Accounting software for professional services firms in Singapore (2026)

From 1 April 2028, the first wave of existing GST-registered businesses in Singapore must send invoice data to IRAS through InvoiceNow. Every GST-registered business follows by 1 April 2031. If you run a consultancy, agency, law practice, architecture studio or IT services firm, the ledger you pick now is the one that will carry you through that change.

Quick answer: Most professional services firms in Singapore run on Xero or QuickBooks Online, with Financio, AutoCount and ABSS as the main local options. Pick the ledger that fits how you bill (time, fixed fee or retainer), handles your client currencies, and appears on IMDA's InvoiceNow-Ready list. Then add a capture tool if supplier bills and receipts still get typed in by hand.

We make tofu, which competes with Hubdoc, Dext and AutoEntry and feeds data into Xero and QuickBooks, so weigh our view accordingly. tofu is not a ledger, so it sits outside the list below.

What do professional services firms need from accounting software?

A services firm sells time and expertise. That shapes the books in four ways.

• Project and time tracking. You need to see which engagements make money. That means logging hours against a project and comparing them with the fee.
• Billable expenses. Travel, filing fees, subcontractors and software bought for a client should flow onto the next invoice. If a receipt goes missing, you eat the cost.
• Multi-currency. Singapore firms bill regional clients in USD, MYR or AUD, and pay overseas freelancers in their own currency.
• GST and InvoiceNow. If you are GST-registered, you will need an InvoiceNow-Ready solution to send sales and purchase invoice data to IRAS. Your phase date depends on your annual supplies.

Client billing is rarely the bottleneck. The harder part is the pile coming in: supplier bills, contractor invoices, receipts and bank statements. Each one has to be read, coded and posted before you can close the month.

When does the GST InvoiceNow requirement apply to my firm?

IRAS published the full timeline after Committee of Supply 2026. The table below comes from the IRAS FAQ on the GST InvoiceNow requirement, version dated 23 Sep 2026.

Phases for existing businesses are based on total annual supplies across GST periods ending in calendar year 2025. Two details matter for services firms. First, sales data is in scope whether or not your customer is GST-registered. Second, you must also send purchase invoice data for the standard-rated and zero-rated purchases behind your input tax claims.

That second point is easy to miss. A consultancy that claims input tax on contractor bills, office rent and software subscriptions will need those purchase records in an InvoiceNow-Ready solution. Bills that still arrive as PDFs or paper have to get into the ledger cleanly first.

Which accounting software do Singapore professional services firms use?

Here are five ledgers we see most often in Singapore. Prices come from each vendor's Singapore site, checked in October 2026. Xero's prices are list prices after its 3-month introductory offer. InvoiceNow status comes from IMDA's InvoiceNow-Ready solution provider page, checked the same week.

Xero

Xero is the default cloud ledger for many Singapore firms and their accountants. Xero Projects tracks time with a timer, builds quotes from a project, shows profitability, and turns time into fixed-price or time-and-materials invoices. Hubdoc and Smart Document Capture are included on every plan.

Suits: consultancies and agencies that want strong app connections and an accountant who already knows the software. Limitation: multi-currency sits on Premium at S$95 a month, and Projects costs extra. Starter caps you at 20 invoices and 5 bills a month, which a working firm outgrows fast. Xero's own page says you can currently only send e-invoices domestically within Singapore.

QuickBooks Online

QuickBooks Online gives you time entry from Essentials and project profitability from Plus. User limits rise with each plan: one on Simple Start, three on Essentials, five on Plus and 25 on Advanced.

Suits: firms that already use QuickBooks elsewhere in the region, or whose accountant works in it. Limitation: IMDA lists it for InvoiceNow through LinkFor partners rather than Intuit directly, so check how your partner handles GST InvoiceNow before you commit. We could not read SGD prices from the vendor page this week.

Financio Accounting

Financio is a cloud ledger from Asian Business Software Solutions, the company behind ABSS. Both plans include InvoiceNow, and the page says you can send GST invoice data directly to IRAS.

Suits: small, Singapore-only firms that want a low monthly cost and local support. Limitation: the Essentials plan is single-currency, and the pricing page does not mention project tracking. A firm that bills hours across engagements may need a separate time tool.

AutoCount Accounting

AutoCount is a desktop-first ledger with a separate cloud product. It offers a free GST InvoiceNow package for GST-registered businesses until 31 March 2031, and lists project and multi-currency as plug-ins.

Suits: firms with an in-house accounts team that prefers desktop software. Limitation: there is no published price, and the plug-in model means you confirm each feature with AutoCount or a reseller. Check that the apps your firm relies on connect to it before you switch.

ABSS Premier Connect

ABSS is a long-standing desktop ledger in Singapore. Premier Connect adds cloud access and AI Scan, and supports sending and receiving InvoiceNow e-invoices.

Suits: established firms already on ABSS who want InvoiceNow without changing ledger. Limitation: the InvoiceNow page does not mention job or project tracking. It fits firms that run time and billing elsewhere.

How do I choose between them?

Start from how you bill. If most revenue is hourly, you want projects and time inside the ledger, which points to Xero with Projects or QuickBooks Plus. If you bill fixed fees or retainers, a simpler ledger often works.

Next, look at currencies. One regional client in USD is enough to need multi-currency. On Xero that means Premium. On Financio it means Premier.

Then check InvoiceNow. Every ledger in the table appears on IMDA's InvoiceNow-Ready list in some form. Ask your vendor or partner how it handles GST InvoiceNow for purchase data, not only sales.

Finally, ask your accountant. If an outside firm closes your books, use the ledger they know best. It saves hours at year end, and the Form C-S for YA 2026 is due on 30 November 2026.

When a ledger's built-in capture is enough

You may not need a separate capture tool at all. Xero includes Hubdoc and Smart Document Capture on every plan. ABSS Premier Connect has AI Scan. QuickBooks lists receipt capture on its plans.

Built-in capture is usually enough when:

• You handle fewer than a few dozen supplier bills a month.
• Most bills are single-line, in English, and from the same handful of suppliers.
• You only need the total and tax coded, not each line.
• One person does the books and knows every supplier by heart.

Things change when volume grows or documents get messy. Multi-page contractor invoices, receipts in Chinese or Bahasa, handwritten claims and PDF bank statements from DBS, OCBC or UOB all slow built-in tools down. That is when the "most reliable data capture" question starts to matter. Reliable capture reads every line, links each field back to the source, and checks bank statements against opening and closing balances. We cover the bank side in our guide to DBS, OCBC and UOB statements, and the wider tool landscape in bookkeeping automation software for Singapore.

Where tofu fits

tofu is the capture layer that sits in front of your ledger. It reads invoices, receipts and bank statements in 200+ languages, handwriting included. It codes each line to your accounts and tax rates, then publishes the entries to Xero, QuickBooks Online, Sage Cloud Accounting, Zoho Books or Bukku. Other ledgers get a CSV export.

tofu does not replace your ledger. It does not send invoices, track time or file GST returns, and it is not an InvoiceNow solution. Your ledger and its InvoiceNow-Ready setup still handle the IRAS side. tofu's job is to get the purchase data into that ledger accurately, with the source document attached.

Pricing counts entries, not clients, and Pro and above include unlimited users and entities. Pro covers 800 entries a month and Business 2,500. An invoice or receipt is one entry however many lines or pages it has, and a bank statement is one entry per page.

Excellence Singapore runs bookkeeping for 300+ clients with about 12 people, across Xero and QuickBooks. The firm's own early tracking showed 50% or more time saved per client. Read the Excellence Singapore case study.

"When there's a bookkeeping task, we ask ourselves: 'Can you tofu it?' If you can, please just load it in. Don't think."

Lucas Seah, CEO, Excellence Singapore

Start a free trial or see pricing.

Frequently asked questions

Does my professional services firm need InvoiceNow now?

It depends on your GST status and size. Businesses applying for new voluntary GST registration have been in scope since 1 April 2026. Existing GST-registered businesses join from 1 April 2028 to 1 April 2031, phased by total annual supplies in 2025.

Does the GST InvoiceNow requirement cover purchase invoices?

Yes. IRAS says you must send purchase invoice data for standard-rated and zero-rated purchases to support the input tax you claim. Purchases where you do not claim input tax fall outside the scope. For a services firm, that usually means contractor bills, rent, software and professional fees all need clean records in your InvoiceNow-Ready solution.

What is the best accounting software for a consultancy in Singapore?

For most consultancies, Xero with Projects or QuickBooks Online Plus is the safest choice, because both track time against projects and work with most local accountants. Smaller Singapore-only firms on fixed fees may prefer Financio for its lower price. Firms already on AutoCount or ABSS can usually stay put, since both appear on IMDA's InvoiceNow-Ready list.

Can Xero and QuickBooks handle overseas clients in other currencies?

Yes, at the right plan. Xero includes multi-currency on Premium at S$95 a month. QuickBooks Online lists multi-currency from Essentials upward. Financio adds it on Premier. Capturing foreign-currency bills accurately is a separate job, especially when bills arrive in Chinese, Bahasa or Japanese.

Is tofu an InvoiceNow solution or a replacement for Xero?

Neither. tofu reads supplier bills, receipts and bank statements and publishes coded entries into your ledger. Your ledger, through its InvoiceNow-Ready setup, sends data to IRAS. tofu helps make sure the purchase data in that ledger is complete and accurate before it goes.

When is Form C-S due for YA 2026?

IRAS sets the annual filing due date for Form C-S, Form C-S (Lite) and Form C at 30 November. For YA 2026 that is 30 November 2026. Clean, up-to-date books make the tax computation much faster, so it pays to close the year's bookkeeping well before then.

Sources

• IRAS: Committee of Supply 2026, extension of GST InvoiceNow requirement to all GST-registered businesses by April 2031
• IRAS: FAQs for GST InvoiceNow requirement (version 23 Sep 2026)
• IRAS: FAQs on filing Form C-S and Form C-S (Lite)
• IMDA: InvoiceNow-Ready (Peppol-Ready) solution providers
• Xero Singapore pricing
• Xero Singapore project tracking
• Xero Singapore e-invoicing
• QuickBooks Online Singapore plan comparison
• Financio Singapore pricing
• AutoCount InvoiceNow
• ABSS InvoiceNow

Checked against IRAS, IMDA and vendor pages in October 2026.