Accounting software is the one purchase where the local detail matters most. A package can be excellent in Sydney or Seattle and still cost your bookkeeper a week a month here, because it cannot produce a VAT201 in the shape SARS expects, or because it has no bank feed for Capitec.
When we assess accounting software for the South African market we test five things in order. Does the VAT treatment cover standard, zero rated and exempt supplies at the current 15% rate. Does the VAT201 output transfer to SARS eFiling without anyone rebuilding figures in a spreadsheet. Which of Absa, FNB, Standard Bank, Nedbank and Capitec have working feeds rather than a CSV import someone has to babysit. Whether an accountant in practice can be given their own login without buying a second licence. And whether the multi currency handling is real, because exporters get hurt badly by weak forex.
Price is quoted in rand throughout, and we state whether the vendor publishes including or excluding VAT, because they do not agree with each other and the difference is 15%.