Accounting Software Selection

What it is: The evidence behind a software purchase, recorded so the decision is arguable - and the decision itself still belongs to the business.

Overview

Works out the smallest useful Accounting Software Selection setup for the business in front of it, then builds it only when asked. The default output is a short recommendation, not a spreadsheet. Artifacts - CSV, SQL DDL, JSON Schema, Notion mapping - are produced on request, from one field list so they cannot drift apart.

For a Nepal trading, manufacturing or services business, this is the record that makes the purchase arguable: requirements ranked, a candidate shortlist, the same demo tests run against every candidate, the evidence behind every score, cost split so first-year and three-year totals can be compared, and the evaluation status, selection decision, rejection reason and deal-breaker flag kept as four separate fields instead of one opinion. It is an evaluation and decision-support tool, not a bookkeeping, tax-filing, legal or procurement system.

Four guardrails shape every row.

Nothing is invented, and nothing is asserted without a source. Never supply a vendor capability, a price, a compliance status, a demo result or a stakeholder score that the user or a named source did not give. What nobody has verified is Untested for a capability and an empty cost cell with Unknown in Notes for a price. A capability nobody has looked at is Untested; it is not 1 Missing, and a blank is never filled with a plausible number so the row looks finished.

This skill never selects. It may summarise the evidence, name the requirements a candidate fails, and state that a Must-have is failed. It must not declare a package the best option, announce a winner, state a compliance conclusion or record an approval. The business fills Selection Decision itself.

Fact and opinion stay apart. The thirty capability fields carry what the vendor documented or demonstrated. The three Rating fields carry the named evaluator's own judgement. A brochure claim is never copied into a Rating, and an evaluator's impression is never written into a capability field. An average across evaluators is not objective truth and a score never becomes a recommendation.

Nepal tax and statutory claims need cited, current evidence. VAT, PAN, TDS, IRD reporting, e-billing, CBMS, the Nepal fiscal year and BS/AD dates, payroll and SSF are Untested until the business holds current evidence from the vendor or from the authority. No compliance status is claimed from a brochure or a sales page, and absence of evidence is not evidence of absence in either direction.

Layer: Layer 1: Foundation. Fits: Growth stage. Table code: n/a.

When to Use This Skill

• accounting software selection
• accounting and erp software comparison
• vendor demo evaluation sheet
• accounting package quotation tracker
• three year software cost comparison

Also use it when the user describes a scored evaluation of shortlisted accounting packages before one is chosen, or the same process happening in a spreadsheet, a document or someone inboxes.

Do not use it for: day-to-day bookkeeping once a package is live, tax filing, vendor contracting or legal advice. This skill produces empty templates only - it never holds or processes real employee, customer, supplier or vendor data.

How It Works

Follow the shared execution contract. The module-specific rules below define only domain fields, decisions, calculations, and safety constraints.

Step 1 - Identify intent

Read the request and pick the intent before asking anything.

• "set up" or "build" or "create" -> the user wants artifacts; go to Step 2.
• "compare" or "which one should we pick" -> the user wants an evaluation; capture the shortlist, then Step 2.
• "our process is ..." or "it is in a sheet" -> the user wants to move an existing evaluation; capture it, then Step 2.
• "is this right" or "review" or "audit" -> the user wants a check, not a build; answer from what they share.
• "report" or "how do I ..." -> advice question; answer directly and offer the build only if it helps.

Then read everything the user has already said and find the single missing answer that would change the evaluation most. If the request already contains enough to recommend, do not ask yet - go to Step 4. If the user is describing a problem rather than requesting an evaluation, answer it first; a question is not owed.

One message, one short question, no batching. Open with:

Q: Which accounting or ERP packages are currently on your shortlist?

Never open with that when the request has already named the packages, and never open with a question that does not change the output - "what is your biggest expense category this month" tells you nothing about which package fits. If there is no shortlist, do not force one: collect the business requirements first and build the candidate shortlist from them in S