CocoTrado

Guide

Using CocoTrado

What each screen is for, where it sits in the flow of a client's money, one worked example, and the mistake it exists to prevent. The same notes open from the "i" beside every page heading inside the application.

Running the account

Dashboard

The one question the system exists to answer: how much of this client's money is still available, in each currency.

Reads the whole flow — Principal → Funds received → Deal → Payment instruction → Supplier payment → Fees → Statement — and shows the result per currency. Nothing is ever added across currencies.

Worked example

  1. Opening balance AED 412,500.00
  2. + Funds received AED 475,000.00
  3. − Supplier payments AED 323,000.00
  4. − Bank charges AED 185.00 · − Fees AED 1,200.00
  5. = Available AED 563,115.00, of which AED 88,000.00 is earmarked to open deals.

What it prevents

A combined figure. AED and USD held for a client are two balances, and a single total would hide a shortfall in one behind a surplus in the other.

New principal

Bring a client onto the system, with what you already hold for them on day one.

The very first step. Nothing can be recorded until a principal exists.

Worked example

  1. Name: a client company · Short code: ACME (appears on their statements)
  2. Balances as at 31-Aug-2026, from the closing line of the last statement you sent them:
  3. AED 412,500.00 · USD 0.00
  4. Save. Their dashboard now shows exactly those figures.

What it prevents

A wrong starting point. Opening balances change every figure that follows and lock after the first transaction — take them from the statement, not from memory.

Opening balances

What you already held for this client on the day their account started here — the starting point every later figure is measured from.

Set once, before anything else is recorded. They lock the moment the first transaction is recorded for this client, because everything after them is computed from them.

Worked example

  1. The last statement you sent this client closed at AED 412,500.00 and USD 0.00.
  2. Enter those two figures, each as at that statement's closing date.
  3. Their dashboard now opens from exactly there. Record a payment and both rows lock.
  4. Wrong afterwards? An Adjustment corrects it, and the client sees the reason.

What it prevents

A starting point nobody can defend. An opening balance edited after money has moved would change every figure already reported, silently — so once anything depends on it, it stops being editable rather than being trusted to a rule.

Principals

Every client whose money you hold, with their available balance per currency.

The list of accounts the rest of the system is scoped to. Choose one in the top bar and every other page shows that client's money.

Worked example

  1. Two clients, each with AED and USD balances shown as two figures — never one.
  2. Open a client to see opening balances, deals and past statements.

What it prevents

Mixing clients. Each principal is its own ledger; a payment recorded against the wrong one is a real error on two statements.

Parties

The register of everyone you deal with — customers, suppliers, payers, beneficiaries, banks — with their identity, ownership and risk.

Before any money moves. A supplier must be a party before a payment can name them; a client's KYC lives on their party.

Worked example

  1. Add a supplier: legal name, country, the bank account name they will be paid into.
  2. Add its beneficial owner and mark whether anyone is a politically exposed person.
  3. Compliance rates the risk; the rating gates what can be paid.

What it prevents

Paying an unknown. A beneficiary whose account name does not match the party on file is stopped before release, not discovered afterwards.

Compliance

The review queue: trades awaiting a decision, reviews that have gone stale, KYC about to expire.

Between a deal being raised and any payment being prepared. A trade cannot take money until it has cleared here.

Worked example

  1. A new deal for a client with a high-risk corridor lands in the queue.
  2. The officer checks parties, evidence and the bank's written approval, then records one of four outcomes.
  3. Only Compliance can clear a case — an Administrator cannot lift their own hold.

What it prevents

Money moving on a trade nobody reviewed. The gates block payment; roles decide who may act, gates decide whether the action may happen at all.

Quotes

What the client is offered for a trade: the rate, your fee, estimated charges, and the total they must fund.

After compliance approval, before funds are requested. The accepted quote is what the funds received are checked against.

Worked example

  1. Purchase USD 100,000.00 · client rate 3.6800 · fee AED 2,000.00 · charges AED 150.00
  2. Total to fund: AED 370,150.00 — computed from the parts, never typed.
  3. Client accepts on 03-Sep-2026; the deal moves to Awaiting funds.

What it prevents

A disputed fee. The client saw the total and its working before sending money.

Invoices

What you bill the principal for handling their trade — kept separate from their balance.

Draft, check, issue. A draft takes no number; the number is allocated at issue, so an abandoned draft leaves no gap in the sequence.

Worked example

  1. Fees only: service fee AED 780.00 · bank charge recovery AED 150.00 · total AED 930.00.
  2. The USD 52,000.00 sent to the supplier is the principal's money and is not on this invoice.
  3. Issued as INV-2026-001. From then on it cannot be edited — only withdrawn, with a reason.

What it prevents

Billing a client for their own money, and the numbering gap left by deleting an invoice that was wrong.

Deals

Each purchase made on the client's behalf: supplier, goods, value, and how much has been paid so far.

The spine of Principal → Funds received → Deal → Payment instruction → Supplier payment → Fees → Statement. Payments, funds, fees and documents all hang off a deal.

Worked example

  1. NW-2026-004 · a supplier in Tanzania · 3 MT · USD 15,000.00
  2. Paid USD 0.00 · Outstanding USD 15,000.00 · Status: Compliance review
  3. The status walks Draft → Approved → Awaiting funds → Paid → Closed, each move with a reason.

What it prevents

Losing track of what is still owed to a supplier, and closing a deal with money unaccounted for without saying so.

Funds received

Money the client has sent you, with the bank reference and proof of receipt.

Second step. It raises the client's available balance; it can be earmarked to a deal or left free.

Worked example

  1. 02-Sep-2026 · AED 370,150.00 received into your AED account · ref TT-88213
  2. Earmarked to deal NW-2026-004. Available rises by exactly that amount.
  3. Received from someone other than the client? That raises an exception for review.

What it prevents

Third-party and unexplained receipts entering a client's balance quietly.

Payment instructions

Prepare a payment for someone else to release. Maker and checker are two people.

After funds are in and the trade has cleared compliance. Approval here is what allows the supplier payment to be recorded.

Worked example

  1. Finance Maker prepares: pay the supplier USD 15,000.00 for NW-2026-004.
  2. The beneficiary is snapshotted; if anything about them changes before approval, the approver sees it.
  3. Finance Approver releases — or rejects with a reason. Never the same person.

What it prevents

One person moving client money alone. An Administrator holds neither role by design.

Supplier payments

What actually left the client's balance, and what the supplier actually received — both sides, with the rate between them.

The step that reduces the balance. Only the amount debited from the client's currency hits their ledger.

Worked example

  1. Debited AED 55,350.00 · Paid USD 15,000.00 · Rate 3.6900
  2. Bank charge AED 75.00 recorded separately.
  3. The client's AED balance falls by AED 55,425.00; the USD balance is untouched.

What it prevents

Currencies combined without a rate, and a rate typed a decimal place out — a mismatch between the two amounts and the rate raises an exception.

Fees & commissions

What you charge the client, generated from the organization's fee rules and always showing its working.

After payments, before the statement. Fees are drafted, checked, then posted to the ledger.

Worked example

  1. Commission — Standard 2% · basis: purchase value USD 15,000.00
  2. USD 15,000.00 × 2.00% = USD 300.00 · rounded 2 dp · minimum not applied
  3. Draft until posted. Posting is what reduces the balance.

What it prevents

A bare number on a statement. Every fee shows how it was calculated, and a rule change never moves a fee already posted.

Refunds

Money going back to the client, with the same two signatures a supplier payment needs.

Any time after funds are received — a cancelled trade, an overpayment, a closing balance returned.

Worked example

  1. Client's trade is cancelled. Maker prepares a refund of AED 370,150.00 to the client's own account.
  2. Approver releases. The statement shows a line that says refund, not a signed correction.

What it prevents

A refund to an account that is not the client's, and a return disguised as an adjustment.

Adjustments

A signed correction with a reason the client will read on their statement.

The only way to change a figure that is already on a statement. Nothing in the ledger is ever edited.

Worked example

  1. A bank charge of AED 185.00 was recorded twice.
  2. Adjustment: + AED 185.00 · reason: 'Bank charge of 15-Aug-2026 recorded twice; reversed.'
  3. The original stays; the correction sits beside it; the balance is right at every point between.

What it prevents

Silent edits. History is append-only; a correction is a new line, and the reason travels with it.

Ledger

The running statement for one currency at a time — every line, with the balance after each.

The record every other page writes to. Each row links back to the record that created it.

Worked example

  1. 01-Jan-2026 Opening balance · AED 412,500.00
  2. 02-Sep-2026 Funds received TT-88213 · + AED 370,150.00 · balance AED 782,650.00
  3. 05-Sep-2026 Payment NW-2026-004 · − AED 55,350.00 · balance AED 727,300.00

What it prevents

A balance nobody can explain. Any figure on the dashboard can be walked back line by line here.

Documents

The paperwork behind each deal — proforma invoice, payment proofs, shipping documents — typed and attached.

Alongside the deal. Some document types are required before a deal can move forward; the deal shows which are missing.

Worked example

  1. Deal NW-2026-004: Proforma invoice attached · Bank transfer proof attached · Shipping documents missing.
  2. Files are private; a link to a payment proof expires and cannot be shared publicly.

What it prevents

A payment with no proof, and a closed deal with the file that justifies it missing.

Statement

The reason the system exists: the Excel and PDF statement you send the client, per currency, with real formulas.

The last step. Everything before it is so that this document is right.

Worked example

  1. Period 01-Aug-2026 → 31-Aug-2026 · currencies AED and USD as separate blocks
  2. Sheet 1 summary, Sheet 2 every transaction with a running balance, Sheet 3 deals.
  3. Once exported, every line in it is locked. Corrections afterwards are Adjustments.

What it prevents

A statement that cannot be reproduced. Each export is archived with its data, so the figure sent last month can be regenerated identically.

Exceptions

The work queue of things that need a person: unexpected receipts, mismatched beneficiaries, variances, expiring KYC.

Raised automatically by rules as money moves. Rules raise work; the compliance gates are what block money.

Worked example

  1. Funds arrived from a payer who is not the client → 'Third-party receipt' raised.
  2. Someone looks, records what was found, and resolves it — or escalates.
  3. Open exposure is shown per currency at the top.

What it prevents

A warning that fires once and is forgotten. Each exception stays open until someone closes it with a resolution.

Performance

The organization's own earnings — FX spread, fees, charge margin, expenses — in a reporting currency.

A separate ledger from the client's money. The two are never joined into one figure.

Worked example

  1. Client rate 3.6900, bank rate 3.6725 on USD 15,000.00 → FX spread AED 262.50
  2. + Fee AED 300.00 + charge margin AED 25.00 = gross revenue AED 587.50 on the trade.
  3. Converted at the rate stored on the row that day, never at today's rate.

What it prevents

Reporting a client's balance as if it were income, or restating last quarter's profit at this quarter's rate.

Organization

All clients at once: total client funds held per currency — the one aggregate the system permits — and who has gone quiet.

A management view over every principal. Still per currency; still never a grand total.

Worked example

  1. Total client funds held — AED 1,275,300.00 across 3 principals
  2. Total client funds held — USD 40,000.00 across 2 principals
  3. One principal with no activity in 60 days is listed for attention.

What it prevents

A headline figure that adds AED to USD. The caption on the page says so on purpose.

Profile

Your own account: name, password, and a second factor for sign-in.

Outside the money flow. It protects your access to it.

Worked example

  1. Enrol an authenticator app; sign-in then asks for its code.
  2. Keep the ten recovery codes somewhere safe — each works once.

What it prevents

An account only as strong as its password. Codes come from an app, not an inbox.

Setting up

Setup wizard

Six steps that take a new organization from an empty application to one that can record a client's money.

Organization → Currencies → First principal → Bank & cash → Suppliers → Your team. Currencies and a principal are the two that gate real work.

Worked example

  1. Set the organization and its currencies, then add the first client with the balances from their last statement.
  2. Skip what you do not know yet; Settings shows what is still missing.

What it prevents

A new Admin landing on an empty application with no path forward.

Organization settings

Who the statement comes from: legal name, address, tax number, and the footer on every statement.

Configured once; printed on every statement afterwards.

Worked example

  1. The letterhead preview on the right is exactly what the client will see at the top of their statement.

What it prevents

A statement with the wrong legal entity or tax number on it.

Currencies

The currencies your organization holds for clients. Each is its own ledger.

Before any principal or balance. A currency not listed here cannot be recorded.

Worked example

  1. Tick AED and USD. Every balance, statement and dashboard card is then per currency, in those two.

What it prevents

Money recorded in a currency nobody agreed to hold.

Suppliers

Who you buy from, with their country. A deal names one of these.

Before deals. The register of parties carries the fuller identity and bank details.

Worked example

  1. A supplier in Vietnam; deals from them show 'Vietnam' beside the name and the corridor's risk is known.

What it prevents

A deal against a supplier nobody recorded.

Bank & cash accounts

Where client funds arrive and payments leave from — one account per currency.

Before funds are received. A receipt names the account it landed in.

Worked example

  1. An AED current account and a USD current account. A receipt in AED is recorded against the AED one.

What it prevents

A receipt with no account, which is a receipt nobody can reconcile against a bank statement.

Document types

The paperwork a deal must carry before it may move forward.

Before deals. The deal's Documents tab flags any required type still missing.

Worked example

  1. Proforma invoice — required · Bank transfer proof — required · Shipping documents — optional

What it prevents

Closing a deal without the document that proves the payment.

Deal numbering

The prefix and sequence for deal references.

Before the first deal. References are unique within your organization.

Worked example

  1. Prefix NW-2026- · next number 006 → the next deal is NW-2026-006.

What it prevents

Two deals with the same reference on a client's statement.

Fee rules

How fees and commissions are calculated: fixed, percentage, per unit, tiered, or entered by hand.

Before fees are generated. Every generated fee snapshots the rule version it used.

Worked example

  1. Standard commission: 2.00% of purchase value, deal currency, 2 dp half-up, on deal close.
  2. Change the rate to 2.50% → a new version from today. Fees already posted do not move.
  3. Test rules with a sample deal before it touches real money.

What it prevents

A rate change that silently alters a statement sent last month.

Reporting rates

The organization's reporting currency and the rates used to convert its own revenue into it.

Only the revenue ledger converts. Client balances never do.

Worked example

  1. Reporting currency AED · USD→AED 3.6725 recorded 01-Sep-2026 from the bank's fixing. Stored on each revenue row.

What it prevents

Converting a client's balance, or re-converting old revenue at a new rate.

Users

Who works in the organization and what each may do. Nine roles, fixed.

Before payments: a payment needs a Finance Maker and a separate Finance Approver.

Worked example

  1. Invite a colleague as Finance Approver. They accept the invitation and set a password.
  2. An Administrator cannot prepare or approve a payment — that separation is deliberate.

What it prevents

One person holding both signatures on a payment.