What accounting software in Nepal has to handle
Accounting software anywhere has to keep a ledger, issue invoices and produce statements. In Nepal it also has to fit the way the Inland Revenue Department (IRD) expects businesses to bill and report. That is the part most feature lists skip, and the part that causes the most rework later.
Four things are specific enough to test. First, billing: the IRD publishes a list of approved billing software and connects approved systems to its Central Billing Monitoring System (CBMS), which receives invoice data. Second, VAT: returns are prepared monthly and are due by the 25th of the following Nepali month. Third, TDS: tax deducted at source has to be tracked, deposited and reported, again on a monthly cycle. Fourth, the calendar: books run on Nepali fiscal years that start in mid-July, and dates are normally entered in Bikram Sambat. Rules and thresholds change, so confirm the current requirements for your turnover and business type with the IRD or your tax adviser.
Test 1: billing and the IRD
Ask whether the billing module is approved by the IRD, ask to see the evidence, and check it against the IRD's own list rather than the vendor's brochure. Ask how invoice data reaches CBMS, what happens if the connection is down, and how credit notes and cancelled invoices are handled.
Whether you are required to use approved billing software depends on your registration and turnover, so also ask your tax adviser. The safe position is to choose software that can meet the requirement even if you are below the threshold today.
Test 2: does your VAT return reconcile to the ledger?
Many businesses prepare the VAT return from a sales register and a purchase register, then discover at year end that the totals do not match the books. The test is simple: ask the vendor to produce last month's VAT return from your own invoices and show, line by line, that output VAT and input VAT agree with the VAT accounts in the ledger.
A good system flags the difference before you file, tells you where it comes from (a journal posted straight to the VAT account, a bill with tax on the wrong line, an unposted invoice) and lets you fix it at the source. Also check that it produces the annexures and the VAT-versus-books reconciliation that your accountant will ask for.
Test 3: TDS from deduction to deposit
TDS has two sides. You deduct it from payments you make to suppliers, landlords and staff, and customers deduct it from payments they make to you. Both need tracking. Check that the system records the rate and section on each document, keeps separate registers for tax you owe and tax owed to you, shows what is due to be deposited and by when, and prepares the monthly TDS return for filing.
Ask to see a bill with TDS from entry through to deposit. If the answer includes keeping a spreadsheet on the side, you have found a gap.
Test 4: banking and reconciliation
Bank reconciliation is where small businesses lose hours each month. Look for a single view of bank, cash and wallet balances, and a reconciliation that does not depend on retyping the statement.
Ask whether a statement can be imported from a PDF or a photo, whether the lines it reads are shown for you to check before they are posted, and how cheques, which are still common, are tracked from issue to clearance.
Test 5: dates, fiscal years and number formats
Check that the system works in Bikram Sambat dates and lets you switch to AD, that reports follow the Nepali fiscal year, and that amounts are shown in the lakh and crore grouping your team reads naturally. These sound cosmetic until a report lands in your auditor's hands with the wrong period or an unreadable number.
Also check what happens at year end: closing the year, carrying balances forward and locking closed periods so that nobody posts into a month that has already been reported.
Test 6: approvals, roles and the audit trail
An accounting system is a control system. Ask who can post, who can approve, and whether limits are enforced rather than just recorded. Check that every change to a posted entry leaves a visible trail, that reversals are used instead of silent edits, and that a month-end checklist exists.
Ask what your auditor will see. The faster an auditor can trace a figure in a statement to the entries behind it, the cheaper the audit.
Cloud or desktop, and what drives cost
Desktop accounting packages are familiar and can be inexpensive, but they tie the books to one machine and make multi-branch work and remote access harder. Cloud systems give you access from anywhere and automatic updates, but depend on connectivity, so ask how the system behaves when the internet drops.
On cost, compare total first-year spend, not the subscription alone. Data migration from your current books, chart-of-accounts set-up, training and support are usually the larger share. Ask for each as a line item, and ask what a second branch, a second company or extra users add.
Options available in Nepal
Accounting software in Nepal falls into three groups: long-established desktop packages, newer cloud systems built around IRD billing, and ERP suites. A shortlist of three across those groups is usually more useful than a long list.
Descriptions below are the vendors' own positioning, taken from their public websites in October 2026. They are not rankings and we have not tested every product. Vividia is a vendor too, so check every claim, including ours, in a demo with your own data.
- TallyPrime: a widely used accounting package with VAT, inventory and payroll, often chosen for complex accounting needs.
- Swastik: a locally developed package for VAT billing, stock and taxation, popular with small and medium businesses.
- Reach Accountant: a cloud-based system covering accounting, CRM, billing and inventory.
- OneFlow: describes itself as IRD-approved e-billing and accounting software with inventory, tax reporting and payroll.
- Tigg: a cloud accounting and billing system aimed at small businesses, which states that its billing is IRD certified.
- BUSY: accounting and billing software that states its IRD-verified billing for Nepal.
- FinPOS: accounting integrated with point of sale for restaurants and retail.
- QuickBooks, Marg ERP and larger ERP suites such as Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central: considered by organisations with more complex or multi-entity needs.
- Vividia ABMS: invoicing, purchases, banking with statement capture, VAT and TDS with ledger reconciliation, and financial statements, connected to the other Vividia Suite applications.
Where Vividia ABMS fits
Vividia ABMS is accounting and billing software for organisations in Nepal. It covers sales and purchase invoicing, receivables and payables, vouchers and journals, banking with statement capture, VAT and TDS with return-to-ledger reconciliation and a filing-readiness checklist, and financial statements including the balance sheet, income statement and cash flow.
It works best for organisations that want accounting connected to the rest of the business, for example with HRM payroll and inventory, rather than a standalone ledger. If you only need a simple point-of-sale bill printer for a single counter, a lighter tool may be enough. Ask for the current IRD approval and CBMS status of any billing module you rely on, including ours, before you commit.
Questions to put to every vendor
Use the same questions with each vendor so the answers are comparable.
- Is the billing module IRD approved, and how does invoice data reach CBMS?
- Produce last month's VAT return from my invoices and show that it agrees with the ledger.
- Show a bill with TDS from entry to deposit and into the monthly return.
- Import a bank statement from a PDF and show me the lines before they are posted.
- Does everything work in BS dates and the Nepali fiscal year, including year-end closing?
- Who can post and who can approve, and where do I see every change to a posted entry?
- What does year one cost in total, including migration, training and support?
- Who answers the phone locally on the 24th when a return is due?
