Solar installers
Accounting software for solar EPC companies
Every quotation that turns into a roof leaves a trail of advances, distributor bills, part payments and a maintenance contract a year later. Keep all of it in one ledger your accountant can close.
In short
SimpleERP is accounting software for solar EPC companies and rooftop installers. Customer advances, system invoices, distributor bills, maintenance contract income and crew salaries post to one double-entry ledger, with trial balance, P&L and balance sheet on any date.
Illustration: saving invoice INV-2026-0213 moves stock, posts the customer ledger, records tax and updates the dashboard in one step.
An accounting day at Sunset Coast Solar
At month end the owner of Sunset Coast Solar asks the same three questions: how much have homeowners paid in advance that we have not billed yet, how much are we owed by people waiting for their rebate to land, and how much do we owe the panel distributor.
The answers used to come from an old accounting file updated by a part-time accountant twice a month and a register in the office drawer. Advances sat in suspense, the debit note for cracked modules never reached the books, and maintenance contract money was counted in whichever month it arrived.
SimpleERP posts every invoice, receipt and purchase bill into a double-entry ledger as it is saved. The owner's three questions become three reports: the customer's on-account balance, receivables ageing and payables ageing.
Which ledger accounts does a solar installer need?
Most are seeded on sign-up. The rest are a couple of additions so the P&L reads the way a rooftop EPC business thinks about its money.
- Customer advances stay on account until you apply them to the system invoice.
- A debit note to the distributor for a cracked module lowers the payable and the stock together.
| Account | What posts to it | Seeded or added |
|---|---|---|
| Sales: rooftop systems | Panels, inverters and mounting structures on system invoices | Seeded sales account, renamed |
| Installation and maintenance contract income | Installation lines and yearly maintenance visits | Added once as an income account |
| Customer advances | Money received before the system invoice | A credit balance on the customer until applied |
| Trade receivables | Homeowner balances, including the part held back until rebate | Seeded |
| Inventory and cost of goods sold | Panels and inverters issued at average cost | Seeded |
| Tax collected and reclaimed | Tax from bills and invoices | Seeded |
How do you keep track of homeowners waiting for their rebate?
The rebate reaches the homeowner, but many installers let the last instalment wait until it does. That balance is an ordinary receivable on the homeowner's account, and the ageing report shows how long each one has been open.
- Ageing by bucket and by customer separates last month's roofs from last year's.
- A reminder message is written for you to copy and send to the homeowner.
- A customer statement lists every invoice, receipt and credit note for a society treasurer.
Illustration of receivables ageing: 2,441 to collect across 5 buckets, with customer totals.
Where does maintenance contract income go?
An annual maintenance contract is billed as a service invoice and posts to income on the invoice date. If your accountant prefers to spread a $300 yearly maintenance contract across twelve months, a monthly journal handles it; SimpleERP does not make that spread on its own.
- Panel cleaning visits are billed as a service and never touch stock.
- maintenance contract renewals sit as dated follow-ups on the customer in the CRM.
What does a solar installer check at month end?
Four checks, then a lock date so nothing posts into the closed month by mistake.
- Bank register reconciled by ticking cleared lines against the statement.
- Sales register exported as CSV for the accountant's tax return work.
- Purchase register checked against every distributor bill.
- Trial balance and P&L reviewed, then the lock date moved to the month's last day.
One system
Where solar accounts connect
Invoices, distributor bills, crew payroll and expense claims all write their own journals, so the ledger is current the moment each document is saved.
Solar installers
Enquiries to quotations, mixed panel and installation invoices, stock by warehouse and maintenance contract billing.
See howInvoicing & tax
Tax invoices with VAT, GST or sales tax on every line, numbered by fiscal year and posted in one step.
See howInventory for solar installers
Panels, inverters, mounting structures and cable counted by warehouse and crew van at average cost, with transfers to each rooftop job.
See howPayroll for solar installers
Installation crew salaries from rooftop check-ins, site expense claims, advances recovered over months, and deductions on each payslip.
See howAccounting
A double-entry ledger with journals, bank registers, statements and a lock date.
See how
Honest limits
What SimpleERP does not do yet
- No bank feeds: bank entries are recorded and reconciled by hand
- No multi-currency; every document is in your base currency
- Tax returns are not filed and e-invoices are not issued from inside the product
- No site-wise P&L: costs are not rolled up per rooftop job
- maintenance contract income is not deferred automatically; spread it with a monthly journal if your accountant asks
Getting started
Start with accounting
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.
Enter opening balances
Enter the bank balance, the distributor's unpaid bills and each homeowner's pending amount as opening balances dated the first of the month.
Run the trial balance
Every posted document is already in the ledger; the trial balance and P&L are ready on any date.
FAQ
Questions, answered
Can my accountant work in the same books?
Yes. Invite the accountant by email with the Accountant role. They get journals, bank registers, the tax summary and every report as CSV, and they count as one user. Nothing is exported and re-imported between your billing and their ledger, because both are the same ledger.
How do I record the $9,000 advance a school paid for a 20 kW system?
Record a customer payment against the school without choosing an invoice, and it sits on account. When the system invoice posts, apply the advance to it, and the receivable falls by $9,000. No suspense entry and no journal are needed.
Does SimpleERP file tax returns for us?
No. It gives you the sales and purchase registers and the tax summary, each exportable as CSV. Your accountant or tax agent lodges the return from those figures.
We gave a homeowner $400 off after a delayed net meter. How is that booked?
Raise a credit note against the system invoice for the discount and the tax on it. The homeowner's balance falls, output tax reduces, and the credit note stays linked to the original invoice, so the customer's statement explains itself.
Related
Keep reading
Solar installers
Enquiries to quotations, mixed panel and installation invoices, stock by warehouse and maintenance contract billing.
Read moreInventory for solar installers
Panels, inverters, mounting structures and cable counted by warehouse and crew van at average cost, with transfers to each rooftop job.
Read morePayroll for solar installers
Installation crew salaries from rooftop check-ins, site expense claims, advances recovered over months, and deductions on each payslip.
Read more
See how accounting works in SimpleERP for solar installers
Seven days free. No card. Your first invoice in minutes.