Using SMART

1Install and activate

SMART runs on Windows 10 and 11. It is a single small program with nothing else to install.

1. Run the installer, Bookkeeping-Setup-<version>.exe. It installs for your Windows user only, so it does not ask for administrator rights.
2. Open the app from the Bookkeeping shortcut on the Start menu.
3. On the Activate your licence screen, type the licence key you received with your purchase (it looks like SB-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX) and click Activate.

Once the licence is active, the window, the shortcuts and the Windows “Installed apps” entry change to the SMART name and logo.

2The start screen

When no account is open, the menu on the left has four pages. The Light / Dark / System switch at the bottom sets the app's colours.

Accounts

Open an account you already have, or create a new one. Click Browse for an account file… to open an account file kept somewhere else. The folder that holds your account files is linked at the bottom of the page; click it to open the folder in File Explorer. Below them, Merged accounts lets you see several PANs' books together. See Merged accounts.

Backup

Back up your account files to your own Google Drive, and restore them. See Backup and restore.

Licence

Your plan, PANs, financial years and brokers on the licence. See Licence and updates.

About

The installed version, updates and the support contacts. It reads About (update) when a new version is waiting for a restart.

3Create an account

On Accounts, click Create account…. A short wizard walks you through three steps. You can go back with ‹ Back at any time before the account is created.

1. Account. Enter the Name of the person or firm and their PAN. Then choose how Delivery shares are treated:
   • Investor: shares are capital assets, so sales give short and long term capital gains.
   • Trader: shares are stock-in-trade, so delivery profit is business income.
   Intraday is always speculative and F&O non-speculative business, whichever you choose.
2. Brokers. Tick every broker you trade through. You can type the client ID too (optional). Greyed-out brokers are not supported yet. You can change this list later under Setup → Brokers.
3. Financial year. Pick the first year to work on. You can add the other years later. Click Create account.

SMART then opens Import broker files, where you download your trade books and ledgers from the broker or choose files you already have. An account with nothing in it yet always opens there.

When you open an account whose PAN is not on your licence yet, SMART asks for it first. Check the PAN and click Put PAN on licence and open.

4Merged accounts

Many traders keep accounts under family members' PANs: a spouse's or parent's account with another broker, or a second account with the same broker. A merged account shows all of them together, so you can see your whole position without opening each PAN in turn.

Merging copies nothing. Each PAN keeps its own account file, its own FIFO lots and its own tax figures. A merged account only lists which PANs are read and added up side by side.

Merge accounts

1. On the start screen's Accounts page, find the Merged accounts card and click Merge accounts….
2. Type a Name, for example Family.
3. Tick two or more accounts. Only accounts with a PAN can be merged, and a PAN can be in one merged account only. Accounts already in one are greyed out and show its name.
4. Click Merge.

To add another PAN later, pick it from Add PAN on the merged account's row.

Open a merged account

Click Open on its row. SMART opens and rebuilds every PAN in it, then shows the merged view. The top bar shows the merged account's name, how many PANs it has, and the Financial year picker. The menu has these pages:

Overview

One row per PAN, with its brokers, the year's net profit, taxable capital gains, intraday and F&O P&L, and holdings at cost. A total row adds them up. If Global P&L is on your plan, it also shows each PAN's net invested, value today and Global P&L since its books began.

Holdings

One row per stock across every PAN and broker, with who holds it. Tick Details (by PAN and broker) to see each PAN's and broker's share.

Capital gains

Every PAN's sales, grouped by PAN, with that PAN's totals for each term.

Intraday & F&O P&L

Results by contract across all PANs, with a total for each segment and for each PAN.

Charges by segment

Charges by segment and expense head, added up across PANs, with a total for each PAN.

Under Accounts in the menu, click a PAN to open its own books. Close goes back to the start screen. Every page has Export CSV.

A PAN appears in the merged view only if it is on your licence and the picked year is licensed for it. Otherwise it is left out, and the page says which PAN and why. A PAN whose account file is not on this computer is also left out.

Split a merged account

• Split out, beside a PAN, takes just that PAN out of the merged account.
• Split all dissolves the merged account.

SMART asks before splitting. Splitting changes no account file: every PAN's books stay exactly as they were. A merged account left with only one PAN is dissolved.

5The main window

Once an account is open, the window has three parts:

• The menu on the left lists every page, grouped under Books, Statements, Investments & trading, Checks and Setup. When there are warnings, the Issues item shows how many, for example “Issues (3)”.
• The top bar shows the account's name, PAN and type (Investor or Trader). On the right are the Financial year picker, the colour switch and Close, which takes you back to the start screen.
• The status bar at the bottom shows what SMART has just done, for example “Books rebuilt: 1,240 vouchers generated, 0 warnings”.

Most pages show one financial year: the one picked in the top bar. Pages that cover every year (Global P&L, Trade score, Rating, Import, Chart of accounts and the Setup pages) hide the picker.

In tables, a blue name can be clicked. An account opens its ledger, and a date opens the voucher. Most reports have an Export CSV button to save the table for Excel or your CA.

6Bring in your broker data

Open Import broker files. There are two ways to get your data in, and you can mix them.

Download from your broker (recommended)

For Zerodha, Fyers, Dhan and Angel One, SMART logs in to your broker inside the app and downloads what the books are missing.

1. Under Download from your broker, click Log in to <broker>. There is one button for each broker account saved under Setup → Brokers.
2. Log in on the broker's own page, which opens inside SMART. Your password goes to the broker only. The login is remembered, so next time you may not need to type it again.
3. Once you are logged in, SMART finds the trade books and funds statements the books don't have yet, for every year. It downloads and imports them, then rebuilds the books. A log shows each file as it goes.

Click Downloaded files to see the files in File Explorer, or Check again to look once more. Click ‹ Import to leave the login page.

Import files by hand

For other brokers, or files you already have, use the two tiles further down the page.

Broker files

Zerodha and Fyers contract notes (PDF), funds ledgers and trade books (CSV), Angel One trade books and ledgers (XLSX), and Dhan reports. Click Choose files… and select any mix. SMART reads the broker, file type and client code from each file. Password-protected PDFs open with the account's PAN.

Opening holdings

Shares you held before the first year in the books. A CSV file with these columns: isin, symbol, qty, acq_date, cost, fmv_2018, client_code. fmv_2018 is the 31 January 2018 value, used for grandfathered long term gains. Clear all… removes the opening holdings you imported, so you can import a corrected file.

To download from Zerodha yourself: Console → Reports → Tradebook gives the trade books, one CSV per segment (EQ, FO and EQX for IPO allotments). Console → Funds → Statement gives the funds ledger.

7Dashboard and Global P&L

Dashboard

The picked year at a glance:

• Net profit or loss.
• Short and long term capital gains (Investor accounts) or delivery trading profit (Trader accounts).
• Gross intraday and F&O P&L.
• Holdings at cost.

Below, Broker accounts compares each broker's ledger balance with the books. All clear means no issues were found. Otherwise it lists the issues that need attention, with a link to View all issues →.

Global P&L

How you have really done since the books began, across all years.

• The cards show Gross profit, Charges, Net profit, Unrealised on holdings, and the Global P&L (net profit plus unrealised).
• The summary compares what you put in (money put in less taken out) with what it is worth today (broker balances, holdings, open positions).
• Refresh prices fetches today's prices. If a holding has no NSE or AMFI price, click the link beside Holdings to type one in. Leave it blank to value it at cost.
• Profit & loss as a Chart (the running net profit) or a Table by segment. You can filter it by year, segment or broker.

The segment chart shows your running net profit. Choose Month, Week or Day. Use − and + (or Ctrl + scroll on the chart) to zoom out to earlier years or in to the last few months. This year goes back to the picked year.

8Trade score and Rating

Both pages look at your closed trades, from buy to sell, and reward one habit: big wins, small losses. Each trade's return is measured against the money put in. A win or loss of 20% or more is big; under 3% is small. Cutting a loss small earns points, and a big loss costs heavily.

Trade score

• Form (0 to 100) and Level, from Rebuilding and Rookie up to Pro and Master. Each level shows how far you are from the next.
• Progress by Day, Week, Month, Quarter, Year or a Custom range. Each period gets a grade from A to F, and a streak counts periods in a row with no big loss.
• The journey grid places each period by its usual win (up) and usual loss (smaller to the right). Aim for the top right.

Use the filter bar to narrow the trades: broker, product (intraday, delivery, futures, options and so on), long or short, a minimum size, and whether to include mutual funds.

Rating

A credit-rating style grade, from AAA down to C, reviewed at every month end on your last 50 trades. BBB− and above is investment grade.

• A rating can go up at most one notch a review, but down as many as three. A month with a big loss costs at least a notch.
• The outlook shows which way the next review leans. A watch means a review today would change the rating.
• A first rating needs 20 closed trades. Until then, the page shows how many more are needed.

9Books

SMART keeps proper double-entry books. Everything that comes from your broker becomes vouchers by itself. You only enter what the broker doesn't know about, such as bank interest, advance tax or money moved from your bank.

Day book

Every voucher of the year. Search by narration or type, and click a date to see the voucher. Vouchers built from broker data are rebuilt by themselves. Vouchers you entered can be deleted from the voucher window.

New voucher

Enter a voucher by hand:

1. Enter the Date (DD-MM-YYYY).
2. Pick the Type: Journal, Payment, Receipt or Contra.
3. Type a Narration.
4. Add an account and a debit or credit amount on each line. Use Add line for more lines.
5. Click Save voucher once the page shows Balanced (debits equal credits).

Vouchers you enter are kept as they are when the books are rebuilt.

Account ledger

Pick an account to see each entry with its running balance, and the opening and closing balance for the year.

Chart of accounts

SMART creates the accounts it needs by itself. Add your own here (a bank account, a loan, an expense head), or rename one.

Opening balances entry

For the first year only. Set Books begin from to the first day of your earliest year (for example 01-04-2025). Then enter balances that don't come from a broker, such as a bank balance or a loan. Any difference goes to Capital Account. Later years carry forward by themselves, and broker balances and holdings come from your imports.

10Statements

Trial balance

Every account's balance at the end of the year. Click an account to open its ledger.

Profit & Loss

Income and expenses for the year, and the net result by segment. Losses show as negative income. INTRADAY is speculative, FNO is non-speculative business and DELIVERY is shares.

Balance sheet

The Capital Account (opening, capital introduced, profit for the year, drawings), liabilities and assets. The note under the title says Balanced, or shows the difference.

Balances brought forward

The opening balances of the year: last year's closing balances. Earlier years' profit and drawings are closed into Capital Account.

11Investments and trading

Holdings

The shares and units you hold at the end of the year, by broker. Each holding shows its lots (FIFO), quantity, cost and average cost. For Investor accounts, the cost includes buy-side charges.

Capital gains

Every sale with its purchase and sale dates, sale value, cost and gain, totalled by type. These figures go into your tax return.

• Gains are worked out on a FIFO basis, for each broker separately.
• A sale marked * uses the 31 January 2018 value as its cost (112A grandfathering).
• The taxable gain leaves out STT, which is not deductible.
• Shares are long term after 12 months. Mutual funds are treated as non-equity, so they are long term after 24 months.

Intraday & F&O P&L

Gross P&L for each contract or symbol, before charges. Turnover is the total of absolute P&L for each closing, as used for tax audit.

Charges by segment

Brokerage, STT, stamp duty, GST and the other charges, by segment.

12Checks

SMART checks its own work against your broker's figures. Look here before you hand the reports to your CA.

Broker reconciliation

Each broker account's closing balance as the broker shows it, next to the books' figure, and the difference. A positive figure means the broker owes you.

• Opening rows check each year's ledger opening against the previous year's closing.
• A few paise of difference are normal, because brokers keep fractions of a paisa.

Charge check (trade books)

A trade book has no charges in it, so SMART works them out. This page puts each day's estimate next to what the broker's ledger actually settled. Only differences hides the days that match.

1. Click Charges… on a day that doesn't match.
2. Type the figures printed on the contract note.
3. Click Save & rebuild.

Back to estimate undoes your figures.

Issues

Warnings and notes from the last rebuild, such as a missing file or a sale with no matching purchase. Fix the source data (import the missing file, or add opening holdings) and the books rebuild by themselves.

13Setup

Brokers

The brokers this account trades through, each with its client ID. They appear on the Import page with a login button. If you hold more than one account with a broker, add it once for each client ID. Your plan may limit the number of brokers for each PAN.

Corporate actions

Splits, bonus issues and amalgamations change share quantities without a trade. They are applied to your holdings on the ex-date.

• Splits and bonuses come from NSE by themselves. Click Update from NSE to fetch them now.
• Amalgamations are entered by hand: click Add amalgamation…. Enter the old and new symbols, the share ratio and the record date, copied from the company's notice.

Year-end prices

Futures and options still open on 31 March are valued at that day's settlement price. Futures held to expiry with no closing trade close at their final settlement price.

• NSE contracts: click Fetch NSE prices.
• MCX and BSE contracts: type the price from the exchange's bhavcopy or your contract note.

Then click Save & rebuild.

14Financial years

To add a year, open the Financial year picker in the top bar and choose + Add financial year…. Pick the year and click Add year; SMART then opens Import broker files to bring in that year's entries. If you pick a year earlier than the first one, the books start from that year instead.

Each year you use must be on your licence. A year that isn't shows as (locked) in the picker. Its balances still carry forward, but its reports, imports and downloads stay closed. Open the year and click Put <year> on my licence.

The years on a licence must follow one another without gaps. If you skip a year, SMART tells you which year to add first.

15Backup and restore

Your books live only on your computer. Back them up to your own Google Drive from the start screen's Backup page.

1. Click Connect Google Drive and sign in to Google in your browser. SMART can see only the files it puts on your Drive.
2. From then on, every account file is backed up after each import or rebuild, but only when the books have changed. Backups go to the folder SMART Backups on your Drive.
3. Click Back up all accounts to check every account file on this computer now.

Which backups are kept: for each file, the latest 3, the latest of each of the last 7 days, and the latest of each of the last 3 months.

To restore, click Restore… beside a backup. The current file is kept first in the backups folder, so a restore can be undone. On a new computer, connect the same Google account and restore each file.

Disconnect stops backups from this computer. The backups already on Drive stay there.

16Licence and updates

One licence covers the whole family: any number of PANs and computers. You pay for the financial years you use. The start screen's Licence page shows:

• The licence holder and plan.
• Each PAN, with its years and brokers.
• The financial years used and still free, and how many brokers each PAN can have.
• This computer's name, and the date it works offline until.

Click Check now to refresh the licence straight away.

Updates install themselves. SMART checks for a new version when it starts and every 12 hours, and downloads it in the background. When one is ready, About says so: click Restart now, or the new version starts next time you open the app. Check for updates looks straight away.

The support email and mobile number are on the About page.

17Problems and fixes