Close the month with figures that were already agreed
The ledger is posted as the work happens — a quotation becomes a job, a job becomes a delivery, a delivery becomes an invoice — so month end is a review rather than a reconstruction. VAT, NHIL and the GETFund levy sit on one base under the 2025 Act, withholding comes off at source with its certificate, and mobile money is matched to the invoice it pays rather than typed in at the end.
Five things settled before you open the books
Each of these is a decision taken once, in configuration, by somebody who read the Act. After that it applies to every entry without anybody remembering to apply it.
VAT at 15 per cent, NHIL at 2.5 and the GETFund levy at 2.5, all inside the VAT base where Act 1151 put them and all recoverable with it. An effective rate of 20 per cent, worked once and applied everywhere.
Taken off at the moment the payment is made, with the certificate raised in the same entry. The payable and the certificate cannot drift apart, because there is only one of them.
Settlements are matched to the invoice they pay as they arrive. The suspense account that usually absorbs them stays empty, and the clearing work at month end goes with it.
PAYE bands, SSNIT tiers, the VAT components and the withholding rates are rows an administrator edits, each with the source note beside it. A rate change is a change to data on the day it is gazetted.
PAYE by band, tier one and tier two handled separately, overtime at one and a half on a weekday or a Saturday and double on a Sunday. The payroll journal posts itself, so the control accounts agree without a manual entry.
Where each figure on a return comes from
Every one of these is a figure somebody has to defend. The middle column is where it was posted and the right-hand one is the listing it is proved against, both reachable from the figure itself.
| Figure | Posted from | Proved against |
|---|---|---|
| Output VAT | Every sales invoice, as it is raised | The sales day book for the period |
| Input VAT | Supplier invoices as they are entered | The purchase day book and the supplier statements |
| Withholding deducted | The payment run, at the moment of payment | The certificates issued in the same period |
| PAYE | The payroll run, band by band | The payslips, which carry the same figure |
| SSNIT tier one and tier two | The payroll run, tier by tier | The contribution schedule for the month |
| Stock on hand | Receipts and issues as the store records them | The sheet from the last physical count |
Move a year of books while the work carries on
Four steps, and the third is the one that decides whether you sleep. Nothing is switched off until the two sets of figures have agreed for a full period and your own accountant has said so.
- Agree a cut-off
A date, a trial balance as at that date, and the sub-ledger listings behind it. Everything after the cut-off is entered here; everything before it stays where it is and is kept where you can still read it.
- Load the balances
Opening balances, then the open items behind them — unpaid sales invoices, unpaid supplier invoices, stock on hand at cost. Each control account is proved against its listing before the next step starts.
- Run both for one period
One month entered in both systems, closed in both, compared line by line. Where the two differ the difference is explained before the month is signed off, and explaining it usually improves the configuration.
- Sign off and switch
Your accountant signs the comparison. From the next period there is one set of books, and the old one is archived in a form that opens without the old software.
Most migrations run four to six weeks from the first step to the signature. A business with several branches or a stock ledger to prove takes longer, and the quotation says which band it falls into before you commit to it.
One sign-in for each client organisation today
This is the question every practice asks on the first call, so it is answered on the page rather than in the meeting. What is true today is written here; what is being built is written underneath it.
Separate data, separate users, separate settings and a separate audit trail — the arrangement a practice wants and the one an auditor expects. Today that also means a separate sign-in for each one.
Where the companies belong to one group rather than to one practice, the Enterprise plan consolidates several sites or several companies into one set of figures. That is a licensing shape, and it is available now.
One sign-in that carries across the client organisations you act for is being built. Until it lands this page says so, rather than drawing a client switcher that would open onto nothing.
Ask about this on the walkthrough and we will show you exactly where it stands, on the screen, rather than describing it.
Three ways a practice works with us
Pick the one that matches how involved you want to be. All three end with a chart of accounts you can read, because you were the one who arranged it.
Refer a client
You already know which of your clients is being held back by the system they have. Refer them and stay in the implementation, so the chart of accounts that comes out is the one you wanted to read.
How partners workImplement alongside us
You take the chart of accounts, the opening balances and the sign-off; we take the configuration and the training. These run faster, because the hard questions are being answered by somebody who already knows the answer.
Book a walkthroughReview it before they sign
A client who wants their accountant to look first gets you the same pack a procurement office gets — the security answers, the data questions and the documents a tender asks for, in one place.
For procurementSee the ledger before you judge it
Your own figures on the screen, the VAT calculation worked through rather than described, and the close walked end to end. Bring the month you most dread.