Accounting Firm Practice Software: Clients, Timesheets and Billing

You spend your days putting other people's numbers in order, yet your own practice may run on a spreadsheet of clients, a group chat for deadlines and timesheets filled in on Friday from memory. Then a fixed-fee audit quietly runs over its hours, and nobody notices until next year's engagement goes out at the old price.

This guide is about practice software: the system that runs the firm itself. To be clear from the start, Saauzi is not accounting software for your clients' books. Their ledgers, vouchers and returns stay in whatever accounting package you already use. Saauzi runs your firm: clients, engagements, timesheets, invoices and your team.

What practice software an accounting firm actually needs

Most small firms already have accounting software. What they lack is one place to run the practice:

• Engagements per client: the annual audit, monthly bookkeeping, a tax return, an advisory job, each with its own fee basis and deadline.
• Time you can trust, logged against the right job, with billable work kept apart from internal work.
• Invoices that match the work and carry your firm's own PAN/VAT details.
• A new-client pipeline, so referrals and proposals don't sit forgotten in an inbox.
• Staff records and leave, because busy season depends on who is available.

Covering all five in one system is what a small ERP is for; see our plain-English guide to ERP for small businesses.

How Saauzi covers it: Projects, CRM, HRM and Cashbook

When you pick Accounting Firm at sign-up, Saauzi switches on four apps; the Saauzi page for accounting firms shows the set. You can install other apps later from the hub.

Projects: one project per engagement

Each engagement becomes a project for a client, with a status (active, on hold or done), start and due dates, and hourly or fixed-price billing with an hourly rate and a budget. The task board (to do, in progress, done) breaks the job into steps such as "bank confirmations received" or "draft financials reviewed", each assigned to someone on your team with a due date.

Timesheets record hours per project and task, marked billable or non-billable, so training and internal meetings don't blur into client time. When the work is done you build a numbered invoice from the project, apply a discount if you are writing time down, add taxes, and move it from draft to sent to paid. Our guide to Saauzi Projects walks through it.

CRM: new engagements, not just new names

Prospects go in as leads with contact, company, source, expected fee as the deal value, an owner and an expected close date. You set the stages, perhaps enquiry, proposal sent and engagement letter signed, then won or lost, and log calls, meetings and follow-up tasks on each lead.

HRM: your team and your busy season

Set up departments such as audit, tax and bookkeeping, with a profile for each person: job title, employment type (full-time, part-time, contract or intern), join date, emergency contact and salary on record. Staff request leave and a manager approves or rejects it. Trainee openings go on a public careers page, and applicants move through screening, interview and offer to hired or rejected.

Cashbook: the firm's own daily money

Cashbook records fees received, rent, subscriptions and petty cash across cash, bank and wallet accounts such as eSewa or Khalti, with daily reconciliation and clean exports. It is not full accounting, so the firm's formal books still belong in your accounting software.

A hypothetical week at a five-person firm

Say you have two partners, two associates and a trainee, looking after around 40 clients.

• Monday: A client refers a trading company. You add a lead with source "referral", a deal value of NPR 90,000 for the annual audit, and a call for Wednesday.
• Tuesday: Associates log hours against three audits and a retail client's VAT work; the return itself is prepared in your usual tools.
• Wednesday: A fixed-fee audit planned at 60 hours shows 71 on its timesheet, a clear signal to reprice next year.
• Thursday: The trainee's two days of leave are approved, since no deadline falls that week.
• Friday: Two engagements move to done and you invoice both, one with a discount for time written off. When a client pays by bank transfer, you mark the invoice paid and record the receipt in Cashbook.

A short checklist for choosing practice software

1. Does it handle fixed-fee and hourly engagements side by side?
2. Can staff mark time billable or non-billable?
3. Do invoices carry your firm's PAN/VAT, taxes and discounts?
4. Do prospects, staff and leave live in the same system as the work?

Where Saauzi fits and where it doesn't

Saauzi fits a small or growing practice that wants engagements, time, invoices, prospects and people in one place. What it does not do:

• No client bookkeeping or tax filing: no client ledgers, no double-entry accounting, no VAT return filing. Our Saauzi vs Tally comparison explains that split.
• No client portal, document management or e-signatures, so statements, working papers and engagement letters are handled as they are today.
• No payroll or attendance. HRM keeps salary on record but does not pay anyone.
• No email or calendar sync, automations or integrations. Deadlines are tasks with due dates you enter.

What it costs

Your first app is free forever. One flat subscription unlocks every Saauzi app: NPR 1,500 per user/month or NPR 12,000 per user/year, or internationally US$20 per user/month or US$200 per user/year. A hypothetical five-person firm on annual billing pays 5 × NPR 12,000 = NPR 60,000 a year (US$1,000). Current plans are on the Saauzi pricing page.

FAQ

Can I keep my clients' books in Saauzi?

No. Saauzi runs your practice, not your clients' accounts. Their ledgers and returns stay in your accounting software.

Can some clients be billed hourly and others a fixed fee?

Yes. Each project is set to hourly or fixed-price billing.

Does Saauzi run payroll for my staff?

No. HRM holds profiles, salary on record, leave and hiring, but pay is handled elsewhere.

If your firm keeps everyone else's records straight but its own work lives in spreadsheets, start with Projects for time and billing. Your first app is free forever, so you can set up Saauzi for your accounting firm and add the rest when you are ready.