Accounting Software in Pakistan: What It Must Do, Types Compared and How to Choose

Accounting software in Pakistan has to do more than add up sales: it must issue proper invoices, keep customer and supplier ledgers, hold sales tax and withholding records in rupees, and give your accountant reports they can work from.

This guide is for owners and accountants of small and mid-sized businesses moving off Excel or paper registers. It describes types of software rather than brands, so you can judge any product you are shown.

What accounting software in Pakistan must handle

• Sales and purchase invoices with the other party’s NTN or sales tax registration number, quantities and the tax charged.
• Chart of accounts and ledgers in double entry, so every sale, payment and expense lands in the right account.
• Receivables and payables: who owes you, whom you owe, and for how long.
• Expenses by category and branch, with the bill attached.
• Bank and cash: a cash book, and bank reconciliation that matches your entries to the bank statement.
• Sales tax records: output and input tax per invoice, summarised for each return.
• Withholding records: tax you deduct from suppliers and tax deducted from you, so certificates and statements agree.
• PKR first, with foreign currency for importers and exporters.
• Branches and users: results per branch, user rights and an audit trail of edits.
• Reports your accountant needs: trial balance, profit and loss, balance sheet, ledgers, ageing and tax summaries, exportable to Excel.

What FBR expects your records to show

If you are registered for sales tax, section 22 of the Sales Tax Act, 1990 (as amended up to 30 June 2026) requires records from which your tax liability can be readily worked out, including:

• supplies made and goods purchased, with description, quantity, value, the other party’s name and address, the supplier’s registration number and the tax;
• double entry sales tax accounts;
• invoices, credit and debit notes, bank statements, inventory records and the cash book;
• electronic versions of these records.

Section 24 says to keep them for six years after the end of the tax period, or longer while a case is pending. Sales tax registered persons must also issue electronic invoices from software integrated with FBR through a licensed integrator or PRAL (SRO 709(I)/2025, replaced by the phased schedule in SRO 1413(I)/2025; check FBR for the latest dates). See FBR digital invoicing integration.

Sales tax and withholding rates change with Finance Acts, so take them from FBR’s current notifications or your tax adviser, and choose software where you can change a rate yourself.

Sources: Sales Tax Act, 1990, amended up to 30 June 2026; SRO 709(I)/2025; SRO 1413(I)/2025. Checked 4 October 2026. Not tax advice.

Types of accounting software in Pakistan compared

Any accounting software list changes every year, but almost every product falls into one of these types:

• Desktop accounting: installed on a PC or office network, often a one-time licence plus yearly support. Works offline; backups and remote access are your job.
• International cloud accounting: subscription tools in the browser, built mainly for other countries’ tax rules. Strong on bookkeeping; Pakistani tax formats may be missing.
• Accounting inside an ERP or POS: sales, stock, purchases and accounts in one system, so every bill posts to the ledger automatically.
• Spreadsheets: where most businesses start. Free and flexible, with no audit trail.

Free accounting software: what you really get

• Free plans of paid tools usually cap invoices, users or features, and keep tax reports and extra users for paid tiers.
• Open-source desktop tools are free to licence, but someone has to install, configure and support them.
• Spreadsheets cost nothing, but one wrong formula can carry through a year of figures.
• Cracked copies of paid software bring no updates, no support, a risk of data loss and malware.

Free is fine for learning or a one-person business. Once you have staff, credit customers or sales tax registration, supported software usually costs less than fixing a year of wrong ledgers.

How to choose accounting software in Pakistan

1. Ask your accountant which reports and formats they need, and test against that list.
2. Check sales tax and withholding: fields on invoices, rates you can change, summaries for returns.
3. If you are sales tax registered, confirm FBR digital invoicing integration.
4. Check branch reports, user rights and the audit trail.
5. Try bank reconciliation with a real statement from your bank.
6. Ask how opening balances and customer and supplier balances move in from Excel.
7. Confirm you can export all your data at any time.
8. Compare a full year’s cost, including setup, training and support.

Moving off Excel in four weeks

1. Week 1: agree the chart of accounts with your accountant and enter opening balances from a closed month.
2. Week 2: load customers, suppliers and items with balances; set user rights.
3. Week 3: run the software alongside Excel for every transaction.
4. Week 4: reconcile cash and bank, compare the trial balance with Excel, then retire the old file.

Ezitech’s option: EziERP accounting

Ezitech Software House (Rawalpindi, founded 2015, PSEB registered) builds EziERP, which has an accounting module covering invoices, ledgers, expenses and reports. A standalone EziERP is quoted by scope, because modules, users and data migration differ for each business; see ERP software price in Pakistan and what an ERP really costs.

The one published price that includes full accounting is the EziPOS Enterprise ERP package at Rs 25,000 a month, billed monthly in advance (pay for a year, get 2 months free). It includes:

• full accounting: chart of accounts, ledgers, profit and loss, balance sheet;
• unlimited outlets, users, products and invoices, with 5 years of history;
• HR and payroll with attendance, warehouse management and CRM;
• FBR and PRA digital invoicing integration, plus bank and courier integrations;
• a dedicated account manager and 24/7 support.

A shop that only needs bills and khata should start with billing software instead. In the demo, bring your own invoices and ask how EziERP records your sales tax and withholding entries.

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