Accounting software

What it means

Accounting software is the system where the books are kept, payroll is calculated and filings prepared. In Slovakia it must handle local forms, rates and submission formats.

Packages differ less in whether they can post an invoice than in what they do automatically: importing statements, matching payments, capturing documents, connecting through an API.

An invoicing app is not yet accounting software: it issues invoices but keeps no ledger, journal or financial statements. At the other end sits an ERP, where accounting is just one module next to stock, production and sales. A small company often needs precisely a good pairing of the former with its accountant’s bookkeeping system.

How it works in practice

The choice turns on document volume and what the system connects to: the e-shop, stock control, the bank, the payroll module. Integrations save the most time and lower the cost per document.

The data belongs to the client. The contract should state in what format they receive it when the engagement ends and how retention is assured.

When choosing a system we now also check readiness for e-invoicing in a structured format: whether the program can receive a structured invoice, process it without retyping and send it over the Peppol network. A system that only handles PDFs will soon need an add-on or a replacement.

What to watch out for

Switching systems mid-year is expensive: migrating open items, stock and payroll data takes longer than the training does. So it happens at 1 January rather than in August.

A local installation on a single computer with no backups and one shared password for everyone. After a disk failure, or when the only employee who knew the login leaves, the company loses years of books, and the legal duty to retain the records does not go away.