Firm onboarding and sign-in
Complete the first-run onboarding wizard, understand the sign-in screens, and authorize an agent or API client to reach your firm.
Create Your Account And Sign In
For the short procedures, use Create your LedgerHQ account and Complete your firm setup.
New users start at Create your account. Enter your name, email, and a password of at least eight characters, or continue with Google or Apple when those options are shown. Creating an account signs you in and sends you into onboarding.
Returning users land on Welcome back and sign in with the same email and password, or the same social provider. If your firm restricts new accounts, sign-up may be invitation-only or limited to specific email domains, and the sign-up screen says so.
Password sign-in on an unfamiliar browser requires the six-digit email code LedgerHQ sends after the password is accepted. The code expires after 10 minutes. A successful check remembers that browser for 30 days. Use the newest message after selecting Resend code; earlier codes no longer work.
Password reset and Sign out everywhere invalidate remembered browsers. Signing out of the current session leaves the browser remembered. Mobile, passkey, authenticator, API-key, and OAuth assistant sign-ins do not use this web email-code step.
If you forget your password, select Forgot password? on the sign-in screen, enter your email, and choose Send reset link. LedgerHQ emails a link that expires in one hour. Opening it brings you to Choose a new password, where you enter and confirm a new password and are returned to sign-in. For your protection, the confirmation message is the same whether or not an account exists for that address, so a wrong email will not reveal who has an account.
The Onboarding Wizard
Once you are signed in without a completed firm, LedgerHQ opens the onboarding wizard at /onboarding. The full wizard has five steps, shown as labeled pills across the top: Books for, Firm or Business, Country, Referral, and Billing. A dedicated firm or business host may begin on the second step because it already knows who the books are for. Move forward with Next and back with Back.
Books For
When this step appears, choose whether you keep your own books or manage books for other businesses. LedgerHQ uses the answer to show the right workspace language. The bookkeeping tools and Tally stay the same.
Firm Or Business
The first step, Name your firm, asks for your firm name in the Firm name field. This is the workspace your whole team will use in LedgerHQ. You can refine it later in Settings, so enter your real firm name and continue.
Country
Where is your business based? sets your firm country. Search the list and select your country; the United States is marked as the default. This step only records where the firm operates. Books default to USD regardless of the country you pick.
Referral
How did you hear about us? is optional. Pick a source, or select Other and use the Please specify field to tell us more. Because this step is optional, it shows a Skip button next to Next — use either one to continue. Nothing here affects your books or billing.
Billing
The final step, Billing setup, explains that you add a card now and your first active company starts the charge. Select Set up billing to be sent to Stripe's secure card setup. No company is created and no subscription starts at this point — you are only putting a payment method on file. When the card is saved, the wizard finishes and drops you at your Companies list, ready to create your first company.
LedgerHQ never handles your card number directly. Card entry happens on Stripe's hosted page, and only a saved payment method returns to LedgerHQ.
The Wizard Skips What You Finished
Onboarding is resumable. Each time it opens, it checks what your firm already has and drops you at the first unfinished step instead of starting over. If your firm name and country are already saved but no card is on file, the wizard jumps straight to Billing. If a payment method is already complete, the wizard does not appear at all and you go directly to your Companies list.
This means you can safely close the browser mid-setup. Nothing is lost, and you will not be asked again for anything you already provided.
Onboarding sets up the firm workspace, not a company's books. Creating the first company, choosing its starting chart, and adding owners happen after onboarding — see Create a company and add owners.
Authorize An Agent Or API Client
LedgerHQ can be connected to an outside agent or API client — for example, a desktop AI tool that works your books through the API. When such a client asks to connect, LedgerHQ shows the Connect LedgerHQ authorize screen. It names the requesting client and asks you to grant it access to your LedgerHQ account.
The screen lists exactly what the connection will be able to do, which for the supported accounting surface includes:
- seeing the businesses and books available to your LedgerHQ account;
- reading and managing your chart of accounts;
- reading Plaid-connected bank activity;
- reclassifying, reconciling, and excluding bank transactions;
- generating financial report packets.
The connection automatically uses the LedgerHQ account tied to your login and reaches the companies your firm manages. Select Authorize to grant access or Deny to refuse. The connection uses OAuth 2.1 with PKCE.
Only authorize clients you recognize and intend to use. Authorizing grants the listed access to the accounting data available to your login. If you did not start a connection, choose Deny.
Tax only users who later create a firm
If you first joined LedgerHQ through a Tax only company invitation, you already have a login. Choose Create company on the Companies page to set up your own paid firm workspace with the same login. Your Tax only companies stay available and read-only under the Tax only tab. The firm workspace is included on Pro; active managed companies drive billing.