Zoho Technology Corporation has announced fully localised versions for South Africa of Zoho Books, and several other applications. Both Zoho Books and Zoho Invoice now comply with South African VAT Regulations. Zoho Books can generate the VAT 201 Report, which was updated late last year to include additional information.
Andrew Bourne, Regional Head, Zoho South Africa, commented, “South Africa is a significant market for Zoho, and we are committed to providing tools that help businesses here succeed in the digital era. Zoho Books makes VAT filing and compliance effortless, allowing businesses to concentrate on what they do best—growing their operations.”
Zoho is targeting SMEs in South Africa. The Banking Association of South Africa estimated that SMEs make up 91% of the country’s businesses, employ 60% of the workforce, and contribute roughly 34% of the GDP.
Compliance a struggle for SMEs
With increasingly complex regulatory and tax regimes, SMEs often struggle to ensure compliance. Zoho believes that it has the right mix of tools to help South African firms not just meet their regulatory obligations but also excel and grow.
Prashant Ganti, Head of Product Management, Finance and Operations BU, Zoho. “We have seen a growing adoption of the Zoho finance and operations suite in South Africa. This has further reinforced our decision to empower businesses in the country with VAT-compliant solutions to fulfil their tax obligations streamline their finance and operations.
“Our integrated back-office suite not only simplifies these processes but also gives SMEs a competitive edge by enabling them to adapt quickly to any changes and go to market with their tailored offerings.”
Zoho’s finance and operations applications are all built on a single platform. This means that data is not duplicated across the different applications, reducing manual work for SMEs. The different applications also enable each firm to build an appropriate technology stack underpinned by the same data and technology platform.
Finance and Operations applications
Finance Applications
The finance applications include Zoho Books, Zoho Invoice, Zoho Expense, and Zoho Checkout. Zoho Books is the accounting suite that will enable South African businesses to track their finances. In 2023, Zoho was named Accountancy Solution Provider of the Year at the Intelligent ICT Awards, Africa.
Users can create and send VAT-applied invoices with tax rates that comply with SARS regulations. They can also generate VAT 201 reports, VAT audit reports, VAT correction reports, and tax summary reports to prepare for the tax season. They can also create the usual finance reports, including Trial Balance, P&L, and cash flow reports, as well as over 70 predefined reports.
Zoho Invoice is a free invoice generation solution that is localised to South Africa. It integrates with Zoho Books and enables SMe to create customised VAT-compliant quotes and invoices.
Zoho Billing is a flexible billing solution integrated into Zoho Books that can manage subscription, flat fee, project, and expense billing. It can also manage the entire Quote-to-Cash cycle and track and manage VAT for SMEs. Subscription management capabilities include trial management, prorated billing, usage billing, customer lifecycle management, and retention.
Especially for professional services businesses that need to track time and expenses, Zoho Expense enables employees and firms to record and track all travel, time and expenses. The application supports the different VAT tax rates required.
The app also enables employees to book their travel arrangements, reducing the administration burden for employees and the wider firm. Importantly, the firm can impose policies on expenses, including a per diem limit.
Operations Software
Zoho also provides a wide range of operations solutions to support SMEs, including inventory and order management and eCommerce tools.
Zoho Inventory enables users to track stock levels within their organisation, regardless of the number of channels they need. Users can create VAT-compliant transactions, manage warehouses, and set up a barcode system for item tracking. The application is also integrated with a wide range of carriers, including a direct integration with UPS and The Courier Guy. Updates on orders can be sent directly to customers.
Zoho Commerce enables SMEs to create and manage their online stores. The integration with Zoho Inventory means they can continue to track stock levels. The solution enables businesses to automatically send VAT-compliant invoices, accept orders, track inventory, process payments, and manage shipping. The entire platform needs no coding knowledge, and users can quickly create their online store.
Enterprise Times: What does this mean
Zoho continues to expand the functionality and localisation across its applications. Its presence in South Africa and other African countries is growing, and these localisations will assist with that growth. Interested businesses can also try the applications for a 14-day trial. They are available for use on iOS, Android, and Windows mobile devices.
Having just completed the Zoholics events in South Africa, the timing of this announcement is slightly odd, though it may have been revealed during the events at Cape Town and Johannesburg. It will be interesting to see how it competes with other accounting vendors in South Africa.
