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Workflow

Within Layer, we refer to our partners as Platforms. Platforms are Layer’s direct customers—software companies that integrate Layer to offer accounting features. We refer to the end-users as Businesses. These are the Platform’s end customers—the SMBs that use the Platform’s product and will use the embedded accounting capabilities Layer provides. With Layer, you can provide a complete accounting and bookkeeping experience to your SMB customers directly within your platform. The process for offering accounting using Layer has five broad steps:
  1. Set up your Platform account and API access - Reach out to Layer to set up a Platform for your business and obtain your API credentials. During this process, Layer team will configure your Platform chart of accounts and enable any data integrations needed for your use case.
  2. Decide how to display accounting features - Choose how you want to offer accounting and bookkeeping services to your customers. You can use Layer’s pre-built Embedded Components for a quick integration, or build custom UI integrated with the Layer API for full control over the user experience.
  3. Onboard your SMB customers to Layer - In order to offer accounting features to one of your SMBs, they must first be onboarded to Layer. This is done by creating a Business. When a Business is created, they also receive an associated General Ledger where all of their accounting data will be stored. For more info see Onboarding a Business.
  4. Import SMB Financial Activity - Start passing the financial activity data of your SMBs to Layer via the Layer API. This is how your SMBs’ financial data will be displayed within Layer’s Embedded Accounting views. For more info see Importing Financial Activity.
  5. Display accounting interfaces in your product - Once you are passing SMB Financial Activity to Layer, you can begin offering embedded accounting and bookkeeping features within the product. The exact set of accouting interfaces you use will depend on your use case and can range from a screen to connect bank accounts to a profit and loss report. For more info see Offering Accounting.

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Displaying accounting interfaces

There are two ways to surface accounting features within your product using Layer.
  • Embedded Components - Layer provides a suite pre-built React UI components you can use directly within your frontend. For more information see Embedded Components.
  • API - Build your own accounting UIs directly on top of the Layer API for full control of your customer’s accounting experience.

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Use Cases

Using Layer, you can offer anything from a simple cashflow visualization tool to your customers, all the way to a complete monthly bookkeeping service. The right set of accounting features will depend on your platform and your SMB customers. Your Layer point of contact can provide guidance on which accounting package is right for your platform. Below are some example accounting packages.

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Core Accounting

This package offers simple cash-based accounting features to track business profitability and prepare for taxes. SMBs can to import their revenue and bank account data, categorize/reconcile transactions, upload receipts, and generate easy to understand profitability reports.

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Advanced Accounting

This package offers a more comprehensive accounting experience designed for SMBs looking for deeper accounting functionality. This package supports both cash and accrual basis accounting as well as more complex reports such as the Balance Sheet and Cash Flow statement. SMBs can directly manage the general ledger in this package.

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Full Service Bookkeeping

Some SMBs want professional help managing their accounting. For these businesses, Layer provides a full bookkeeping service that handles organizing your customers transactions and closing their books each month. All your SMBs need to do is respond to questions about their business activity and Layer’s bookkeeping team handles the rest. To learn more about Full Service Bookkeeping, reach out to your Layer contact.