This page is about Munshian Ledger, our online accounting app at ledger.munshian.com. It only lists things the app really does today. For the legal detail, see our privacy policy and cookie policy.
Signing in
- We never store your password. We keep only a scrambled version of it (a salted scrypt hash). Nobody at Munshian can read your password, and we can't send it to you.
- Passwords must be at least 12 characters. A longer password is much harder to guess.
- Signing in needs two things. First your password, then a 6-digit code we email to you. The code works once and runs out after 10 minutes. So someone who learns your password still can't get in from a new device without your email.
- Remembering a device is up to you. If you tick "Remember this device", that browser can skip the emailed code for 30 days. Your password is still asked every time. You can forget all your remembered devices on the Your account page whenever you like.
- Guessing gets blocked. After 10 wrong passwords, that email address has to wait 15 minutes. After 5 wrong codes, you have to start the sign-in again.
- Changing your password locks the door behind you. Other browsers are signed out, remembered devices are forgotten, and we email you to say the password changed. If it wasn't you, you'll know straight away.
Who can see your books
You decide who can open your business, and what they can do there. Everyone has one of four roles:
- Owner: can do everything, and chooses who else can open the business.
- Accountant: can do everything too, including managing people. Good for your accountant or bookkeeper.
- Employee: gets only what you choose, area by area. For example, they could draft invoices but not approve them, and not see the bank at all.
- Read only: can look at everything but change nothing.
The app checks every page against these choices. Typing a page's address doesn't get round them.
A record of every change
Munshian Ledger keeps an audit trail. Every change made in the app is recorded with who made it, when, where from, and what happened. Sign-ins are recorded too. If a figure changes, you can find out who changed it.
HMRC and your VAT returns
- We never see your Government Gateway password. When you connect to HMRC, you sign in on HMRC's own website. HMRC then gives the app permission to work with your VAT. Your HMRC password never passes through Munshian.
- A person always sends the return. Before a VAT return goes to HMRC, someone has to tick the legal declaration that it is true and complete. Nothing is sent to HMRC on its own.
- Changes to the figures need a reason. If you change a box from what your books say, the app asks for a note explaining why, and keeps it with the return.
AI assistants
You can connect an AI assistant to Munshian Ledger if you want to. If you do:
- You choose its level when you connect it: read only, drafts for you to approve, full, or (for owners) complete control.
- It never gets more than you have. An AI assistant can't do anything your own role doesn't allow, and it can't go above the level you chose.
- Some things are always yours alone. Only you can submit a VAT return to HMRC, connect to HMRC, hand the business to a new owner, restore a backup, or change your login.
- You can change its level or disconnect it on the Your account page at any time.
Your data stays yours
- Download a backup any time. A backup holds everything in your business's books, and you can restore it later.
- Export everything. The export is a ZIP of spreadsheet (CSV) files plus every file you uploaded, ready for your accountant or another program. It leaves out password hashes and HMRC access tokens.
- Have backups emailed to you. Choose every day or every week, and a backup is sent to the email address you pick. If a backup is ever too big to attach, the email tells you, so you can download it instead.
- Close your account yourself. You don't need to ask us. On the Your account page you can close your account. Any business that only you can open is deleted with all its records. If someone else can also open a business, you hand it over or remove their access first. Please export your records before you go, as HMRC may ask to see them for years. Our privacy policy explains how long we keep anything after that.
- We don't sell your data, and we don't use your accounting records for advertising.
Cookies and tracking
- Our website uses no cookies at all. We count visits with Cloudflare Web Analytics, which doesn't use a cookie.
- The app uses only the cookies it needs to work: one to keep you signed in, one that identifies your device for security and for the fraud prevention data HMRC asks for, and the "remember this device" cookie if you choose it.
- No advertising or tracking cookies, in the app or on this website.
Our cookie policy lists each cookie and how long it lasts.
Where your data lives
Munshian Ledger and its databases are hosted by Hostinger. Everything between your browser and the app travels over an encrypted connection (HTTPS). The app also tells browsers not to show its pages inside other websites, which blocks a common trick used to fool people into clicking things.
If something doesn't look right
If you get a sign-in code you didn't ask for, someone may know your password. Change it straight away with "Forgot password?" on the sign-in page. Then email us at hello@munshian.com and tell us what happened. The same goes for anything else that worries you about your account.