Do You Need Separate Accounting Software?

2026-10-05

Usually yes, if you file tax returns or have an accountant. A management platform such as Pacten can run invoices, payments, bills and a day-to-day ledger, but statutory books, tax filing, payroll tax and year-end are still done in accounting software or by your accountant. Pacten sits alongside it.

What a management platform's finance side does

A platform's finance tools exist to run the business: raise the invoice, record the payment, see who owes you and what you owe. They are built around your clients, bookings and projects.

In Pacten, that means the following, all of which is built and in the product today:

• Invoices. Drafts, sending, amending, voiding and credit notes. Tax is set per line, using rates you enter yourself, and each invoice shows the tax broken down by rate.
• Payments received. You record payments against an invoice, including part payments, and the client gets a receipt. A receivables aging report shows what is overdue.
• Bills and suppliers. You record supplier bills, pay them in full or in part, set up recurring bills, and see a payables aging report. Tax on a bill is recorded as recoverable input tax.
• A double-entry ledger. An editable chart of accounts, manual journal entries for adjustments, and a trial balance, profit and loss (accrual or cash basis), balance sheet and cash flow report. You can lock periods once they are closed, and export the journal as a CSV for any date range.
• Bank reconciliation. You enter the closing balance from your statement, tick off the matching ledger lines, and sign the reconciliation off. It is manual: there is no automatic bank feed and no statement import.
• Payroll records. Pay runs, payslips and deductions, with a file for your bank. It records what people should be paid. It is not a payment processor.

What it does not do

This is the part that matters most, so plainly: Pacten is not a replacement for accounting software, and its own Reports screen lists the tax return under "Not here yet".

• It does not produce or file tax returns. There is no sales tax, GST/HST or VAT return report, and Pacten does not file anything with a tax authority. Your accountant or your accounting software does that.
• It does not look up tax rates. The rates on your invoices are the ones you enter. Working out what you owe, and where, is your decision or your accountant's.
• It does not do payroll tax. Deduction rules are ones you define as a percentage or a fixed amount. Pacten does not ship tax tables, does not file or remit payroll tax, and does not post a payroll run to the ledger for you.
• It does not run a year-end close. The balance sheet shows current-year earnings as unclosed rather than rolling them into retained earnings. Year-end adjustments are made by manual journal, usually by your accountant.
• It has no automatic bank feed. Reconciliation is by hand.
• It does not track fixed-asset depreciation on a schedule. You can post depreciation as a manual journal.
• This guide does not rely on a live link to accounting software. The dependable way to hand figures to your accountant is the journal export described below.

What stays with accounting software and your accountant

If you are in the UK, the same split applies to anything your accountant files on your behalf: Pacten works alongside your accounting software and does not handle those filings.

A simple decision checklist

Pacten's finance tools may be enough on their own if:

• You are not registered to charge or file sales tax, or your accountant handles every return from figures you send them.
• Your books are simple enough that an exported journal and a profit and loss report give your accountant what they need.
• You do not need a bank feed and are happy to reconcile by hand once a month.
• You do not need a statutory balance sheet from the software itself.

Keep accounting software if:

• You file sales tax, GST/HST or VAT returns yourself, or want the software to prepare them.
• You want bank transactions imported and matched automatically.
• Your accountant already works in a particular package and wants direct access.
• You run payroll with statutory deductions that must be calculated and filed.

Use both if you want the operations side in one place and the filings in the tool your accountant trusts. That is the most common setup for a growing business, and it is a sensible one. The risk is typing things twice.

How to use both without double entry

Pick one place for each job and stick to it.

1. Decide the source for each record. Invoices and payments from clients start in Pacten, because that is where the booking, contract or project already lives. Bank feeds and tax filings live in the accounting software.
2. Hand over a journal, not a screenshot. For any accounting software, export the journal for the period as a CSV and give it to your accountant. Check the period first, then lock it in Pacten so nothing changes after you send it.
3. Agree a cut-off. Choose a day each month when Pacten's figures are final, and lock the period. Late changes then go through a documented adjustment instead of silently altering a number your accountant has already used.
4. Ask your accountant first. Show them what Pacten exports before you commit to a setup.

Where to start

If you are unsure, start with the operations side. Booking, invoicing and a client record are where most businesses lose time to retyping, and you can add accounting software or keep the one you have. Our guide to booking and invoicing software shows how the first step works, and all-in-one business software explains the wider picture. You can see what each plan includes, read about what Pacten connects to, or talk to us about your setup. When you are ready, you can get started, and more articles are in the guides.