Are you accounting correctly?

Muffazzal Hafiji, Director & CEO, Excel Software Consultancy, highlights the benefits of getting an automated accounting system that accurately calculates GST and TDS/ TCS, thereby helping even smaller agents save time and money.

Hazel Jain

Calculating TCS or GST and clarifying tax input credit is not everybody’s forte. For good reason, agents are more careful than ever when it comes to billing and accounting perfectly to avoid any future backlash. One of the ways to ease this process is through a good travel accounting software.

Muffazzal Hafiji, Director & CEO, Excel Software Consultancy, who is in the industry for more than 34 years, has clients not just in India but in the Middle East, Africa, Thailand, USA, and even Australia. “We are also getting new clients from destinations like Sri Lanka now. This year travel has been good, which, in turn, has spurred the trade into making investments in technology with the aim of reducing costs,” Hafiji said.

Last year, he launched xLSmartBooks.Com – a browser-based software that can be used on any device or system. “We have added a lot of innovative features to it using my 37 years of programming experience. This product speaks for itself. We have something called a reduction in the menu system. Hence, users do not have to get into individual menus. For instance, if they want a customer report, just one option will internally give them 20 different variations of the customer’s outstanding. Most importantly, the travel agent is at peace of mind when using our products,” he explained.

The most popular product, however, is their xLWebPro, which was launched in 2009 and is being used by many big agencies. Gradually, they will be migrated to the latest product since it has better features. “While taxation points differ from one county to another, we programme it in such a way, so as to match with the country’s VAT requirements. For India, we have programmed for TCS and have taken care to ensure that at least through our systems it monitors the utilisation for the year and accordingly suggests whether it should be charged at 5 per cent or at 20 per cent. The agent is always free to override this option,” he adds.

Client requirements have also changed after COVID, Hafiji adds. “They (clients) are becoming more aware that they need a computerised accounting system; most of them still do manual accounting. But they have realised that more than half their time is spent on accounts, which can be used to do business development. But things are changing, they are informing themselves of what is available in the market, and they are inching towards computerisation. We have seen even smaller agencies opting for our product now. It is much more important for them because they should not be investing in a full-fledged accountant, spending `20,000 a month. This will not help them because their volumes are not that high. In using a software, they can do invoicing on the computer, which they are currently doing manually,” he says.