Professional services
ERP software for service businesses and agencies
Win the work in a pipeline, quote it, invoice it with the right tax, collect the money, and pay your team, without a single stock screen in the way.
In short
SimpleERP is ERP software for service businesses and agencies. Leads and follow-ups become quotations and service invoices with the right tax, and expense claims, attendance, leave and payroll run on the same ledger, with no stock screens.
Illustration of the CRM pipeline with four stages and a list of follow-ups due today.
A day in a service business
In a service firm the product is people's time, so the work is winning clients, billing them right and keeping the team paid.
A design and IT agency in Melbourne starts the week with a list of leads from referrals and a trade show. Two need a call back today, one asked for a revised quote, and one has gone quiet. The follow-ups live in a notebook and a chat thread, and someone always gets missed.
When a client says yes, the quote is retyped into an invoice. One client is in Auckland, so the line should not carry Australian tax, and the next one is local and should. Then there are staff travel claims to approve, leave requests to answer and salaries to run at month end.
SimpleERP turns that week into one flow. The lead becomes a customer and a quotation, the quotation becomes an invoice with the client's tax number and the rate on each service, and claims, leave and payroll sit next to the books they post to.
CRM
Never lose a lead to a forgotten follow-up
Leads, deals and follow-ups live in a pipeline, and the follow-ups due today are the first thing a salesperson sees, so nothing depends on memory.
- Duplicate check warns when a lead's phone is already in the pipeline.
- Kanban board on a computer, a simple list on a phone.
- Log calls, meetings and notes against the lead or the deal.
- Convert a lead to a customer and a quotation in one step.
Billing
Service invoices with the right tax for each client
Each service carries its own tax rate, filled on every invoice line, and you change it on the line when a client falls under a different rule, such as a business abroad.
- Services are products without stock: no warehouse, no stock movement, no cost of goods.
- Free-text lines for one-off work that is not in your service list.
- Client tax number prints on the invoice, checked against your country's format where it has one.
| Client is | Tax on the invoice |
|---|---|
| In your country | The rate set on the service, such as 10% in Australia or 20% in the UK |
| A business in another country | Often zero-rated or outside the scope of your tax; pick that rate on the line |
| A consumer in another country | Depends on the service and the country; ask your accountant |
Sales and payments
From quote to cash without retyping
A quotation converts to an invoice with every line carried over, and each payment received is allocated to the invoices it settles, so dues and ageing are always current.
- Quotation status shows sent, accepted, declined or expired, and the conversion rate.
- Receipts by bank transfer, card or cheque, allocated oldest invoice first.
- Receivables ageing by client, with a reminder written for you to send.
- Credit notes when a fee is reduced after the invoice went out.
Illustration of receivables ageing: 2,441 to collect across 5 buckets, with customer totals.
Expenses
Travel and client expenses, claimed from a phone
Staff submit expense claims with a photo of the receipt from their phone, a manager approves or rejects with a reason, and reimbursement is posted to the books.
- Claims move from submitted to approved to reimbursed.
- Business expenses such as rent, software or travel, with the tax you can reclaim recorded.
- Expense categories map each cost to the right account.
Illustration of an expense claim on a phone with a receipt photo and Approve and Reject buttons.
People and payroll
Attendance, leave and payroll for a team that is often out
Staff check in from their phone, request leave from their phone and see their payslips there, while the monthly payroll run reads paid days from attendance and leave.
- Self-service for every employee: attendance, leave, payslips and claims.
- Leave balances that update the moment a request is approved.
- Payslips with your earnings and deductions, posted to the books on approval.
Illustration of the daily attendance sheet on a phone with a Mark all present button.
Ready on day one
What you don't have to set up
A service firm can ignore half the product, and SimpleERP lets it.
- No warehouses, stock or chart of accounts to look at unless you go looking.
- Your country's tax rates, ready to pick on a product or service.
- A sales pipeline with ready-made stages you can rename.
- Salary components, a default shift and leave types.
- An Employee role that only sees its own attendance, leave, payslips and claims.
By job
Professional services by job
Inventory for accounting firms
What a practice should track as stock (resold hardware security keys), what it should expense and what it can ignore entirely.
Read moreAccounting for accounting firms
The practice's own books: fee income by type, retainers paid in advance, tax withheld by clients and a month-end close the partners trust.
Read morePayroll for accounting firms
Salaries for staff accountants and graduate trainees, busy-season leave and audit travel claims, paid from one run.
Read more
One system
The modules that do this work
A won deal becomes a quotation and an invoice; the invoice posts the receivable and the tax, and a receipt settles it.
CRM
Leads, a deal pipeline, today's follow-ups and conversion to customer and quotation.
See howInvoicing & tax
Tax invoices with VAT, GST or sales tax on every line, numbered by fiscal year and posted in one step.
See howPayments & receivables
Receipts and payments allocated oldest first, receivables and payables ageing, and statements.
See howExpenses
Business expenses with receipts, and staff claims from submit to approve to reimburse.
See howHR, attendance & leave
Employees, a daily attendance sheet, phone check-in, holidays and leave balances.
See howPayroll
Salary structures, monthly runs and payslips with your earnings and deductions, posted to the books.
See how
Honest limits
What SimpleERP does not do for service firms yet
These come up often with agencies and consultants.
- Timesheets or billing by the hour from tracked time.
- Project accounting or profitability by project.
- Recurring or retainer invoices that raise themselves each month.
- Multi-currency invoicing for clients abroad.
- E-invoicing filed through a government system.
Getting started
Start with your first invoice
Sign up with your email
Name, email and a password. No card for the seven-day trial.
Tell us about the business
Pick your country and, if you are registered, type your tax number. Accounts, tax rates, units, roles and numbering are seeded for that country.
Add what you sell
Add your services with their tax rates. There is no stock to load, so this takes a few minutes.
Post your first invoice
Pick the customer, add lines and save. Your first invoice can be out within 10 minutes of signing up.
FAQ
Questions, answered
Which tax rate applies to my services?
Most professional services carry your country's standard VAT, GST or sales tax rate, many US states do not tax services at all, and work for clients abroad is often zero-rated. In SimpleERP you set the rate on each service and the invoice applies it. Rates differ by country and change, so confirm the rate for your goods with your accountant or tax authority before you rely on it.
How do I bill a client in another country?
Add the client with their address and tax number, and pick the rate that applies on each line, often a zero rate for services exported to a business. The invoice is in your base currency. In India, the invoice also switches between local and interstate tax by itself.
Do I have to use the inventory screens?
No. Services have no stock, so no warehouse or stock movement is involved. A service business can run on CRM, sales, payments, expenses and people without opening inventory.
Can I record tax withheld by my clients?
There is no dedicated screen for withholding tax deducted by clients yet. Record the amount actually received as a receipt, and ask your accountant to post the withheld portion with a manual journal, which SimpleERP supports.
Can clients abroad be invoiced in their own currency?
No. Invoices are in your base currency only in this release. Multi-currency is not supported yet.
Related
Keep reading
Sales teams
Today's follow-ups, a pipeline, and quotations that become invoices without retyping.
Read moreCollect payments faster
Seven practices that shorten the time between invoice and payment, with the mechanism behind each and a worked example.
Read moreWholesale & distribution
Keyboard-first billing, stock across warehouses at average cost, party ledgers and receivables ageing.
Read moreRetail
Counter invoices paid on the spot, stock by store with a low-stock list, and the day's cash and bank.
Read more
Run your whole business from one simple place.
Seven days free. No card. Your first invoice in minutes.