Single interface for all accounting programs.
A UK accountant has created a cloud service that can import data from several accounting programs and automatically perform the checks required to create a trial balance.
LedgerScope, created by Adrian Pearson of Pearson and Associates, could import transactional data from Xero and the UK versions of Sage and QuickBooks. FreeAgent and KashFlow would be added soon but there were no plans to add more desktop software, Pearson said.
“LedgerScope offers the accountant the same view of the data regardless of where it comes from – it’s like a common accountant’s interface,” Pearson said. “It takes away all the hassle of where did it come from, have I got a backup, have I got a password for the backup, have I got the equivalent software to restore it.”
Acccountants using LedgerScope also didn’t need to learn how to use different accounting programs, Pearson added.
Once data had been imported LedgerScope carried out the standard checks made by accountants to create a trial balance. These included inconsistencies in posting similar transactions, transactions classified as assets instead of expenses, and missing data from series of transactions.
“Even though every business is unique the processes that an accountant goes through to get get from the client’s trial balance to their own trial balance are all very similar,” Pearson said.
An accountant logging into LedgerScope viewed a page listing all the checks that had been made and the exceptions which needed examining.
LedgerScope would give accountants working with cloud accounting programs such as Xero a way of working on a copy of client data rather than live information. Pearson said that while he understood Xero’s single ledger concept, many accountants were uncomfortable working with live data.
“If I go in and hack around with the client’s data and I’ve made some wrong assumptions, then the client says ‘you’ve completely screwed up my single ledger’, who’s going to fix it?” Pearson said.
LedgerScope was complementary to single-ledger products such as Xero and not in competition, Pearson said. Pearson was integrating his program with Xero so that accountants could export data from Xero, make adjustments to create a trial balance and then feed those adjustments back into Xero.
LedgerScope launched towards the end of last year but Pearson has concentrated his efforts in creating a second service called MoveMyBooks.com service which converts Sage (UK) files to Xero.