Cashflow OS for chartered accountants

How a CA firm works with Tally clients today

A typical practice handles dozens of MSME clients. The client's own accountant or the owner keeps the books in TallyPrime. The CA firm reviews them for GST returns, TDS, advance tax, the annual accounts and audit. Getting at the data is the slow part:

• The client emails or sends a backup, which is out of date the day after.
• A junior visits the client's office, which takes half a day.
• Someone takes a remote session into the client's PC, but only when the client is not using it.

Each method works, but none of them gives the firm a quick look at a client's position on a Tuesday afternoon.

What the accountant role gives you

Cashflow OS is a mobile and web app that reads a synced copy of TallyPrime companies through a small connector on the client's Tally PC. The client, as owner, invites people with a link and gives each a role per company: owner, admin, accountant, staff or salesperson. A CA or a firm's staff member is invited with the accountant role.

Once invited, you can see the client's books as synced from Tally:

• Profit & Loss, Balance Sheet, Trial Balance, Day Book, cash and bank book and ledger reports.
• Any financial year, or a custom date range spanning several years.
• Bill-wise receivables and payables with ageing.
• Expenses, stock and item summaries.
• Excel and PDF export of the reports.

Several Tally companies can sit in one account, and you switch between them, so a client's group of firms, or several clients who have invited you, are reached from the same login.

GST review before filing

Cashflow OS prepares GSTR-1 and GSTR-3B views from the client's Tally data and offers a JSON download for the GST portal. GSTR-1 tiles open into bill-wise and HSN-wise detail, which is where most errors hide: a B2B invoice without a GSTIN, a wrong HSN, a credit note in the wrong month. Reviewing this on the web app a few days before the due date leaves time for the client to correct entries in Tally. Filing itself is done on the GST portal. For the review routine, see preparing GSTR-1 from Tally and common GSTR-1 errors. This is general information, not tax advice.

Statements and reports for clients

Clients often ask their CA for things that are, in fact, simple reports: a party statement for a dispute, a Profit & Loss for a loan file, a ledger for a supplier reconciliation. Party statements can be shared as a PDF in Tally's format or a simple Hindi हिसाब page on WhatsApp, and reports export to Excel or PDF. Many owners can do this themselves from the app once they know where to look, which frees the firm for the work that needs a professional.

Correcting entries, carefully

Writing into Tally from Cashflow OS is off until the owner switches it on for that company. If the client chooses to switch it on, users with the right access can create and alter vouchers such as journals, credit notes and debit notes from the phone or web. Each entry goes through the connector and Tally validates it; a refused entry returns with Tally's reason. Many firms will prefer to keep their own access read-only and send correction notes to the client's accountant. That decision rests with the client and the firm, not the software.

A suggested monthly routine for a practice

1. By the 5th: open each GST client's GSTR-1 view for the previous month, check B2B bills and HSN detail.
2. Send the client a short list of corrections to make in Tally.
3. Recheck after corrections, download the JSON and file on the portal.
4. Mid-month: glance at receivables ageing and cash and bank for clients with bank limits.
5. Quarter-end: export Profit & Loss and Balance Sheet for advance tax discussions.

Due dates for returns can change by notification; confirm on gst.gov.in. For the client side of this relationship, our guide on giving your accountant access safely is worth sharing with clients.