One record of truth, and everything else plugged into it.
The problem is rarely the software. It is four systems that do not talk to each other and somebody retyping the same numbers into all of them. We pick the ledger, connect the rest and switch off the duplicates.
- One record of truth, everything else plugged in
- Xero or FreeAgent, whichever suits you
- Bank feeds and receipt capture
- Your trade apps connected and checked
- Written down, so it does not drift back
Choosing the stack, then making it work together
Most small businesses do not have a software problem, they have an integration problem: an accounting package, a card machine, a booking system and a spreadsheet, none of which talk to each other, and a person spending two days a month typing the same figures into all four.
The work is deciding what the record of truth is, connecting everything else to it, and switching off the things that duplicate it.
In this order
- 1Look at what you actually run
Including the spreadsheets. The spreadsheet nobody mentions is usually where the real process lives.
- 2
- 3Connect the bank and the card machine
Read-only feeds, so transactions arrive daily and nothing is keyed twice.
- 4Automate the paperwork
Receipt capture from your phone, supplier bills read automatically, sales invoices raised in the same place the bookkeeping lives.
- 5Connect the trade-specific tools
Job management, EPOS, e-commerce, stock, time recording. Whatever your industry runs on, if it has a ledger connector we use it.
- 6Write down who does what
The part that gets skipped. A stack nobody owns drifts back to spreadsheets within a quarter.
Measured in hours and in days
- Data entry
- Bank feeds and receipt capture remove most manual keying, which is where errors come from as well as time.
- How current the numbers are
- Books that are days behind rather than months behind mean the management accounts are worth reading.
- The year end
- A clean, connected year is a materially smaller job, and that shows up in what it costs to do.
- Making Tax Digital
- Digital records with a digital link is a legal requirement for VAT now and for income tax from April 2026. Getting there deliberately beats getting there in a panic.
- What you can see
- Debtors, cash and margin on a screen instead of in a folder.
What people ask about software and systems
Which is better, Xero or FreeAgent?
Neither, in the abstract. FreeAgent suits sole traders, contractors and simpler limited companies, and comes free with some business bank accounts. Xero handles stock, projects, multi-currency and larger transaction volumes better. We are partners for both, so the recommendation is about your business rather than our licence.
Do I have to change software to work with you?
No, but we will tell you honestly if what you are on is costing you more in bookkeeping time than a migration would. Some packages make a clean year end genuinely harder.
How long does a migration take?
A straightforward one is a few weeks including a parallel period, and is best timed at a year end or a VAT quarter end. The conversions that go wrong are the ones done mid-quarter in a hurry.
Is there a separate charge for this?
Setting the stack up as part of onboarding is included. A migration from a system with years of history in it is quoted separately, because it is real work.
What about the apps for my trade?
Most of them connect. Tell us what you run and we will check the connector before promising anything, because "it integrates" on a website and "it posts to the ledger correctly" are not always the same claim.
