How to choose accounting software in Jordan

Most guides to choosing accounting software are written for a business anywhere. A business in Jordan has questions of its own: its invoices go to the National Invoicing System, its customers pay by cheque and CliQ, its staff read Arabic, and its labour law decides the end of service. This guide is the list we would use ourselves. For the general questions — cloud or not, how to try one, what to ask about moving your data — read how to choose accounting software.

1. Does it send invoices to JoFotara from inside it?

This is the first question for any registered business in Jordan. Ask whether invoices and credit notes go to JoFotara from inside the software, whether JoFotara’s QR code comes back onto the invoice and its PDF, what happens when the network fails, and what happens to an invoice after JoFotara accepts it. Ask, too, whether the software holds the invoice types your company issues — income, general sales or special sales; cash or receivable. Our step-by-step guide shows what a full answer looks like: how to connect your invoices to JoFotara.

2. Does it work in Arabic, all the way?

Not a translated menu: every screen right to left, every invoice, quotation and statement printed in Arabic, and the same records readable in English for the people who prefer it. Ask to see an Arabic invoice and an Arabic report, not only the sign-in page.

3. Dinars, cheques, CliQ and eFAWATEERcom

Books in Jordanian dinars, with other currencies beside them when you buy or sell abroad. Received cheques followed through their whole life — received, deposited, cleared or returned. And invoices your customers can pay through CliQ or eFAWATEERcom, so the payment reaches the invoice without being typed.

4. Payroll and the end of service

If you will run payroll in the same system, ask how the end of service is worked out. In Zyntra OS it is worked out by Jordan’s labour law and accrued every month, so the liability is in the books before anyone leaves. Free calculators for Jordan’s income tax, social security and end of service are on our site for anyone who wants to check a figure.

5. Stock, sales and point of sale in the same books

A business that sells goods needs its stock, its point of sale and its accounting to agree. Ask whether a sale at the till, a delivery from the warehouse and an invoice are one record or three. When they are one, the end of the month is a report, not a reconciliation.

6. Who supports it, and where?

Ask who answers when something is wrong on the day your invoices must go, in which language, and in which time zone. Zyntra OS is made by Double Support, a software company in Amman since 2007, and our team in Amman sets it up with you and supports it.

7. Whose data is it?

Ask where your records are kept, who else is in the same database, and how you take everything out if you ever leave. In Zyntra OS each company has its own installation with its own database; lists such as invoices, payments, stock, payroll and reports export to Excel or CSV, and on request our team prepares a full export of all your company’s records.

8. A price you can read

Ask for the whole price before you sign: per user or per company, monthly or yearly, what a connection costs, and whether there is a setup fee. In Zyntra OS there is no setup fee and no hidden price, and all 117 ready connections are included free; the pricing page builds the price for the parts you use. More coming soon — we keep working to make our system ready for everything you use.

9. Room to grow

The accounting software you choose today may need projects, HR, a CRM or a branch abroad in two years. Ask whether those come in the same system or mean moving to another one. If you are weighing that question now, read accounting software or an ERP system.

10. Try it with your own invoice

A demo with made-up data shows the screens; your own invoice shows the fit. Bring a real invoice, a real cheque and a real payslip to the demo, and watch each one go through. Ask us for a demo, and we will do it with yours.

11. More than one company, more than one currency

Many businesses in Jordan are a group: a trading company and a services company, a branch in another country, a second brand. Ask whether each company keeps its own books in the same installation, and whether you can move between them without signing in again. Zyntra OS holds several companies and currencies in one installation, each with its own books and its own e-invoicing.

Five mistakes to avoid when choosing

• Choosing on the price per user alone. The real price includes the connections you need, the setup and what it costs to grow. Ask for the whole price for your company, written down.
• Leaving e-invoicing for later. JoFotara is not an add-on for a registered business; it is how every invoice leaves. Test it in the demo, with your own invoice.
• Judging Arabic by the menu. Look at an Arabic invoice, an Arabic statement and an Arabic report, printed. That is what your customers and your accountant will read.
• Forgetting the exit. Ask how you take everything out before you put anything in.
• Buying for today only. If you will need stock, payroll or projects next year, ask now whether they come in the same records.

One day of invoicing, as it should look

A useful way to judge any accounting software is to picture an ordinary day with it. In the morning a quotation is accepted, and the invoice is made from it without typing the lines again; the invoice carries the customer’s JoFotara type, goes to JoFotara when it is saved, and comes back with its QR code before the customer has the PDF. At noon a customer pays part of an older invoice by CliQ, and the payment lands on that invoice, so its balance is right without anyone touching it. In the afternoon a cheque is deposited, and its state moves from received to deposited; when the bank clears it, the books follow. Before the day ends, the owner opens one screen and sees what was sold, what was paid and what is still owed.

If the software you are weighing needs a spreadsheet anywhere in that day, ask why. Each place where a figure is copied by hand is a place where it can be wrong, and a place where an hour goes every week. A good test is to ask the seller to walk through exactly that day, with your own customer, your own invoice and your own cheque.

The questions in one list

Take this list to every demo: invoices and credit notes to JoFotara from inside, with the QR code — Arabic on every screen and printout — dinars, cheques, CliQ and eFAWATEERcom — the end of service by Jordan’s labour law — stock and point of sale in the same books — support in Amman — your own database and a full export — the whole price, with the setup fee and the connections — room for more companies and more parts — and a demo with your own invoice. A system that answers all of them plainly is worth a second look.