Bookkeeping Software for Small and Medium Sized Business in Kenya

Running a venture often implies dawning different hats – from seamless operations to ensuring timely and error-free invoicing to maintaining accounts - to keep your business up and running. And, as your business starts growing, you will realize that these aspects become more complex. Among all the above-stated functions, maintaining accounts is crucial in ensuring that your business runs efficiently. 

Maintaining accounts in a traditional spreadsheet becomes more complicated and time-consuming as your financial data keeps expanding. A solid and scalable accounting practice allows companies to stay on top of their finances, thereby helping them to make better decision-making. Thus, entrepreneurs must think beyond traditional spreadsheet accounting to adapt to complex financial data. The solution is bookkeeping software. 

As a business owner, you must have questions about what is a bookkeeping software? How can it help grow your business? What are the features you should look for while selecting a bookkeeping software in Kenya? To answer that, here's a detailed article that can help small and mid-sized businesses operating in Kenya opt for bookkeeping software:

What is a bookkeeping software? 

Bookkeeping software, also known as accounting software, is devised to record and process a company's financial transactions. Think of it as an intelligent electronic ledger that automates bookkeeping or accounting that can handle tasks like billing, payroll, accounts payable, tax filing, and financial reporting.

Features of TallyPrime as a bookkeeping software

Record and bookkeeping: Being an extensive accounting software, TallyPrime makes recording transactions and bookkeeping a simple process. 

Accounting reports in TallyPrime

Invoicing and billing: With TallyPrime, creating and printing invoices is a matter of a couple of seconds. Being completely adaptable software, it allows businesses to easily incorporate information on the invoice, add logo, choose invoice formats according to your business nature, and much more.

Pre-defined chart of accounts: Being an adaptable software, TallyPrime comes loaded with a pre-defined chart of accounts that allows businesses to create and map their accounts the way they want.

Accounts receivable and payable management: Keep track of all your pending bills - both receivables & payables in an automated manner. TallyPrime provides insightful reports along with powerful tools such as ageing analysis, multiple bill settlement, credit control utilities etc., thus providing you with an efficient way of managing receivables and payables.

Insightful accounting and financial reports: TallyPrime comes with a varied range of reports with various perspectives and actionable insights to assist you in decision-making. These reports are devised to help you analyze reports so that you can dissect the data in reports and make different perspectives to better comprehend the reports. The best part is that you can personalise the reports the way you want and the way it works for you.

Business reports in TallyPrime

Complete VAT solution: TallyPrime is a one-stop answer for all your VAT needs, from recording tax invoices to filing accurate VAT returns. Its prevention, detection, and correction innovation guarantee your books and returns are exact all the time.

Inventory management: An adaptable inventory management software, TallyPrime empowers organizations to deal with the optimum level of inventories. What’s more? It’s so flexible that you organise your stock the way it suits you and it adapts to your way of managing business. You can get to know the slow/fast moving stock, high/low-profit yielding products, trends etc that help you manage your inventories better.

Stock summary with profitability analysis

Multi-currency support: TallyPrime allows you to record invoices, quotations, orders, accept payments and receive bills in multiple currencies according to your choice. Any changes in forex charges are also auto-calculated by the software.

Sales and purchase management: Being adaptable software, TallyPrime is devised in a way to suit different purchase and sales processes followed by the organizations. 

Online business reports: TallyPrime allows you to access your business information anytime, from anywhere on mobile or any gadget. 

Multi-company support: With TallyPrime, you can manage different organizations and effectively handle their intricacies. In addition to that, it also allows you to easily flip between organizations' books and make a fast comparison between two or more organizations irrespective of business nature.

Payroll management: Utilizing TallyPrime, you can sort out your employees into departments, record attendance, and auto-process salary.  

Difference between bookkeeping and accounting

The critical difference between accounting and bookkeeping is that accounting pertains to a broad subject that requires a significant comprehension of records acquired from bookkeeping and a capacity to analyze and decipher the data given by bookkeeping records.

Bookkeeping is the recording stage, while accounting is about summing up an accounting framework. Bookkeeping provides essential information for accounting, and accounting starts where bookkeeping ends. The differentiation between accounting and bookkeeping are:

Tasks you can manage using Bookkeeping Software

A bookkeeping software allows you to manage a wide array of tasks right from recording transactions to creating reports. Here are some of the key tasks that bookkeeping software can help you manage: 

• Flexible invoicing: Allows you to send invoices when tasks are finished and get compensated for work your organization does.
• Automate bank reconciliation: Allows you to quickly reconcile bank transactions with the bank statements
• Send reminder: Track and send reminder for outstanding invoices
• Remote access: Get access to critical business reports on a web browser, anywhere, anytime
• Inventory tracking: Easily manage inventory in and out of the company and get real-time stock valuations
• Instant reports: Getting tailored reports anytime as and when needed
• Payroll: Track employee attendance and automatically process salary 
• Paying bills: Receive and store bills, tackle payable frequency, particularly towards suppliers
• Tax Management: Stay tax compliant by adhering to the taxation guidelines and regulations
• Purchase order: Allows streamlining the purchase order procedure and maintain control

Importance of Bookkeeping Software 

Bookkeeping software assists businesses in maintaining and keeping their accounts up-to-date by streamlining data entry, managing critical data, providing information, and providing better access for the finance team to important information. Additionally, it enables the financiers and accountants to prepare insightful reports by providing easy access and information on all transactions relating to the business.

Who needs a bookkeeping software?

Any small and midsized businesses in Kenya who have a regular routine of maintaining their books of accounts and keeping it updated. A comprehensive bookkeeping software streamlines data entry, manages your critical data, provides insightful reports, and lets accountants have more access to necessary financial information about numerous facets of the business.

Read More:  

• Inventory Management Techniques for Small Business in Kenya
• What Your Small Business Needs Today and Tomorrow to Grow in Kenya?
• Personalise the Business Reports the Way You Want

Video guide - Bookkeeping software with TallyPrime