SME finance: Essential Tools, Software and AI prompts to prepare for tax season

SME finance: Essential Tools, Software and AI prompts to prepare for tax season

Welcome to our new subscribers who joined us last week!

In our 1st edition, we shared some expert insights about the top tax deductions to watch for this year and the events that tend to lead to tax disputes. Find all the details here.

This week, we’re looking at tools and systems that SMEs operators can put in place to make sure they can independently stay on top of their finances and prepare for their accountant’s visit. We’re also introducing a new section with relevant news of this past week.

Enjoy!

Lévi Kedowide, Founder | TUKA

We asked our experts…

Although we’re in the business of matching companies with finance professionals, we also highly recommend them to leverage affordable systems and AI internally to get some initial clarity on their finances. This allows their Accountants, fractional CFOs and Tax Advisors to focus on the more complex and value-add services.

Below are some tools recommended by experts.

What are the best bookkeeping softwares you wish more SMEs would use and know about? Especially when it comes to storing tax relevant information.

From Nelson Gacheru | Niall & King:

SAP Business One and Odoo are two ERPs we recommend to small businesses. These support full business process integration including financial reporting. Both provide on-going support through partners and inhouse analysts all of whom are local which improves turnaround.

From Beatrice Njeri | Tarra Agility:

Several popular bookkeeping software options are commonly recommended for small and medium- sized enterprises (SMEs) to store tax-relevant information securely.

QuickBooks offers various versions like QuickBooks Online and QuickBooks Desktop, facilitating tracking income and expenses, managing invoices, generating financial reports, and securely storing tax-related data.

Xero, a cloud- based accounting software, provides features similar to QuickBooks, including invoicing, bank reconciliation, expense tracking, and financial reporting, with strong integration capabilities and robust data security measures.

FreshBooks is known for its user-friendly interface and is particularly favored by freelancers and service-based businesses. It supports invoicing, expense tracking, time tracking, financial reporting, and online payment acceptance, streamlining the invoicing process.

Wave stands out as a free accounting software option, popular for its affordability among small businesses and freelancers, offering invoicing, expense tracking, receipt scanning, and financial reporting functionalities. While lacking some advanced features compared to paid alternatives, Wave remains a viable choice for budget-conscious SMEs.

Below is a series of AI prompts we shared on social media to help SMEs plan their accountant’s visit ahead of tax season. Find out more on X:

Relevant news from last week

Last week was marked by the issuance of a new Eurobond by the government of Kenya and the rapid rebound of the KES. The news and social media were full of interpretations, below are articles we found the most helpful:

From our desk…

In the last 30 days, over 2,200 new users read our financial insights.

Here are the synopsis of some of the most read articles.

Looking for a financial professional ahead of tax season? Let us know here

We have vetted over 50 firms specialized in:

• Finance & Accounting

• Tax advisory

• Business & Tax Law

These firms are highly recommended by their clients and our review system ensures they deliver high quality work! We’d be happy to match you with a trustworthy firm in less than 24 hours.