Beginner's Guide to Society Accounting Software

By Amit Khetariya — 2026-09-27

Society accounting software keeps the books current from real bills and payments. Learn how it works and how to set it up.

In short: society accounting software keeps your society's books for you. It records every bill, payment and expense as it happens, keeps each fund's balance up to date and produces the statements your auditor asks for. This beginner's guide explains how it works, what to look for and how to set it up.

What is society accounting software?

It is software built for the way housing societies handle money. A society is not a business. It collects maintenance from members, holds money in separate funds, such as a sinking fund, and must show members exactly where the money went.

General accounting tools can do this, but someone has to enter everything by hand. Society accounting software is connected to billing and payments, so most entries happen on their own.

Which features should it have?

The essentials

• Member billing: maintenance and other charges for each flat, with receipts.
• Fund tracking: separate balances for funds such as maintenance, sinking fund, corpus and petty cash.
• Expense recording: vendor bills with approvals and attachments.
• Bank reconciliation: matching your bank statement against recorded payments.
• Financial statements: income and expenditure, balance sheet, trial balance, and receipts and payments.

Helpful extras

• Tally export, so your accountant can keep their process.
• GST handling where your society is liable for it.
• An audit trail that records who changed what, and when.
• Reports residents can see, if the committee chooses to publish them.

How does it work day to day?

Here is the basic flow:

1. The committee generates the month's bills. Each bill is recorded against the flat.
2. A resident pays online. The payment is recorded and the right fund goes up.
3. A receipt goes to the resident automatically.
4. The treasurer records a vendor bill. Once approved and paid, the fund goes down.
5. Once a week or month, the treasurer imports the bank statement and matches it.
6. At any time, the committee can open the statements and see where things stand.

Because entries come from real events, the books stay current. There is no year-end rush.

How do you set it up?

1. Decide your starting date. The start of a financial year, 1 April, is the cleanest.
2. Enter opening balances for each fund and bank account, from your last audited accounts.
3. Import the flat list with current dues and any advances.
4. Set up charges exactly as your general body approved them.
5. Set expense approval rules, for example two approvers above a set amount.
6. Connect online payments so residents can pay by UPI or card.
7. Check a sample of flats and funds against your old records before going live.

myKutir's society accounting software includes the fund ledger, bank reconciliation, statements and Tally export, and the myKutir team helps move your opening data.

What mistakes do beginners make?

• Wrong opening balances. Every later report will be off. Take them from audited figures.
• Mixing funds. Sinking fund money should not quietly pay for daily expenses.
• Cash outside the system. If the office takes cash, record it the same day.
• Skipping reconciliation. Match the bank at least monthly, or small errors pile up.
• One person doing everything. Split recording and approving between two people.

Manual books or accounting software?

Example: a treasurer's month

An illustrative example. Before software, a volunteer treasurer spent two weekends each month matching cheques and updating a spreadsheet. After switching, bills go out on the 1st, most residents pay online and the treasurer spends about an hour on the 30th importing the bank statement and checking unmatched items. At the audit, the statements are already prepared.

Best practices

• Reconcile the bank every month.
• Attach the bill or invoice to every expense.
• Review fund balances in each committee meeting.
• Give the auditor read-only access instead of emailing files.
• Keep charges in step with general body decisions.

Frequently asked questions

Do we still need an accountant?

Often yes, for the audit, tax and complex entries. The software removes the routine work, so the accountant's time goes further.

Can we keep using Tally?

Yes. myKutir exports to Tally, so the two can work together.

Can residents see the accounts?

Only if the committee chooses to publish them. Residents always see their own bills and receipts.

A glossary of society accounting terms

• Income and expenditure account: what the society earned and spent in the year.
• Balance sheet: what the society owns and owes on a given date, including its funds.
• Trial balance: a list of all account balances, used to check the books add up.
• Receipts and payments account: all cash and bank money that came in and went out.
• Corpus fund: a long-term fund, often collected once, kept for the society's future needs.
• Opening balance: the amount in each account at the start of the period.

Questions to ask before you choose

1. Does billing post to the accounts automatically?
2. Can we keep separate funds?
3. Can we import our bank statement for reconciliation?
4. Which statements does it produce?
5. Can our accountant export to Tally?
6. Who helps us move our opening balances?

Key takeaways

• Society accounting software records entries from real events, so the books stay current.
• Track each fund separately and reconcile the bank monthly.
• Start from audited opening balances.
• Split recording and approving between two people.

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