RealBooks Help

A Certified RealBooks Professional (CRP) is an accountant, bookkeeper, or financial professional who manages client books inside RealBooks. As a CRP you operate from a Firm Hub, which gives you a unified view across all your clients without ever needing to log in and out of separate accounts.

What makes RealBooks different for accountants

• You work inside the same platform your clients use. No file exports, no version mismatches.
• Your firm hub shows all clients on one screen with color-coded status badges.
• Clients communicate with you through the built-in Communications Hub, not email.
• Leads come to you directly through the CRP Marketplace at no cost.
• You earn ongoing commission on clients you bring to RealBooks through the Founding 50 program.

Creating your firm account

1. Sign up at app.realbooks.online with your professional email.
2. Verify your email address.
3. On the setup screen, choose Set Up a CRP Firm rather than adding a personal business.
4. Enter your firm name, contact email, and a URL-friendly slug (e.g. your-firm-name). The slug becomes part of your firm's referral link.
5. Click Create Firm.

Navigating as a CRP

After setup, clicking the firm name in the top left of the sidebar takes you to your Firm Hub. From there you access all client companies. When you open a client company, the sidebar switches to show that client's data. Use the company switcher to return to the Firm Hub at any time.

The Firm Hub is your central command. It shows all your clients, the status of work for each, and any items requiring your attention, on one screen.

The badge grid

Each client appears as a card with a set of status badges. Badges turn different colors to signal what needs attention:

• Action Needed (amber) - A client has replied to a message thread and is waiting on you.
• Waiting on Client (blue) - You have sent a message and are waiting on the client.
• Pending Approval (orange) - A bill is waiting for client approval.
• Recently Resolved (green) - A ticket was resolved in the last 7 days.
• No Activity (gray) - No open items for this client.

Filtering and sorting

Use the filters at the top of the Firm Hub to show only clients with Action Needed items, or sort by client name, last activity, or status. This helps you triage your morning quickly.

Switching into a client company

1. Click on a client card in the Firm Hub.
2. You enter that client's company context. The sidebar now shows their invoices, bills, banking, and reports.
3. To return to the Firm Hub, click your firm name in the company switcher at the top of the sidebar.

Adding a new client

There are two ways a client enters your firm in RealBooks:

• Client signs up directly - The client creates their own RealBooks account and then grants your firm access from their Settings.
• You provision the account - You create the company on behalf of the client, then invite them to claim their account.

1. From the Firm Hub, click Add Client.
2. Enter the client's business name and their email address.
3. Click Send Invitation. The client receives an email to set up their account.
4. Once they accept, the company appears in your Firm Hub.

Client grants

A client grant is the formal permission that gives your firm access to a client's company. It records the scope of services, whether your access includes their MyBooks (personal finances), and which staff member is the primary contact.

1. Open a client's company.
2. Go to Settings, then CRP Access.
3. Review the grant details: scope text, access level, and primary contact.
4. Update as needed and click Save.

Revoking access

Either party can end the relationship. A client can revoke your grant from their Settings at any time, which immediately removes your firm's access. You can also close a grant from your side by opening the client card in the Firm Hub and clicking End Engagement.

The Communications Hub replaces email for client communication. Every conversation is a ticket tied to a specific client company, with a subject, priority, and kind. This creates a permanent, searchable record of all client interactions.

Ticket kinds

• Question - General back-and-forth with a client.
• Task - Something that needs to be done (gather documents, complete reconciliation).
• Approval - A bill or transaction that requires client approval before proceeding.
• System - Automated alerts generated by RealBooks (e.g. reconciliation discrepancy detected).

Creating a ticket

1. From the Firm Hub or inside a client company, click Messages in the sidebar.
2. Click New Message.
3. Select the client company.
4. Choose a kind (Question, Task, Approval) and priority (Normal, High, Urgent).
5. Write your message and click Send.

Sending an approval request

1. Open the bill or transaction you need the client to approve.
2. Click Request Approval.
3. Add a note explaining what the client needs to review.
4. Click Send. The client sees an Approve / Reject button directly in the message thread.

When the client responds, the ticket status updates automatically and the bill moves to the appropriate status.

Ticket priority levels

• Normal - Standard response time.
• High - Client-facing deadline or important matter.
• Urgent - IRS notice, tax deadline, time-critical action required.

Resolving tickets

When a matter is complete, open the ticket and click Mark as Resolved. Resolved tickets are kept for the record but removed from your active queue. You can reopen a ticket at any time if the matter comes back up.

Filtering your queue

At the top of the Communications Hub, use filters to show: Action Needed (client replied, waiting on you), Waiting on Client, Pending Approval, or All. Sorting by Last Reply keeps your most time-sensitive items at the top.

As a firm owner, you can add staff members to your firm and assign them to specific clients. Staff members only see the clients they are assigned to.

Adding a staff member

1. From the Firm Hub, click Firm Settings.
2. Click Team Members.
3. Click Invite Staff Member.
4. Enter their email and set their role (Staff or Manager).
5. Click Send Invite.

Assigning a staff member to a client

1. Open the client's card in the Firm Hub.
2. Click Manage Access.
3. Under Assigned Staff, click Add.
4. Select the staff member from the list.
5. Click Save.

The staff member can now see that client in their firm hub and exchange messages with the client. They cannot see any other clients unless explicitly assigned.

Coverage assignments

When a primary contact is unavailable (vacation, sick leave), assign a coverage staff member to their clients temporarily. Coverage assignments appear with a distinct indicator in the badge grid so clients know who is handling their account.

1. Open the client's card.
2. Click Manage Access.
3. Under Coverage, click Assign Coverage.
4. Select the covering staff member.
5. Click Save.

Your CRP Profile is your public listing in the RealBooks CRP Marketplace. A complete profile helps prospective clients find you and understand your expertise.

Completing your profile

1. Click Settings, then CRP Profile in the sidebar.
2. Add a professional headshot or firm logo.
3. Write a bio describing your expertise, specialties, and the types of clients you work best with.
4. List your certifications (CPA, EA, QB Pro Advisor, etc.).
5. Set your service area (local, regional, national, virtual only).
6. Add your firm website and LinkedIn URL.
7. Set your availability status (Accepting New Clients, Waitlist Only, Not Accepting).
8. Click Save.

Specialties

Tag the industries and service types you specialize in. Clients search by specialty when looking for a CRP, so accurate tags improve your visibility.

Common specialties: Construction, Real Estate, Healthcare, E-commerce, Restaurants, Nonprofit, Payroll, Tax Preparation, CFO Services, Bookkeeping Only.

Visibility

Your profile is visible in the Marketplace as soon as it is complete and your availability is set to Accepting New Clients. Incomplete profiles (missing bio, no photo, no certifications) are shown lower in search results.

OneLens is the bridge between a client's business finances and their personal finances. When enabled, it automatically mirrors owner draws, contributions, and equity movements so both sides of the client's financial life stay in sync without manual journal entries.

What OneLens does

• Detects transfers between a client's business bank account and personal account.
• Creates matching entries on both the business side (owner draw or owner contribution) and the personal side (income or transfer).
• Eliminates the manual journal entries that otherwise fall to you or the client to reconcile each month.

Enabling OneLens for a client

1. Open the client's company.
2. Click Settings, then OneLens.
3. Review the linked accounts. RealBooks detects likely personal/business account pairs from the connected Plaid accounts.
4. Confirm the ownership percentage (usually 100% for a sole owner).
5. Toggle OneLens on.
6. Click Save.

Reviewing OneLens activity

Each time OneLens creates an automatic mirror entry, it logs the action with a timestamp and the transaction it was based on. You can review this log from Settings, then OneLens, and override or reverse any auto-created entry if the classification was incorrect.

Cash Command is available both for your own firm's finances and for each client company you have access to. When reviewing a client's Cash Command, you see their runway, planned draws, and upcoming bills the same way they do.

Using Cash Command for a client review

1. Switch into the client's company from the Firm Hub.
2. Click Cash Command in the sidebar.
3. Review the runway chart and the current cash balance.
4. Check planned draws to ensure owner compensation is within a range the business can support.
5. Check planned expenses for large upcoming costs.
6. If you see a runway shortfall, open a ticket in the Communications Hub to flag it with the client.

Planned draws as part of monthly close

As part of your monthly close process, review a client's planned draws against actual draws executed. Discrepancies between planned and actual draw amounts may indicate unrecorded equity movements that need journal entries.

The CRP Marketplace is where small business owners searching for an accountant find you. Leads are delivered directly to you at no charge. There is no referral fee and no bidding system.

How leads arrive

When a RealBooks user without a CRP searches the Marketplace, they see profiles matching their industry, location, and service needs. When they request contact, you receive a notification in your Firm Hub and an email. The client's name, company, and a note about what they need are included.

Responding to a lead

1. Click the notification in your Firm Hub.
2. Review the lead's details.
3. Click Accept Lead to open a communication thread with the prospective client, or Decline if they are not a good fit.
4. Introduce yourself and schedule a discovery call from within the thread.

Managing your availability

If you reach capacity, update your CRP Profile availability to Waitlist Only or Not Accepting. You will stop receiving new leads until you switch back to Accepting New Clients.

The Founding 50 program recognizes the first 50 CRPs who join RealBooks and rewards them for growing the platform through peer referrals and client onboarding.

Founding 50 benefits

• 25% commission on monthly subscription revenue from clients you bring to RealBooks through your referral link.
• Free RealBooks subscription for your own firm.
• Direct access to the founding team for product feedback and roadmap input.
• Founding 50 badge on your CRP profile, visible to prospective clients.
• Participation in a quarterly roadmap meeting.

Commission structure

Commission is 25% of the gross subscription amount your referred clients pay each month. It is paid monthly for as long as the client remains a paying subscriber, for a period of three years from the client's first payment date. After three years, the commission rate steps down on a schedule disclosed in your program agreement.

Peer referral bonus

If you refer another CRP to the Founding 50 program and they are accepted, you earn a single-level override: 5% of the gross subscription revenue from clients your recruit brings in, for the same three-year term. This is a one-level structure only; overrides do not stack through multiple referral generations.

Referral attribution

All referrals are attributed via your unique referral code, which appears in your CRP Profile settings. Clients and recruits must sign up using your code for attribution to apply. Retroactive attribution is not available.

Minimum client requirement

To remain active in the Founding 50 program, you must maintain a minimum of five active paying clients connected to your firm. If your active client count falls below five for more than 90 days, your commission rate is paused until the count is restored.

Finding your referral code

1. Click Settings, then CRP Profile.
2. Scroll to the Referral section.
3. Copy your referral link or code.
4. Share it with prospective clients or CRP recruits.

Many CRPs also own a small business of their own. RealBooks fully supports this dual role. Your firm work and your personal business are completely separate accounts under the same login.

How it works

When you log in, you can be in one of three contexts:

• Firm Hub - Managing your CRP practice and client companies.
• Your own business - Acting as a regular RealBooks small business owner for your personal company.
• MyBooks - Your personal finances.

Switching contexts

Use the company switcher in the top left of the sidebar to move between your firm hub and your personal company. The sidebar and all navigation update to reflect the context you are in.

Keeping client data separate

When you are inside a client's company, you are operating in their context. Any invoices, bills, or transactions you create belong to that client. You cannot accidentally create a transaction in a client's company while intending to create it in your own. The company name and theme color at the top of the sidebar always tell you exactly whose books you are in.