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Quick Start Guide

Get your Hibiscus HR account running in under 15 minutes. This walkthrough covers the setup an accounting firm actually needs: firm profile, staff and partners, first payroll, and the ledgers that keep the firm ticking (CPD, dues, draws).

Step 1 — Log in (1 minute)​

  1. Open app.hibiscushr.ca
  2. Enter the email and password from your welcome email
  3. First time in? Use the Set your password link in the invite email

You land on the Dashboard — firm health at a glance.

Step 2 — Set up the firm (3 minutes)​

Go to Settings (gear icon at the bottom of the sidebar) and click Company (in the Firm group).

Fill in the basics:

  • Firm name — legal business name as registered with CRA
  • CRA Business Number — your 9-digit BN
  • Address and province — the firm's primary office
  • Active provinces — toggle on every province where you have staff
  • Partnership fiscal year start month — set this only if your partnership isn't on a calendar year (e.g. July for a July–June fiscal year). Default is January

Click Save Changes.

Why this matters: the CRA number is used on every T4 and ROE. The fiscal-year setting drives the Partner Draws ledger.

Step 3 — Add your staff (5 minutes)​

Click Employees in the sidebar, then + Add Employee.

The wizard has 4 steps:

StepWhat to enter
1. PersonalName, work email, phone
2. EmploymentJob title, department, province, employment type, salary, start date
3. EmergencyEmergency contact, SIN (optional now — the employee can enter it themselves)
4. ReviewConfirm everything, toggle onboarding ON, click Add Employee

For employment type, pick Partner for partners drawing on a T5013 and Full-Time / Part-Time / Contract for T4 staff. Only staff marked Partner appear in the Partner Draws ledger.

Short on time? Click Save & Complete Later on any step. Repeat for each employee.

Migrating from another platform? The Import Employees drawer supports CSV migration from Rise People, Wagepoint, Payworks, Humi, Ceridian Dayforce, ADP Canada, plus a generic template. Column mapping is automatic. See Employees.

Step 4 — Send onboarding invites (2 minutes)​

For each new hire:

  1. Go to Onboarding in the sidebar
  2. Click the employee's card
  3. Click Send Onboarding Invite

The employee finishes their own setup (SIN, banking, TD1) before their first day. No paper.

Step 5 — Run first payroll (3 minutes)​

Go to Payroll and click Run Payroll. The wizard:

  1. Select pay period — pick the dates
  2. Preflight — sanity checks. If your staff span multiple provinces, a warning surfaces (not a blocker) listing them
  3. Preview — per-employee gross, CPP, EI, federal tax, provincial tax, net
  4. Confirm and process — click to finalize

CPP, EI, and provincial tax are calculated automatically from the T4127 tables. CRA remittance is tracked for you.

Step 6 — Set up the firm operations ledgers​

The three ledgers most accounting firms want live from day one:

Partner Draws​

Go to Partner Draws (admin-only).

  1. Confirm the partners you added in Step 3 appear in the ledger. Each partner needs an annualDrawTarget set on their profile
  2. Add each partner's monthly (or ad-hoc) draw amount
  3. The ledger tracks YTD total, ratio against target, policy status (over-drawn / on-track / under-drawn / no-target), and remaining headroom

Draw policy percentage (default 75) and tolerance percentage (default 10) come from Settings → Payroll. Fiscal-year override is honoured automatically. See Partner Draws.

Credentials and CPD​

Go to Employees → click a staff member → Credentials tab.

  1. Add the credential (CPA Ontario, CPA BC, LSO, etc.) — 20 Canadian regulators pre-loaded
  2. Cycle hours target and cycle length come from the registry
  3. Log CPD activities as they happen (verifiable / unverifiable / ethics / other)

Expiring credentials feed the Dashboard's Partner Health widget. See Credentials & CPD.

Professional Dues​

Go to Settings → Professional Dues (in the Pay & Comp group).

  1. Record annual dues you pay on behalf of staff
  2. Set paid-by (firm / employee / split), reimbursed by employer, and the T4 Box 40 taxable-benefit flag
  3. The T4 slip generator picks these up automatically at year-end

See Professional Dues.

Step 7 — Billing (2 minutes)​

Go to Settings → Billing.

Verify payment method through HelcimPay.js (PCI-DSS Level 1). Card data is tokenized in your browser and never touches Hibiscus HR servers.

Billing is monthly in arrears, based on active employees during the billing period. Sales tax uses Canadian place-of-supply rules on your firm's province.

What to try next​

ModuleWhat to try
Partner DrawsExport the T5013-friendly CSV to preview what your tax-prep handoff will look like in season
Reports → UtilizationSet a 4- or 12-week window and see billable-hour utilization by staff member
Credentials & CPDLog a couple of CPD activities; watch the cycle-hours badge update
Leave ManagementApprove a leave request. If it's parental leave, the top-up eligibility surfaces automatically
ComplianceCheck your compliance score. Nine ESA rules run nightly
IntegrationsConnect QuickBooks Time (bearer token) or Karbon (AccessKey + Bearer) for time and utilization data
Broker PortalInvite your benefits broker via Settings → Benefits Admin → Invite Broker

5-minute daily routine​

Once set up:

  1. Check the Dashboard — Partner Health, upcoming CRA deadlines, expiring credentials, and pending leave
  2. Approve leave requests — one click each
  3. Review timesheets — approve weekly hours; billable-hours splits feed utilization
  4. Handle alerts — CPD gaps, credential expiries, document expiry, ROE deadlines

That's it. The platform handles the compliance math. You make the calls.

Getting help​

Keyboard shortcuts​

ShortcutAction
EscClose any open drawer or modal
Click X buttonClose the drawer or modal (drawers do not close on backdrop click)

Tips for success​

  • Start with a small subset of staff to get comfortable before adding the whole firm
  • Use onboarding invites — let each employee enter their own SIN and banking
  • Get partners' annualDrawTarget set early so the ledger's policy math is meaningful from month one
  • Check compliance weekly — the module surfaces issues before they bite
  • Export reports monthly for the partners or the accountant