Frequently asked questions

Pricing and accounts

What does Caseo cost?

R1,000 a month for up to five people, secretaries included: everyone with a login counts. There's no setup fee, it's month to month with 30 days' notice, and VAT isn't charged. See Pricing.

Is Caseo good for a sole practitioner?

Yes. A one-person practice pays the same R1,000 a month as a firm of five. You get the same diary, trust and business accounting, client portal and reports, and you can add up to four more people at the same price.

How many users can we have?

Up to five people, secretaries included, for R1,000 a month. A bigger firm? Leave your details and our team will call you.

How do we get started?

Ask us for a firm pass, and you can open your own Caseo firm and set it up yourself. Or contact us through the website or at hello@caseo.co.za and we'll set up your firm and your first Administrator, who then invites the rest of the team.

Can we try it before we decide?

Yes. Ask us for a firm pass, and you can open your own Caseo firm and set it up yourself. You can also click around our demo firm at demo.caseo.co.za, with no sign-up.

Can one person work for two firms?

Yes. They sign in once and choose the firm; each firm's information is kept separate. See Signing in for the first time.

Trust accounting

Does Caseo stop a trust account going into debit?

Per matter, yes. Caseo refuses any trust payment, transfer, reversal or allocation that would take a matter below zero on any day, including back-dated entries. See How trust accounting works.

Can we delete a wrong trust entry?

No. Trust entries are reversed with a reason, so the record stays complete. See Reversals and corrections.

Does it do the monthly trust reconciliation?

Yes. Import your bank statement (OFX or CSV), match it, and Caseo runs a three-way check of bank, ledger and client balances before an Administrator signs the month off. See Bank reconciliation.

Can we import PDF bank statements?

Not yet. Download the statement as OFX or CSV from your online banking instead.

Does Caseo handle section 86(4) investments?

Yes. You can open an investment for a client, move money in and out, and record the interest. Section 86(3) investments and interest on the trust current account aren't calculated for you.

Does using Caseo make our firm meet Rule 54?

Caseo is built around LPC Rule 54 and enforces several of its rules, but meeting your obligations remains the firm's responsibility: depositing into the right account, sending statements, signing off reconciliations and reporting to the LPC. The compliance page sets out who does what.

Invoicing

We aren't VAT registered. Can we still invoice?

Yes. With VAT switched off, documents are titled "Invoice" and carry no VAT. See Invoicing and VAT.

Can Caseo email invoices for us?

Yes, once an Administrator switches it on in Settings › Notifications (it is off until then). Send to client with Caseo emails the client the invoice with the PDF attached, from your firm's name with replies to your firm's email, and can text them their portal link. Statements, receipts and documents send the same way. Issued invoices also show on the client's portal. With sending off, the button offers to open your own mail program instead.

Can we bill from time entries?

Yes. Time you log on a matter can go straight onto an invoice. Work in progress stays off the bill until you finalise it. See Invoicing and VAT.

Moving to Caseo and leaving

How do we bring our existing files across?

We do it with you as part of setup, at no charge: your clients, open matters and trust balances come across from your current system or spreadsheets, and we check the figures with you before you go live. Your team can also add files themselves by pasting spreadsheet rows into Bulk Entry, up to 200 at a time. The full plan is in Moving to Caseo.

Can we get our data out?

Yes, at any time. An Administrator downloads matters, clients, transactions, invoices, fees, time, the diary, FICA records, investments and the documents list from Settings → Data export, one by one or all together. The documents themselves download from each matter.

Connections

Does Caseo work with Xero?

Yes. An Administrator connects your firm's Xero organisation in Settings, and Caseo sends your fee invoices, payments, credit notes and business-account entries to Xero. Trust stays in Caseo.

Does Caseo work with Sage?

Yes, with Sage Business Cloud Accounting, opening soon. An Administrator connects your firm's Sage company once, and Caseo sends your fee invoices, the clients on them and their payments to Sage. Trust stays in Caseo. Until it opens, the month-end pack for your accountant includes files laid out for Sage.

Does Caseo connect to WinDeed?

Yes, opening soon. Once it opens, you connect your firm's own WinDeed account in Settings and run CIPC company reports and Deeds Office searches (by person, ID number or property) from a matter. Caseo files the PDF to the matter and adds the cost as a disbursement, at the price your firm sets. The searches use your own WinDeed account.

Everyday use

Is there a phone app?

Yes. Open Caseo on your phone and it becomes the phone app; add it to your home screen from the browser. No app store needed. See The phone app.

Does it work in court with no signal?

Once it's open, yes for notes, calls, diary entries and court outcomes: they're kept on the phone and sent when the signal returns. Money can't be captured offline, and Caseo needs a connection to open.

Can reminders repeat?

No. Add each occurrence as its own reminder.

Can clients see everything on their matter?

On the client portal, clients see their matters, the documents you share with them and their own uploads, issued invoices and messages, all in one conversation. They don't see notes, the diary, trust balances or other clients.

Does Caseo check for conflicts?

Yes, every time a matter is opened. If there's a possible match, someone must record that it was checked or waived before the matter can be created. See Opening a matter.

Security and support

Who can see our trust account?

Supervisors and Administrators. See Roles and permissions.

Where is our data kept?

The providers we use and what each does are listed on the compliance page.

How do we get help?

Use Help & support in the account menu inside Caseo, or email hello@caseo.co.za on weekdays.