Accounting Software Setup, Migration & Systems Design

Software selection and scoping begins with a morning in your business, not a feature comparison. We map how an order becomes an invoice, how a supplier bill gets approved, who touches the bank and what the owner needs to see each month, then test Xero, QuickBooks Online and Sage against that list. The scoping note you receive records the recommendation, the reasons, the apps needed alongside it and the migration plan, priced as a fixed fee before any licence is bought.

Talk this through on a call

A migration is planned around a cut-over date, usually a VAT quarter end or year end, so there is one clean line between the old system and the new. Before that date we reconcile the trial balance, debtors, creditors and bank in the old system, agree what history comes across and how, and confirm the VAT position including any partially reconciled returns. After cut-over, the opening balances are proved back to the last filed accounts. Migration and data conversion is signed off only when both systems agree.

Talk this through on a call

Chart of accounts design works backwards from the reports you want to read. We agree the profit and loss layout first, then build the nominal codes to feed it, with a clean split between cost of sales and overheads and enough granularity to be useful without becoming unmanageable. Departments, sites, projects or product lines are handled with tracking dimensions rather than duplicated codes. The finished chart maps to the statutory accounts format, so year end is a rollover rather than a rebuild.

Talk this through on a call

Most Xero files we inherit were set up in an afternoon and never revisited. Xero setup and optimisation covers the organisation settings, financial year and VAT scheme, the chart, bank feeds with rules that code the routine items, tracking categories for departments or projects, repeating invoices and bills, and the reporting layouts saved for month end. Where a file already exists, we tidy the contacts, archive unused codes and clear the suspense account. You end up with a system your team can close each month without workarounds.

Talk this through on a call

QuickBooks Online setup and optimisation is built around the way trades and project businesses invoice: deposits, staged applications, retentions and CIS deductions on both sides. We configure the CIS module so deduction statements and monthly returns come straight from the ledger, set up projects or classes so job margin is visible without a spreadsheet, and connect the bank with rules for the recurring items. Estimates, progress invoicing and supplier bills are set up to match your workflow, and the reports your contracts manager needs are saved and shared.

Talk this through on a call

Plenty of established businesses run Sage 50 well and have no reason to move. Sage 50 support and reporting keeps it that way: departmental analysis set up so each site or division reports its own margin, the nominal ledger restructured without losing history, and the month-end routine documented. Where a job costing, stock or industry system posts into Sage, we reconcile the two at each period end and trace any difference to its source. Year-end files are prepared so the statutory accounts pick up cleanly from the ledger.

Talk this through on a call

Payroll software setup starts with the PAYE reference, Accounts Office reference and the employer settings that determine every submission afterwards. Employees are loaded from P45s or year-to-date figures when moving mid-year, so RTI submissions carry on without duplicate records. The auto-enrolment pension is connected in BrightPay so assessments and contribution files go to the provider automatically, and payslips, reports and the employer portal are configured for whoever runs the payroll. We run the first payroll alongside your team and check the FPS and EPS before they leave.

Talk this through on a call

Each app is chosen for a specific job and connected so data flows one way, with the ledger as the record. Dext or Hubdoc captures bills and receipts at source, A2X turns marketplace settlements into summarised sales and fee entries that reconcile to the payout, and Float reads the ledger for cashflow forecasting. We set the mapping, tax codes and approval rules in each, then test a month before switching the manual process off. App stack and integrations are documented so your team can see what talks to what.

Talk this through on a call

Industry systems for job costing, stock or property are rarely built with the general ledger in mind, and the interface between the two is where the numbers drift. A bespoke and ERP system review traces a sample of transactions from source to ledger and back, checks the posting rules, VAT treatment and timing, and reconciles sales, purchases and stock between the systems at a period end. You receive a list of the gaps, the fix for each and the reconciliation you should run monthly so the drift stops.

Talk this through on a call

Process documentation and SOPs turn the way the finance function actually runs into short written procedures: how a sales invoice is raised, how a supplier bill is approved and paid, what the bank reconciliation should look like on a Friday, and the month-end checklist with owners and deadlines. Each procedure is written with screenshots from your own system and tested by someone who did not write it. When a bookkeeper leaves or goes on holiday, the next person picks up the folder and the routine carries on.

Talk this through on a call

Training is done on your live system with your real transactions, in sessions short enough to be remembered. We cover the daily routine first: bank coding, invoicing, bills and expenses, then the weekly and monthly tasks, then what to do when something does not reconcile. Each session ends with the trainee doing the task unaided while we watch. Team training and handover closes with a written sign-off of what has been covered, a list of what remains with us, and a named person to call when something unfamiliar appears.

Talk this through on a call