Daftari
Do you need an ERP, or just good accounting software? A guide for growing businesses in Tanzania
If you have a small team, invoice your customers regularly, and spend too much time working out who has paid, you probably don’t need a full ERP. You need proper accounting software that handles invoices, payments, expenses, stock and reports in one place. That is what Daftari is: a hosted accounting system for small and growing businesses in Tanzania. (Daftari is the Swahili word for a ledger or account book.)
The gap between a spreadsheet and an ERP
Most businesses start the same way. A notebook, then Excel, then a phone full of photos of receipts. It works while there are ten customers and one person keeping the records.
Then the business grows. There are more clients, more invoices, more suppliers. Someone asks “has this customer paid?” and finding the answer takes twenty minutes. Your accountant needs the year’s records and spends days piecing them together. A bank or a board asks for a profit and loss statement, and you realise you can’t produce one without a week of cleanup.
The usual advice at this point is “get an ERP”. For a university, a hospital or a manufacturer with hundreds of staff, that advice is right. For a business with six or seven employees that invoices regularly, it is often too much: modules you won’t use, a longer setup, and more process than the business needs today. Plenty of businesses sit in this middle ground, and they are who Daftari is built for.
Signs you’ve outgrown spreadsheets
- You invoice regularly and sometimes can’t say who still owes you
- Your accountant spends days at year end rebuilding the books
- Expenses live in receipts, phone photos and memory
- More than one person needs to enter or see the numbers
- A bank, investor or board asks for financial statements and it takes a week
- You hold stock and only know its value after counting it
If three or more of these sound familiar, a spreadsheet is costing you more than it saves.
What Daftari does
Invoicing and payments. Create quotes and invoices, record payments against them, and handle returns. Every document has a print format, so what reaches your customer looks professional. You can see which invoices are still unpaid without digging through files.
Real accounting underneath. Every transaction goes into a double-entry ledger with a proper chart of accounts, and journal entries cover expenses and adjustments. This is what makes your books ready for your accountant instead of something they have to rebuild.
Reports for decisions. The General Ledger, Profit and Loss, Balance Sheet and Trial Balance are all there. These are the reports boards, banks, auditors and tax preparation ask for, available when you need them rather than after a week of cleanup.
Stock, if you sell products. Stock movements, receipts and shipments, batches, serial numbers and FIFO valuation, with stock ledger and stock balance reports.
Point of sale. For businesses that sell over a counter: shifts, checkout, barcode scanning, pricing rules, coupons and loyalty points.
Online, with proper user control. We host Daftari for you. Your team signs in from a browser on any computer, or from a phone, where it can be installed to the home screen like an app. Each person gets their own login and permission level, so your accountant can see everything while a salesperson sees only what they need.
Daftari is built on the Frappe Framework, a mature open-source platform that also powers ERPNext. You get a stable foundation for users, permissions and data, without the weight of a full ERP.
Daftari or a full ERP?
Daftari
Best for: small and growing businesses that need clean books
Typical size: a handful to a few dozen staff
Covers: invoicing, payments, expenses, stock, point of sale and financial reports
Choose it when: your main problem is invoicing, payments and knowing your numbers
A full ERP (such as ERPNext)
Best for: larger operations with many departments
Typical size: dozens to hundreds of staff
Covers: all of the above, plus payroll, HR and attendance, manufacturing and projects
Choose it when: your processes span teams and need workflows between them
| |
Neither is better in general. The right one is the one that matches where your business is today.
Ready for audit, tax and loan season
Because every transaction lands in a double-entry ledger as it happens, your books are mostly prepared before anyone asks for them. When it’s time for an audit, tax filing or a loan application, your accountant starts from organised records and standard financial statements instead of a pile of spreadsheets. That shortens the work, and it usually shortens the bill too.
Who it fits
- Service businesses and consultancies that invoice clients on projects or retainers
- Trading and supply companies that quote, invoice and hold some stock
- Shops and counters that need a point of sale connected to real accounts
- Growing small businesses where the owner still keeps the numbers in their head
When you should choose a full ERP instead
Daftari is the first step, not the last one. If you run payroll for many staff, manufacture products, track projects with their own costs, or need workflows that pass work between departments, you have moved past what accounting software alone can do. That is the point to look at ERPNext, and since we implement it, we can help plan the move when the time comes. Starting with Daftari doesn’t lock you out of that path.
FAQ
Do I need an ERP or just accounting software for my small business in Tanzania? If your main needs are invoicing, tracking payments, recording expenses and getting reliable financial reports, accounting software is usually enough. An ERP makes sense when you also need payroll, HR, manufacturing or project management inside one system.
What is Daftari? Daftari is a hosted accounting system from Iota Technologies for small and growing businesses. It covers invoicing, payments, double-entry accounting, stock, point of sale and financial reports, and is built on the Frappe Framework.
Do I have to install anything? No. Daftari runs in your browser and we host it for you. You can also add it to your phone’s home screen.
Can several people use it with different permissions? Yes. Each person has their own login, and roles and permissions control what they can see and do.
Can it work for a business with several branches or locations? Staff at different locations can sign in to the same system from a browser or phone, and permissions control what each person can access. If you need branch-by-branch reporting, tell us how your business is set up and we’ll say honestly how well Daftari fits.
Does it produce proper financial statements? Yes. It produces the General Ledger, Profit and Loss, Balance Sheet and Trial Balance, which are the statements auditors, banks and tax preparers expect.
Does Daftari handle VAT? Yes. You set up VAT once as a tax, with the rate that applies to your business, and choose it on your sales and purchase invoices. The tax is calculated on each line and posted to the tax account you chose, so the VAT you charge customers and the VAT you pay suppliers are tracked in your books as you go.
Can I set my own tax rates, or are they fixed? They are yours to set. Each tax has a name and a rate, and nothing is hard-coded. If a rate changes, or some of your items are taxed differently from others (for example a standard rate, a zero rate, or no tax at all), you set up exactly what you need and pick the right one on each invoice line.
Can I apply different taxes to different items? Yes. You can set a default tax on an item, and it fills in automatically whenever that item is added to an invoice. If a particular sale needs a different tax, you choose it on that line.
Can one tax have more than one component? Yes. A single tax can be made up of several components, each with its own rate and its own account. That keeps each part separate in your books when an item attracts more than one charge.
Does it track tax on purchases as well as sales? Yes. Taxes apply on both sales and purchase invoices, so you can see the tax you have charged alongside the tax you have paid.
What if our tax setup is unusual? Daftari is full double-entry accounting, not just an invoicing tool, so you are not boxed into one tax model. Tax accounts sit in your chart of accounts, and journal entries let you record adjustments, so whatever tax configuration your accountant uses can be reflected correctly in the books. For arrangements such as withholding tax, we can help you set it up so it works for your business.
Will it make VAT returns and tax time easier? Yes. Every taxed transaction posts to its tax account in the ledger as it happens, so your accountant can pull the figures for any period from the General Ledger and Trial Balance instead of rebuilding them from invoices. If you need links to TRA systems such as EFD, tell us and we’ll say honestly what is possible for your setup.
Can it manage stock and point of sale? Yes. Stock includes receipts, shipments, batches, serial numbers and FIFO valuation. Point of sale includes checkout, barcode scanning, pricing rules, coupons and loyalty points.
Can I use it on my phone? Yes. It has a phone layout and can be installed from the browser to your home screen.
Can I move to ERPNext later if my business grows? Yes. Daftari and ERPNext share the same Frappe foundation, and we implement ERPNext, so we can plan and manage the move when you outgrow accounting software.
Is it suitable for a business with only six or seven employees? That is exactly who it is designed for: businesses that invoice regularly and need organised books, but not the weight of a full ERP.
Not sure whether you need Daftari or a full ERP? Get in touch and we’ll tell you honestly which one fits.