Introduction to Zato · Prerequisites & System Requirements · Glossary of Key Terms

Getting Started

What Zato is, and how it fits into your firm's compliance workflow.

Introduction to Zato

What you need before you start using Zato.

Prerequisites & System Requirements

Quick definitions for terms used throughout Zato and this help centre.

Glossary of Key Terms

Zato Onboarding Readiness Checklist 

Feature Requests and Ideas

Zato Roadmap

Release Notes

Zato

Logging In for the First Time · Resetting a Forgotten Password · Managing Your Profile & Notifications

User Login & Security

How to complete your initial login after receiving an invitation.

Logging In for the First Time

How to regain access if you've forgotten your password.

Resetting a Forgotten Password

Where to update your details and control what you're notified about.

Managing Your Profile & Notifications

How to sign in using your organisation's existing Google or Microsoft account.

Logging In with SSO

RBAC Overview & Job Visibility · Director (Level 6) Permissions · Manager / Reviewer (Level 5) Permissions · Accountant (Level 4) Permissions · Outsource Accountant (Level 3) Permissions · Junior Accountant (Level 2) Permissions · Admin (Level 1) Permissions

Role Based Access Control

How Zato's six role levels control what you can see and do.

RBAC Overview & Job Visibility

Director (Level 6) Permissions

Manager / Reviewer (Level 5) Permissions

What an Accountant can see and do in Zato.

Accountant (Level 4) Permissions

What an Outsource Accountant can see and do in Zato.

Connect Domain (Level 3) Permissions

What a Junior Accountant can see and do in Zato

Junior Accountant (Level 2) Permissions

Admin (Level 1) Permissions

Firm Settings Overview · Firm Details & Branding · Permissions & Users Setup · Questionnaire Configuration · Workpaper Variance Thresholds · Materiality Thresholds · Rules Builder · FYI Docs Integration

Firm Settings

What Firm Settings covers, who can access it, and how it's organised.

Firm Settings Overview

Setting up your firm's profile, logo, and contact details.

Firm Details & Branding

Adding your team, assigning role levels, and managing access.

Permissions & Users Setup

Building and sending structured information requests to clients.

Questionnaire Configuration

Controlling which workpapers get automatically generated for a job.

Workpaper Thresholds

Materiality Thresholds

Defining how Zato flags or reclassifies transactions during GL Scrutiny.

Rules Builder

Set up branch locations under your firm and manage branch-scoped access for L5 and below users.

Branches

Smart Coding: Automated Transaction Categorisation · Recoding: Bulk Recode a Posted Transaction · PDF Splitter

Smart Coding, Recoding & PDF Splitter

How Zato automatically codes bank transactions against a client's own history.

Smart Coding: Automated Transaction Categorisation

Applying one GL code to several posted Xero transactions at once.

Recoding: Bulk Recode a Posted Transaction

Splitting a single uploaded PDF into individual, automatically grouped documents.

PDF Splitter

Adding Clients: Manual, CSV and Sync with Partner · Xero Sync, Bulk Actions and Sending Questionnaire Invites · Deleting a Client · How to Update Account Names and Codes After Changes in Xero · Companies Office Integration

Clients

The routes available for bringing a client into Zato, and how to navigate the client list.

Adding Clients: Manual, CSV and Sync with Partner

Working with clients once they're synced from Xero, and using the Clients screen grid.

Xero Sync, Bulk Actions and Sending Questionnaire Invites

Keeping CoA mapping current when a client renames or recodes an account in Xero.

How to Update Account Names and Codes After Changes in Xero

Looking up a client's official company details from the Companies Office register.

Company Register Integration (Companies Office / ASIC)

Client Details: Client Setup and Jobs & Activity Tabs

Creating and Managing Jobs · Job Setup: Questionnaire, CoA Mapping and Data Sources · Client-Level CoA Mapping · Running Automation and Viewing Results · Resetting a Job

Jobs

Adding a job manually or importing from XPM, and what happens once it's created.

Creating and Managing Jobs

Getting a job ready before running the automation.

Job Setup: Questionnaire, CoA Mapping and Data Sources

Mapping a client's chart of accounts before it flows through to individual jobs.

Client-Level CoA Mapping

What happens when you click Run Zato, and where to find the output.

Running Automation and Viewing Results

GL Scrutiny: Reviewing Flagged Transactions

GL Scrutiny

How Zato's automated ledger review works, and what each category looks for.

GL Scrutiny - Auto-Raised Queries

Workpaper Dashboard and Navigation · Custom Workpapers · Workpaper Features: Supporting Docs, Sections, Editing and More · Ziffy AI: In-Platform Accounting Assistant · How to Resolve Out-of-Balance Workpapers Caused by Journals · How to Add Supporting Documents to a Workpaper · How to Add or Edit Line Items in a Workpaper · How to Remove a Line Item from a Workpaper · How to Manually Add Entries to the ICA Workpaper · Workpaper Studio: Firm-Wide Manual Workpapers

Workpapers

Finding your way around the Workpapers screen, and what each part of it shows you.

Workpaper Dashboard and Navigation

Adding a workpaper outside Zato's standard set.

Custom Workpapers

The controls available inside every workpaper, and how each one works.

Workpaper Features: Supporting Docs, Sections, Editing and More

Getting help from Zato's built-in AI assistant while working in a workpaper.

Ziffy AI: In-Platform Accounting Assistant

Clearing a variance after posting a manual journal.

How to Resolve Out-of-Balance Workpapers Caused by Journals

Attaching evidence to a workpaper, with or without data extraction.

How to Add Supporting Documents to a Workpaper

Correcting or adding a row in a workpaper's data table.

How to Add or Edit Line Items in a Workpaper

Deleting an incorrect row from a workpaper.

How to Remove a Line Item from a Workpaper

Entering imputation credit detail that Zato hasn't picked up automatically.

How to Manually Add Entries to the ICA Workpaper

Making a manual workpaper available to every client, not just one job.

Workpaper Studio

Workpaper Data Sources Overview · Workpaper Codes Glossary · Common Features Across Multiple Workpapers · then one article per code: Accounts Receivable (ACR), Bank Reconciliation (BRC), Fixed Assets (FIA), Other Assets (OAS), Prepayments (PPM), Stock on Hand (SOH), Work in Progress (WIP), Other Current Assets (OCA), Investment Shares (IIS), Investment Fixed Interest (OIN), Accounts Payable (ACP), Other Current Liabilities (OCL), HP Liability (HPL), Term Loan (TLN), Related Parties (RLP), Other Income (OIC), Sales Reconciliation (SRC), Investment Income (IIC), Residential Rent (RES), Accident Compensation Levy (ACC), Accountancy (ACT), Expense Analysis (EXP), Home Office (HOM), Wages Reconciliation (WRC), Entertainment (ENT), Non-Deductible Expense (NDE), Current Accounts (CAC), Interest on Overdrawn Current Account (IOA), GST Period Variances (GPV), GST Reconciliation (GRC), Purchase of Business or Property (POP), Sale of Business or Property (SOP), Tax Calculations (TCP), Taxation Due (ITD), Imputation Credit Account (ICA), ICA to Retained Earnings Reconciliation (IRE), Shareholding (SHC)

Workpaper Reference

Australia Workpapers

New Zealand Workpapers

Manual Journals: Creating, Posting and Managing · How to Update Zato After Correcting a Transaction in Xero · How to Handle Late-Stage Journal Entries · Dividend Treatment in Zato

Manual Journals

Recording adjustments that don't come from the trial balance or a workpaper.

Manual Journals: Creating, Posting and Managing

Syncing a Xero-side correction back into Zato.

How to Update Zato After Correcting a Transaction in Xero

Adding a journal after most of the job is already reviewed.

How to Handle Late-Stage Journal Entries

How Zato handles NZ dividends recorded net or gross of imputation credits.

Dividend Treatment in Zato

Review and Sign-off, Full Workflow Overview · Mark Ready for Review · Ready for Sign-off

Review & Sign-off

The six stages every job moves through, from setup to sign-off, and who owns each one.

Review and Sign-off, Full Workflow Overview

Moving a job from Processed to In Review.

Mark Ready for Review

Moving a job from In Review to Review Completed.

Ready for Sign-off

Command Centre Overview · Internal Queries & Draft Client Queries · Review Points · Client Queries

Command Centre

Where every open question on a job is raised and tracked.

Command Centre Overview

Raising a query and moving it toward the client.

Internal Queries & Draft Client Queries

Mandatory checkpoints raised by a Manager or Director.

Review Points

How a query looks and behaves once it's with the client.

Client Queries

Client Portal, Login & Security · Client Portal, Dashboard, Questionnaires & Queries

Client Portal

How your clients access their own portal.

Client Portal, Login & Security

What your client sees once they're logged in.

Client Portal, Dashboard, Questionnaires & Queries

How to Adjust for Shareholder Salary in the Tax Calculations Workpaper

Income Tax & GST

Removing shareholder salary from net profit before calculating tax.

Dashboard

Your firm's home page, and what each part of it shows you.

Dashboard Overview

Activity

Ziffy Overview: Your AI Assistant on Every Screen · Z-Ask: Asking Ziffy a Question · Z-Watch: Proactive Setup and Job Tracking · Getting Ziffy to Take Action for You · How Ziffy's AI Is Built: Data Security & Governance

Ziffy: Your AI Assistant

What Ziffy is, how it knows what you're looking at, and what it will never do without asking.

Ziffy Overview: Your AI Assistant on Every Screen

Getting answers, explanations, and proposed actions in plain language.

Z-Ask: Asking Ziffy a Question

Ziffy's live progress tracker for firm setup and job readiness.

Z-Watch: Proactive Setup and Job Tracking

What Ziffy can create, update, or navigate to, once you confirm it.

Getting Ziffy to Take Action for You

Where your data goes, and how Zato governs its AI.

How Ziffy's AI Is Built: Data Security & Governance

Generating and Reviewing Reports · What's Inside the Reports Package

Reports

How the financial statements package is generated, previewed, and downloaded.

Generating and Reviewing Reports

The eleven sections that make up a finished set of Reports.

What's Inside the Reports Package

Zato Integration Platform (ZIP) Overview · Connecting Xero and Xero Practice Manager (XPM) · Connecting Document Storage: Google Drive, SharePoint, OneDrive, Dropbox

Integrations (ZIP)

Connecting your firm's other systems to Zato.

Zato Integration Platform (ZIP) Overview

Bringing clients and their jobs across from Xero.

Connecting Xero and Xero Practice Manager (XPM)

Connecting FYI Docs so job documents are accessible directly in Zato.

FYI Docs Integration

Browsing and linking files from an external document store alongside ZBox.

Connecting Document Storage: Google Drive, SharePoint, OneDrive, Dropbox

ZBox Overview and Navigation · Uploading, Linking, and Managing Files in ZBox

ZBox (File Drive)

Zato's centralised document repository, at firm and client level.

ZBox Overview and Navigation

The actions available on any file in ZBox.

Uploading, Linking, and Managing Files in ZBox

How can we help you?

Help Center

Improved

Fixed

zato

Committed

Planned

In Progress

Finalising

Live

High Priority

Low Priority

See what we are building next. Features move from Planned through to Live as development progresses. Vote for ideas on the Feature Requests board to influence what gets prioritised.

<a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" class="link" href="mailto:saurav@zatohq.com">team@zatohq.com</a>&nbsp;| <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" class="link" href="http://www.zatohq.com">www.zatohq.com</a>NZ: Level 2, 125 The Strand, Parnell, Auckland, 1010AU: Level 8, Australia Square, 264-278 George St, Sydney NSW 2000All services provided by Zato are subject to our Terms of Use available at www.zatohq.com/terms-of-use. This email and any attachments are confidential and intended solely for the named recipient. If received in error, please notify the sender and delete it. Zato accepts no liability for any reliance placed on this communication.