Accounting that is a consequence of the work, not a second job
Most small firms run two systems: the one where work happens, and the one where work is later described to an accountant. The second is always behind, always slightly wrong, and always the one the bank asks about. The fix is not better bookkeeping discipline. It is a ledger that the operational work writes to directly.
What a working set of books needs to do
- 01Real double-entry — a trial balance that balances because it has to
- 02Invoices, receipts and payments that post themselves
- 03Payroll that lands in the ledger with the cost on the right project
- 04Receivables and payables with an age, not a list
- 05Multiple sets of books when you keep accounts for clients as well as yourself
- 06Reports a bank or an auditor recognises without reformatting
Where the entries come from
This is the whole design. An invoice raised against a milestone creates the receivable. A goods receipt creates the payable. A payroll run posts wages. A certified payment creates its own retention entry. The ledger is not a place you copy things into; it is where things end up.
A practice keeps more than one set of books
Accountants, consultants and management firms keep books for their clients as well as their own. Ofivio Essentials holds a set per client with hard separation, so a client's ledger cannot be seen from another client's screen, and the firm's own accounts sit alongside them rather than mixed in.
Where accounting meets the trade
- For contractors, retention, advances and certificates behave the way construction expects — see construction accounting
- For architects, a design fee and a supervision fee are two fees on one project, which most ledgers cannot express — see why generic accounting mishandles a practice
- For firms that keep books for clients, one set of books per client is the requirement most small-business software fails — see Ofivio Essentials
Who this is not for
If you are on this list, Ofivio is the wrong purchase and we would rather you know now than in month three.
- Firms that need statutory e-filing built in for their jurisdiction — Ofivio produces the books, it does not file them
- Businesses wanting point-of-sale accounting only; the counter is OfiPOS, one of the Ofiverse Products, not part of Ofivio
- Groups needing multi-entity consolidation with intercompany elimination
- Anyone who wants an outsourced bookkeeper rather than software
The products behind this
Questions people actually ask
Is this proper double-entry or a simplified ledger?
Can my accountant work in it?
Do I have to buy a main product to use the books?
Keep reading
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