Case study · Migration

An engineering consultancy moves to Zoho Books with project-wise P&L from day one

A three-branch consultancy brought four years of Tally history, TDS balances and USD/EUR receivables into Zoho Books in nine working days, with TDS receivable agreeing to Form 26AS.

Tally to Zoho Books migration
Three branches
TDS and foreign currency

Client details and figures changed to protect confidentiality.

12,900
vouchers moved: 4 years
of history: 22
cost centres to project tags: 2
overseas clients, USD and EUR: 9 working days
elapsed

Context and challenge

The situation

The firm does design and supervision work for industrial clients. Three branches, no stock. Its Tally company had four financial years of history, FY 2021-22 to FY 2024-25, and about 12,900 vouchers.

Two things mattered more than anything else to the partners. First, they wanted to see profit by project, not just by branch. Second, they bill two overseas clients in USD and EUR, and the receivable and exchange difference position in Tally was only understood by one person.

Almost all domestic clients deduct tax at source, so the TDS receivable side of the books was large and had to be right.

The partners were not unhappy with Tally as such. The problem was that every project report was an Excel exercise at month end, built by hand from cost centre ledgers, and nobody was sure the totals tied to the books. The move to Zoho Books was meant to make the project view a standard report, not a monthly job.

What to watch for

What made it tricky

The firm used 22 cost centres in Tally, one per major project, and had reused some across years. A cost centre called by a short code in one year had a longer name in the next. Mapping them to reporting tags meant first deciding which names were the same project.
TDS under 194J and 194C was booked in different ways by different people over four years. Some certificates were booked on the invoice date, some on receipt, some in a lump at year end. Making the TDS receivable ledgers agree to what the department shows in Form 26AS was the real work.
Foreign currency invoices were raised in USD and EUR but recorded in Tally in rupees at the voucher-date rate. The unrealised and realised difference had to be reproduced sensibly in a system that tracks foreign currency natively.
Three branches meant three sets of habits. One branch booked reimbursable site expenses to the project, another to a general expense head and recharged later. Before loading anything we agreed one rule with the partners and corrected the history to follow it, so that project profit would not change depending on which branch raised the cost.

How it ran

What we did

1
Exported the four years of data and reviewed cost centres, TDS ledgers and the two foreign-currency party accounts before any import.
2
Agreed a project list with the partners. 22 cost centres became reporting tags, with older names recorded against the current one.
3
Set up the chart of accounts with separate TDS receivable ledgers by section and by year of deduction, so a mismatch could be traced to a single year.
4
Loaded the foreign-currency customers in their own currencies. Open invoices carried the original currency amount and the booking rate, so Zoho Books could calculate the exchange difference on receipt.
5
Loaded all vouchers into a practice organisation, compared year-end trial balances, and fixed differences at source.
6
Matched TDS receivable ledgers to Form 26AS figures year by year and listed every entry present on one side but not the other for the firm to follow up with clients.
7
Handed over a short note for each branch on how to book project costs, TDS deducted by clients and foreign-currency receipts in Zoho Books from the first day.

Outcome

Results

Project-wise profit and loss was available in Zoho Books from the first day of use.
TDS receivable ledgers were reconciled to Form 26AS figures, with a short list of unmatched entries for follow-up.
Foreign-currency receivables showed in USD and EUR with the rupee value and exchange difference calculated on settlement.
Year-end trial balances matched Tally for all four years.
Nine working days from data received to handover.

Operational impact

Before

Every project report was an Excel exercise at month end.
Nobody was sure the totals tied to the books.
The foreign-currency position was understood by one person.

After

Project-wise profit and loss is a standard report from the first day.
TDS receivable agrees to Form 26AS, with a short list of unmatched entries.
Receivables show in USD and EUR with exchange difference on settlement.

What the CA or owner gets now

The CA can see TDS receivable by section and year, along with the list of certificates still to be claimed.
Partners look at a project report instead of asking accounts to prepare one in Excel.
The overseas receivable position no longer depends on one person remembering what rate was used.
Because the history is tagged the same way as new entries, a project that started in FY 2022-23 shows its whole life in one report.

More reading: Tally to Zoho Books migration: the complete guide for Indian businesses

Client details and figures changed to protect confidentiality.

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