (see Moneybird kennisbank: Beginbalans opstellen ). Each bank line must equal the actual bank balance on that date (see Moneybird kennisbank: Beginsaldo bankrekening invoeren ).
Lock the old period at Instellingen > Vergrendelde periode, up to and including the opening balance date, so nobody books into the old year by accident.
Step C: Complete the asset overview
List every fixed asset still being depreciated, with its purchase value and the depreciation booked so far. Enter both as two lines in the opening balance, using categories from the standard set Investering (see Moneybird kennisbank: Investeringen in de beginbalans ).
Transfer each asset to the Bezittingen tab, so Moneybird continues the monthly depreciation from there (see Moneybird kennisbank: Bestaande vaste activa overzetten naar Bezittingen ).
Step D: Migrate open payables and receivables
Book open invoices as totals in the opening balance: all unpaid sales invoices on Debiteuren, all unpaid purchase invoices on Crediteuren. Moneybird cannot store the individual customers or suppliers behind these totals. They appear as "Onbekend contact" in the debtor and creditor reports (see Moneybird kennisbank: Openstaande facturen in de beginbalans ).
Export the open-items list from the old system with invoice number, contact, date and amount. Keep this list next to the administration until every item is paid, because Moneybird's reports cannot tell you which old invoice is still open.
Book each payment for an old invoice on the category Debiteuren or Crediteuren.
Step E: Archive the old administration, then cancel
Export the full administration before cancelling the old subscription. That means the ledger, the debtor and creditor administration, invoices and bank statements. Dutch law requires you to keep the basic data for 7 years (10 years for real estate), and the files must stay readable for that whole period (see Ondernemersplein: Zakelijke administratie bijhouden en bewaarplicht ). Cancel only after you have checked that the export is complete.
📌 Good to know
- Verification requests expire after 14 days. Start a new one at Instellingen > Vertrouwen en verificatie if the letter or app step was not completed in time.
- A shielded address in the KvK register blocks VAT number verification (see Moneybird kennisbank: Btw-id kan niet geverifieerd worden door afgeschermd adres ).
- Plans below Compleet have a monthly transaction limit. Once the limit is reached, automatic matching stops until the next month or an upgrade (see Moneybird kennisbank: Automatisch je banktransacties verwerken ).
- Export your administration every year as part of your backups (see Backup & recovery checklist ).