Singapore Cloud Ledger
Every due date gets its red line.
A Singapore back-office that keeps the ledger for professional services firms - bookkeeping, bank reconciliation, GST returns, payroll coordination and management reporting on Xero and QuickBooks Online, run on a monthly rhythm rather than a year-end scramble.
The monthly rhythm
What a monthly close actually looks like here
Reconciliation runs every month, so GST is a review step by the time it is due rather than a rediscovery. Firms on quarterly filing with IRAS typically see draft figures within the first two weeks after month end.
Cleared each month
Bank and card feeds
Every feed reconciled against source documents, suspense accounts cleared, and the adjustments your practice actually needs posted.
Posted to the ledger
Practice-specific adjustments
Work in progress, disbursements billed on behalf of clients, staff claims and inter-account transfers - the entries a retail ledger template misses.
Delivered to the desk
The reporting pack
Profit and loss by practice area, a balance sheet, and an aged debtors report showing which client owes what, and for how long.
If your firm tracks time, we map it into the same reporting so realisation per fee earner sits next to the revenue line instead of in a separate spreadsheet nobody updates.
Close window
2 weeks
After month end, for firms on quarterly IRAS filing.
Chart of accounts
Bookkeeping built around billable hours
Professional services ledgers are not retail ledgers. Revenue arrives late, often in a lump, against invoices raised weeks earlier. Disbursements get paid on the client's behalf and recovered later. Partners draw against future profits. A bookkeeping routine that ignores all this produces a bank balance that looks healthy while the practice is behind on collection.
We post to your chart of accounts, not a generic one. Revenue lines follow your service categories - conveyancing, tax advisory, retainer work, project fees. Expense categories separate what is recoverable from a client from what is overhead. That structure is what makes a management report worth reading, and it is set up during onboarding rather than rebuilt every year.
Set during onboarding
- Revenue lines by service category Read
- Recoverable vs overhead expense Split
- Work in progress at period end Tracked
- Retainer vs project revenue Separate
- Disbursement recovery ledger Linked
A shophouse back-office at 8am
Your ledger is not a spreadsheet nobody opens
The work lives in the same place your invoices do, on Xero or QuickBooks Online, with bank feeds running and the monthly close documented. Nothing sits in a desktop file only one person can unlock.
How the desk works day to dayGST returns filing
GST returns without the last-week panic
Registration is compulsory once taxable turnover crosses the threshold, and voluntary registration is common among firms wanting to reclaim input tax on equipment and software. Either way, the return depends on the quality of the underlying entries - the right tax code on each line.
Line-level discipline
Exports and zero-rated supplies are separated from standard-rated ones, and credit notes are matched to the invoices they correct.
Working papers kept
We prepare the figures and the supporting schedule. If IRAS asks a question later, the answer is already in the folder.
Your filing choice
The figures and schedule go to your accountant, or we file on your instruction if your engagement covers it.
Payroll coordination
Payroll for teams of ten that suddenly are not
A new hire mid-month, a part-timer, CPF contributions, an intern, a director's fee paid once a year. Small teams get complicated quietly, and the money side has to stay clean while it does.
- Monthly payroll run
- Coordinated with your CPF submission schedule, so the timing of one matches the timing of the other.
- Leave and salary records
- Kept aligned with the general ledger, so staff costs do not need a manual journal at year end.
- Annual IR8A figures
- Prepared for the filing your accountant completes, rather than assembled from memory in February.
- Not employment-law advice
- Contract terms, notice periods and work-pass conditions go to the relevant professional. What we keep clean is what was paid, what was withheld, and where it sits in the accounts.
Xero and QuickBooks Online
Chosen for the firm, not the trend
Both platforms do the core job. The decision usually turns on how your practice bills and reports, and how wide an ecosystem you want around the ledger.
Compare platforms for your firmSuits these practices
Xero
- Wide app marketplace with third-party add-ons
- Bank feeds across many Singapore institutions
- Practices that bill on retainers with a few large clients
- Firms wanting reporting depth without extra spreadsheets
Suits these practices
QuickBooks Online
- Teams already comfortable inside Intuit products
- Firms wanting a simpler ledger with fewer moving parts
- Practices with straightforward reporting needs
- Smaller teams onboarding their first cloud ledger
Local options such as Financio, and legacy desktop systems such as ABSS that many firms still run, come up on the shortlist too. We implement whichever platform matches how your practice bills and reports - not the one with the better sales page.
InvoiceNow readiness
Where InvoiceNow fits
InvoiceNow is Singapore's nationwide e-invoicing network, built on the Peppol standard and driven by IMDA. It lets an invoice travel directly between accounting systems instead of arriving as a PDF in an inbox to be retyped.
Adoption has been spreading through the corporate sector, and firms that bill larger organisations increasingly find the request coming from the client side. Readiness is partly a software question and partly a process one. Your platform has to support it, your invoice data has to be structured, and someone has to decide which clients you send through the network. We can assess where your setup stands and what would need to change.
Migration & onboarding
From desktop files to a ledger you can trust
Historical data pulled from your ABSS file, an Excel workbook, or a neglected ledger.
The closing position set on an agreed cut-off date, before anything is converted.
Opening balances carried across into the new platform on Xero or QuickBooks Online.
One parallel month so the new ledger can be checked against the old before anyone relies on it.
Nothing is deleted. Your historical records remain available, and the audit trail from the old system to the new one is documented.
Read how migration worksManagement reporting
A pack a partner can actually use
A profit and loss statement tells you the practice made money. It does not tell you which client is unprofitable, which fee earner is carrying recoverable work, or whether debtor days are stretching. Reports go out on a fixed date each month, in a format agreed during onboarding so month-to-month comparison means something.
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Revenue by client and by service line
The same figure seen two ways, so you can tell which work pays and which work simply occupies the desk.
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Direct costs against each line
Disbursements, subcontracted work and staff time sitting next to the revenue they were spent on.
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Work in progress at period end
What has been worked on but not yet billed, valued so it does not surprise you at year end.
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Aged debtors with follow-up history
Which client owes what, how long it has been outstanding, and where the chasing stands.
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Realisation per fee earner
Where the firm tracks time, that mapping sits next to the revenue line rather than in a separate file.
Who we work with
Firms that bill by the hour
We support law firms and legal practices, management and technology consultancies, design and architecture studios, marketing and PR agencies, recruitment firms, and other fee-earning partnerships across Singapore. The common thread is not size - it is that revenue comes from people's time, and the accounts have to show how that time turned into money. Firms at six people and firms at sixty both come to us, usually for the same reason: the finance function grew by accident and nobody owns it full time.
- Law firms Conveyancing, litigation and advisory practices where disbursements and client money need clear separating. Legal
- Consultancies Management and technology firms working on retainer and project fees, often across several entities. Advisory
- Design and architecture Studios billing milestones, where work in progress moves slowly and the cash follows months later. Studio
- Marketing and PR Agencies carrying media spend and pass-through costs that have to stay out of overhead. Agency
- Recruitment firms Placement and retainer income, timed against commissions and drawn against future placements. Recruitment
- Other partnerships Anywhere two or more people split revenue from their own time and share the overhead between them. Partnership
See the segment detail on the Who We Work With page.
Documents being moved, in order
Scope boundary
What stays with your own accountant and corporate secretary
We are not your tax adviser and we are not your corporate secretary. Statutory filings with ACRA, the annual tax return, the corporate tax computation, and the secretarial register remain with the professionals you have appointed for those roles. Where you have no such appointment, we can point to what needs to be arranged rather than pretend to cover it.
Our scope is the ledger and the reporting around it. That boundary is deliberate - it keeps the working papers clean and stops responsibilities blurring when a deadline is close.
Introductory call
How the first conversation runs
Thirty to forty minutes, not a sales presentation. If the fit is wrong, we say so on the call.
Onboarding after a yes
2-4 weeks
Depending on how far back the records need to go and whether a migration is involved.
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01
What your bookkeeping looks like today
Who touches the file, what platform you are on if any, and where the friction sits.
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02
When your GST quarters fall
So the monthly close is scheduled to arrive before the deadline, not after it.
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03
What you wish you could see
Usually the one figure a partner wants but currently cannot reach without asking someone.
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04
A scope and a start date
Written down and quoted before anything begins, so the number does not move without you.
Fees and scope
A fixed monthly fee for an agreed scope
Anything outside the agreed scope is quoted before it starts. No surprise line items at year end.
The scope, written down
- Number of bank accounts
- Every feed included in the monthly reconciliation is named in the engagement, not assumed.
- Transaction volume bands
- Priced in bands, so a busy quarter does not trigger an hourly invoice nobody predicted.
- Reporting pack contents
- Agreed line by line during onboarding, then kept stable so comparisons mean something.
- Payroll headcount
- The number of employees, directors and part-timers included in the monthly payroll run.
- If the practice grows or adds an entity
- The fee changes with the scope, discussed in advance and confirmed in writing before the first invoice is raised on the new basis.
Answers before the call
Questions we get asked first
If your question is not here, it is worth bringing to the introductory call - the answer is often more specific to your practice than a general note can be.
Which cloud accounting platform is most common for Singapore professional services firms?
Xero and QuickBooks Online are the two most visible cloud-led options, and both appear widely across Singapore practices. Local tools such as Financio, and legacy desktop systems such as ABSS, still show up among smaller and established firms. The right choice depends on your billing model, reporting needs, and whether you want a broad app ecosystem or a simpler ledger.
Should a consultancy choose Xero or QuickBooks Online?
Consultancies that bill on retainers with a few large clients often do fine on either. If your reporting needs are simple and your team already knows Intuit products, QuickBooks Online is a reasonable fit. If you want a wide marketplace of add-on apps and bank feeds across many institutions, Xero tends to suit better. We implement both.
How important is InvoiceNow readiness when selecting accounting software in Singapore?
It is becoming a practical consideration rather than a theoretical one. InvoiceNow runs on the Peppol standard and lets invoices travel directly between accounting systems. Firms billing larger organisations are increasingly asked about it from the client side. Not every platform supports it equally well, so it belongs on the shortlist criteria.
Can a small services firm use local software instead of Xero?
Yes. Financio and similar local options are viable for smaller Singapore firms that want cloud accounting without moving to a global platform. The trade-off is usually ecosystem breadth: fewer third-party integrations, fewer accountants familiar with the platform if you later change providers.
What should a Singapore firm expect from a cloud accounting implementation partner?
A defined sequence: data extraction, agreement on the closing position, conversion of opening balances, and at least one parallel month before you rely on the new ledger. You should also expect documented working papers and a clear boundary between what the partner handles and what stays with your accountant or corporate secretary.
How do GST, payroll, and management reporting shape the software shortlist?
GST settings have to handle standard-rated, zero-rated, and exempt supplies correctly, which narrows the field. Payroll integration matters if you want salary costs flowing into the ledger without manual journals. Management reporting is where platforms differ most: some produce a usable profit and loss by client with minimal configuration, others need an app or a spreadsheet layer on top.
Singapore Cloud Ledger
Book the desk that keeps your ledger
Cloud accounting and outsourced finance operations for Singapore professional services firms. Send a short enquiry and we will come back with a scope, a start date, and a straight answer about whether the fit is right.
Singapore Cloud Ledger Pte. Ltd. · 16 Raffles Quay, #30-01 Hong Leong Building, Singapore 048581
Mon-Fri 9:00-18:00 · Sat 10:00-13:00 · +65 6236 9283
Cloud accounting Singapore