Your clients' books,
without the shoebox
A practitioner login into each client's business, the returns computed from their own ledger, a filing calendar across the whole book of clients, and an export whenever you need the numbers in your own working papers.
Scoped access, not the owner's password
Three of the twelve built-in roles exist for people outside the business. Each is a real permission set the server enforces, so what a client grants you is exactly what you get — and their audit log shows precisely what you did with it.
Tax Practitioner
Full access to the SARS returns centre, view and export across the financials, the ability to create reports — and no ability to alter users or permissions.
- VAT201, EMP201, EMP501, IRP6, IT14 and the rest
- e@syFile Employer import files for IRP5 and IT3(a), reviewed per employee first
- A filing register: mark a return filed on eFiling and keep the reference against the client
Accountant
The working role: reconcile, correct the coding, run the reports and export, without touching user administration or the security policy.
- Banking, expenses, invoicing and the ledger
- Month-end reports and exports
- Payroll access only if the client grants it
External Auditor
Read and export across the financials and the audit log. Nothing is editable, which is the point — independence you can demonstrate rather than promise.
- Every module readable, none writable
- Audit log with actor, resource and severity
- CSV export for working papers
Your access counts against the client's user limit — one on Free, three on Starter, ten on Business, twenty-five on Professional, unlimited on Enterprise. That is worth knowing before you onboard a client on Starter and find their bookkeeper cannot get in. The plan comparison has the seat counts, and the roles guide covers invitations and the permission matrix.
Returns built from the client's ledger
The SARS returns centre computes each return from the transactions already posted, so the number on the form is traceable to the invoices behind it rather than typed in from a spreadsheet you have to keep. Ledgr then hands you the file — you capture it on eFiling, or import it into e@syFile Employer.
Nine return types
VAT201, EMP201, EMP501, IRP5, IT3(a), IT14, IRP6, DTR01 and tax directives, each with its filing frequency and last submission date on the card.
A calendar that counts down
Deadlines sorted by urgency with a countdown badge on each, so the client's month sequences itself and you are not the diary.
The workings, visible
Output and input VAT broken out into the VAT201 boxes; EMP201 broken out per employee. When SARS queries a figure, the ledger behind it is one click away.
Validated before it downloads
A return that does not balance will not produce a file — you get the reasons instead, so a wrong return never reaches eFiling in your name.
A filing register you keep
Note each return as filed on eFiling and the reference stays against the client, so "did July's VAT201 go?" is answered in Ledgr rather than in somebody's inbox.
A multi-client view
The practitioner portal lists your clients with their compliance state, so the answer to "who still owes a VAT201 this month" is a screen, not a phone-around.
Clients with more than one entity
A holding company with three trading subsidiaries and a dormant shell is a common enough SME shape, and it is normally where cloud accounting stops being cheaper than a desktop package. Multi-company is one plan, not one subscription per entity — 2 companies included and R249 a month for each further one, with every module you already have on all of them.
- Switch between entities from the header, or open the consolidated group view
- Consolidated income statement and balance sheet with inter-company revenue, expenses, receivables and payables eliminated
- An inter-company transaction log and a cross-entity balance matrix, so the eliminations are evidenced rather than asserted
- One contact database shared across entities, with a badge showing which entity each relationship belongs to
- A group structure chart, which is the thing you end up drawing on a whiteboard anyway
Month end, and then year end
- Reconcile the bank
The client imports the statement, or you do. Suggested matches carry a confidence score; the repeats become bank rules and stop needing anyone's attention.
- Clear the approval queues
Expense claims, mileage at the SARS rate and per diem sit in a queue until someone signs them off, so nothing posts to the ledger unreviewed.
- Run payroll and file the EMP201
PAYE on the current brackets with the primary rebate, UIF at the cap, SDL at 1%. The EMP201 totals fall out of the approved run.
- Review the returns before they go
VAT201 from output and input VAT, with the transactions behind each box available if a figure looks wrong.
- Report and export
Income statement, balance sheet and cash flow on IFRS for SMEs, plus budget versus actual, aged debtors and the B-BBEE scorecard. Schedule the recurring ones to arrive as PDF, Excel or CSV.
- Take a working copy at year end
Settings → Data → Export all data gives a ZIP of CSVs — contacts, invoices and lines, expenses, bills, products and time entries — for your files or your audit pack.
Drag dimensions and measures into a live preview, save it, and schedule it. Most of the spreadsheets a practice rebuilds every month for every client are one saved report.
From their old system to a clean opening balance
The migration itself is on its own page, because it is the same job whether a business does it alone or you do it for them. What changes when a practice runs it is that somebody checks the opening position against the old trial balance instead of assuming it.
What the client does
- Creates the account and owns it — the business belongs to them, not to your practice
- Fills in registration and VAT details, financial year end, logo and banking details
- Invites you with the Accountant or Tax Practitioner role
- Imports their contacts, products and bank statements from CSV
What you do
- Agree the cutover date — the start of a financial year where you can wait for it
- Set bank opening balances and check the open invoices imported with the right dates
- Reconcile cash, debtors, creditors and stock against their old trial balance
- Note what the trial balance carries that Ledgr cannot hold yet — see below
- Set up the reports the client actually reads, and schedule them
Ledgr derives its statements from documents rather than from posted journals, and journal posting has not shipped. Fixed assets, depreciation, loans, equity, retained income and the VAT control account therefore have no opening home, and the trial balance and general ledger reports say so rather than showing a fabricated figure. Annual financial statements are still yours to prepare, from Ledgr's exports plus the opening trial balance. The opening balances section sets out exactly what moves and what does not.
What a client needs on their side
Priced per business, not per user, so a client's bill does not go up because you have a login.
| If the client needs… | Minimum plan | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Invoicing and a contact list only | Free | Five invoices a month, one user — no room for your login, so Starter in practice. |
| Unlimited invoicing, expenses and bank reconciliation | Starter | Three seats, which covers an owner, a bookkeeper and you — and bank rec is where your month actually goes. |
| Financial statements, inventory and multi-currency | Business | Ten seats and the full statement set: income statement, balance sheet, cash flow, trial balance and general ledger. |
| Payroll and SARS returns | Professional | The plan clients with staff end up on, and the one you will want them on. |
| Multiple entities and consolidation | Enterprise | Unlimited seats, group view, eliminations and API access. |
The most common onboarding surprise is a one-person business on Free discovering that their single seat is already used. Starter at R199 solves it. Full detail on the pricing page.
Practice questions
Can I see all my clients from one login?
The practitioner portal gives you a client list with each one's compliance state and lets you work across them for filing. Each client's ledger is still their own business with its own subscription and its own audit trail — which is what keeps their data separated from another client's.
Who owns the client's data — them or the practice?
Them, unambiguously. The business is created under their account and they hold the Owner role. If they leave your practice they revoke your access; if you part ways badly, nothing of theirs is hostage to your subscription.
Is there a partner programme or a discount?
Not today. Pricing is the published pricing, per business, and there is no reseller tier to negotiate. If that changes it will be on the pricing page rather than in a private rate card.
Can I file directly to SARS from Ledgr?
No, and deliberately so. Ledgr computes every return from the books and hands you the file; you capture it on eFiling or import it into e@syFile. That keeps the last look at every figure with the person whose name goes on the return. The IRP5 certificate import and the DTR02 schedule are files SARS takes as they are, so those cost you nothing but an upload — see the SARS guide.
Can I pull client data into my own systems?
Yes. Enterprise includes API access, and every plan includes the on-demand CSV export. The developer hub documents authentication, scoped API keys and the endpoint catalogue, with a sandbox to try it against your own tenant.
What can I show a client who is nervous about the cloud?
The security page — data in africa-south1,
per-business isolation, role-based access with 2FA, a seven-year audit log and a
one-click export they can take with them. It is written to be forwarded.
Try it on one client first
Pick the simplest set of books you look after, run one month in parallel, and judge it on the reconciliation rather than the brochure.