How do I get started with Heard? – Heard

Welcome to Heard! We're excited to support your private practice as your financial back office. An essential first step to ensure success with your Heard account is to clearly understand the steps to get started. Below are the steps to help you quickly set up your account and get the most out of your Heard subscription.

Heard Business Banking

This step is optional and isn't the end of setup.

The first screen introduces Heard Business Banking*, free business checking and savings built into Heard, with a debit card and transactions that sync automatically to your books.

Applying takes a few minutes, and the IRS recommends a designated business bank account for a clean record that captures every deduction and simplifies tax filing.

Click Apply in Minutes or Skip for now to continue with connecting your current bank accounts. If you skip, the step stays on your dashboard as Complete Heard Banking setup for you to come back to.

Account Setup

Connect Bank accounts: Select Connect Bank Account and link every account your practice uses, including personal accounts that carry business expenses. Heard connects through Plaid, and can only access your transaction history. We can't move money for you or do any banking on your behalf. For more, see how does Heard use Plaid?
For each account, choose Business or Personal, then answer whether it also includes the other type of transaction. Mixed accounts are common, and you'll need to answer for every connected bank account before you can continue.

If your bank isn't supported, select I can't find my bank and you'll be prompted to upload statements instead.
Fill in transaction gaps: Some banks don't allow Plaid to pull bank statements. When that's the case, or the connection breaks, you'll see a task to upload those statements. Your dashboard will show you exactly which accounts and months are needed.

Sort your transactions

Heard groups your transactions by merchant and asks about the ones it can't place on its own. For each, choose All Business, All Personal, or It's a Mix. If you're unsure, select Ask Haven about these transactions, or leave it and your bookkeeping team will take it from there.

When you finish, select Go to Dashboard.

What if I don't have a designated business bank account?

At least one connected account is required to set up your Heard account. If your Heard Business Banking application is in progress, you can connect that once it's approved.

If you don't have one yet, Heard Business Banking powered by i3 Bank is included in every Heard plan at no extra cost. For more, please see: Using a designated business bank account for your practice.

If you've been running your practice through a personal account, connect it now, mark it as a personal account, and mark it as personal with business charges.

Catch-up bookkeeping

Once your accounts are connected, your bookkeeper begins bringing your books up to date. You can follow along from your home dashboard, look for the "We're catching up your books" card, which shows your real-time progress through four stages:

Sync and auto-categorization: Heard imports your transactions and automatically categorizes them. We typically reach 80–85% coverage on our own — no action needed from you.
Prepare for bookkeeping: You may have a few tasks to complete before your bookkeeper takes over, such as connecting accounts, filling in transaction gaps, or cleaning personal charges from your books.
Bookkeeping review: Your bookkeeper is actively working. You'll see Waiting on Heard (we're on it - nothing to do) or Action Required (your bookkeeper needs something from you before they can continue).
Books complete: Your bookkeeper has finished your catch-up books. You'll see all four stages in green, along with a confirmation on your dashboard.

What to do when you see Action Required

After your bookkeeper reviews your books, if they have questions or need additional documents, the card switches to Action Required, and a banner appears at the top of your dashboard. Select Start to upload statements we couldn't pull, clarify transactions your bookkeeper couldn't place, or both. This can happen more than once as your books progress, so seeing Action Required again later doesn't mean something went wrong.

Other setup items

Depending on your practice, your dashboard may show a few more items. None of these hold up your catch-up books.

Payroll: S Corporations can sign up for Heard Payroll to maintain compliance with IRS regulations.
Complete Heard Banking setup, if you skipped the banking application.

Your Practice Profile

In the left-side menu, click on Your Name › User Settings › Practice Profile. Three sections make up your profile:

Your Practice: your business name, contact details, and address. Your business entity determines which income tax return form you file (IRS guidance). S Corporations, upload a copy of your CP261 Letter or Form 2553. Your Employer Identification Number (EIN), the nine-digit number assigned by the IRS, goes here too, along with copies of your EIN paperwork and state registration.
Tax Information: your filing status (married filing jointly, for example) and your Tax Entity Type. Most practices are taxed as either a sole proprietorship or an S Corporation. For more, see: Do I file taxes as a Sole Proprietor or an S Corporation?
Personal Information: your personal contact details. We don't share this information or make it public.

Haven and Messages

Haven is Heard's built-in AI assistant. Ask a question in plain language and Haven answers from Heard's knowledge base. If you still need help, continue the chat to reach Heard Support.

Use the Messages tab to reach your bookkeeping and support team directly by starting a new message. You'll see a "Welcome to Heard!" message when you join, and responding helps your bookkeeper set up your books correctly from the start.

Transactions

Under Transactions, you can review everything Heard has imported, see what needs your input at Transactions > Needs Review, and add any transactions that didn't come through a connected account.

*Heard is a financial technology company and is not a bank. Banking services are provided by i3 Bank, Member FDIC. The Heard Visa Debit Card is issued by i3 Bank pursuant to a license from Visa U.S.A.