Using the custom trading styles I want to have separate contact details on the 2nd trading style (address, email, telephone) so will be using the custom CSS/HTML/JS tools to change things in the client area and on invoices.
How do I target a specific trading style?
Hi @Lurch
I don’t believe it’s possible to change these details at the moment. However, it’s a relatively new feature so any feedback welcome (as with anything really!). I’ve changed the topic to a feature request for now.
Ah, OK. I mentioned it to @Glenn in a PM a while ago and he said it could be done, and the quote from the KB above said it could be done, so I thought it could be done!
I have logged a feature request to get the address on the invoice and client dashboard overridden for a specific trading style. You should be able to customise some contact information on the invoice using the blob of text appended to the address:
As far as the client area goes, I guess you’ll need a more effective way to target elements but only when a specific trading style is adopted?
I think if we add a class to the <body> tag in the client area that will make it easier to isolate your styles.
Something like:
<body class='{TradingStyleId}_clientarea_dashboard'>
You could then produce specific CSS selectors:
.123_clientarea_dashboard .trDb_SendMessage{
display:none;
}
I’d looked at something like that but in this instance the 2 trading styles are completely separate so there is no common element between them to append anything to.
That was what I was looking for initially before I started this topic, I thought maybe I was looking in the wrong place so yes, seems like a logical/simple way to do it.
In addition to these couple of areas I was also about to raise an invoice from the 2nd trading style but there should also be a second set of email templates as again there is only one default, which is all wrong for the 2nd trading style. I know I could do something with the wrapper but the from address etc would still be wrong. Once you expand on this then I suppose this is going to cause issues on some mail servers as I would be using the same SMTP credentials as the primary trading style but sending from a different domain on the 2nd account.
I’m not sure if am using this correctly as I seem to have a lot of issues with things that aren’t doing what I expect (which isn’t unusual for me tbh). I’m thinking I need 3 trading styles to get it to work, and the primary one should be a limited co. to use the details for on the emails etc and then the others are just “ltd co/trading style 1 t/a trading style 2” . I’m using this for 2 different sole trader styles, but both sharing a common bank account/set of accounts so I don’t need/want either trading style to mention the other.
Having read through your requirements, I don’t think this feature is going to work out too well for you 
It does assume that there are still many shared properties between the different trading styles. Taking it any further than what we have right now would involve a lot more work, potentially forking 100s of different settings. It would actually be easier to tackle it the other way around, i.e. using two distinct QuickFile accounts and to pursue merged reporting.
We will however continue to move this forward, with a few enhancements. I don’t however think we’ll go as far as split SMTP credentials, I know this would be a major pain to develop and would add a lot of unwanted complexity.
That’s pretty much what I was thinking as I was going through typing my above thoughts. I didn’t mean to try and push the feature to/beyond its limits straight off the blocks! I did initially plan to use 2 separate accounts and then just do some export/import with dummy/merchant accounts along the way, as you say it is pretty much 2 separate accounts with a few shared bits in the middle.
I actually set everything up but then stopped as the custom trading styles were about to become available. I’m only going to be using a single bank account for both styles. The main thing is tagging of payments without making things difficult, hopefully I can just import things to the primary account as per the accounting for daily takings method for now.
ETA: I have set up a new account for the 2nd trading style and have had a look at what I need to track on each account to keep it balanced. It isn’t as complicated as I was expecting, I could possibly just journal the totals over as required, or set the 2nd account as a supplier to the 1st. The easiest thing though would be to simply allow certain accounts/nominals to be linked between accounts, or allow inter-account journals. Hopefully I should be able to get some live data flowing this week and then I can see what the actual process is like.
Well in the mean time we’ve added the class handles on the <body> tag in the client area screens.
It will be in the format body-{TemplateId}.
This week we should also have the option to assign custom addresses to trading style. Will keep you posted!
I have just realised that using 2 accounts means that the 2nd account may need another subscription to use some of the advanced features, not a major issue but for the time being there isn’t much happening in the second account but it’s just something else to add to the overheads.
If it becomes a worthwhile venture I will most likely be swapping to a limited company arrangement with all trading names being under that company so I can then use these custom trading styles as the invoices/accounts references can be from the limited co and then all the activity will be on 2 trading styles of the main registered company.
We’ve just added the ability to assign a custom address for a given trading style:
This address will appear in the client area control panel (Contact us section) and on the invoice/estimate.
If you need to run the second account to test the other approach we can definitely setup a trial account for you. Just PM me the account number.
So I’ve been looking at this again and was wondering if I could use something like the webhooks to generate the cross account transactions, but I don;t think the API (certanly not via Zapier anyway) or the webhooks have the exact functions I need to get it working.
Currently I have the second account with 2 invoices, both have been paid with Stripe so the second account has tagged them as paid and then dropped the balance on the Stripe holding account. At some point here I could do with 2 matching invoices on the primary account with the client being the second account. I’d also need for these invoices to be marked as paid from the Stripe account so I could then tag as normal when the money comes in on the bank feed. Everything is wrapped up and tagged satisfactorily then. The balances on the second accounts holding accounts could be ignored as these are just used for tagging (bit like the proprietors drawing account).
Other option (along the same lines but should clean up all the second accounts balances as well) is to have the second account automatically raise a PO against the first account when an invoice is raised. I can then convert that to an invoice on the first account and pay it from the Stripe account on the second account. On the first account this can be paid into the Stripe account and await tagging as normal.
Either way the second part of the process is essentially the same, it’s just how to easily move the balances between accounts without loads of manual steps.
I would assume an intra-company transfer would be better, with two sets of invoices you’re doubling up the sales on the P&L. With an intra-company transfer you have a bank “loan” account on your primary and secondary account, one in debit, one in credit… depending on which way the money flows. When you merge the reports they would balance each other out.
In general I think the two trading entities should be synced together through virtual bank accounts, so there’s nothing on the P&L, everything is on the balance sheet.
Once you have sales invoices and purchase invoices to net things off, you’re on the P&L. Also you’re VAT registered right? So you wouldn’t want any over reporting of sales or purchases, even though the bottom line tax calc may be correct if you over report your total sales or purchases this will distort your VAT return.
Yes, I am VAT registered so if I doubled up on the invoicing I would effectively be using the second account as a trading style only, all transactions on the second account would be ignored by the primary account for the purposes of tax.
This has come up before, as per the title. It would be very helpful to be able to customise routine email settings (Default email address; Email from Name; Email signature) for each trading style. Without the ability to have a custom trading style email address, company name and signature makes working with trading styles incomplete. When everything else (invoice design, client area design, etc) appears as a separate company, the email signature appearing as the other company makes things look less professional.
Could this be considered an important part of trading styles please?
Many Thanks,
Laszlo Almasi
Already been mentioned multiple times. Better to add votes rather than start new threads.
@almalaci - I’ve merged the threads. As @Lurch mentioned, please add your vote to the existing thread and show your support here.
You can find the “Vote” button at the top of the page.
Thanks. I’ve missed this thread as I’ve been looking for email settings specifically. It’s clearer now why it’s not an easy feature to add. I’ve added my vote anyway.
