# 2 Why do we need a billing system when accounting covers billing?

# 2 Why do we need a billing system when accounting covers billing?

In today's evolving financial tech stack, businesses use a mix of tools to manage their day-to-day operations, from invoicing to full-fledged accounting. While accounting platforms typically come with built-in invoicing features, specialized billing systems still have a strong place in the mix. While both can coexist and even complement each other, one question still prevails:

If accounting software already includes invoicing, why do we need a separate billing system?


The answer is simple: sometimes, less is more. Let's take a deeper look.

1. Powered with simplicity

Not every business needs full accounting. Some just need to send an invoice and get paid. That's where a billing system lives.

It strips down the process to only what you need. Creating invoices, payment collection, and maybe a few reminders. As simple as that. No finance background required. No lengthy multi-step process in it. You should be able to create your first invoice in seconds, even if you are new to the system.

2. Built for billing

A full accounting system is powerful, but always not always necessary upfront. If you are not tracking liabilities, reconciling bank statements, or preparing financial reports, then you are likely to pay for features you are not going to use.

A dedicated billing system focuses only on the core concepts like revenue tracking, invoice automation, follow-ups, and dunning. Staying focused on billing allows the system to stay simple, lightweight, and tailored to how you actually bill, be it one-time, recurring, usage-based, or subscription-based.  

3. Flexible across industries

Every industry has its quirks. A retail store might need barcode scanning, A pharmacy may need expiry date tracking, and SaaS needs recurring billing. Each has its operational flow and its own industrial niche.

That's why a billing system shouldn't be rigid. It needs to adapt to these varying billing models without getting bloated or overly complex. Whether you are invoicing by units, time, tiered pricing, or bundled services, the system should bend to fit your business and not the other way around.

4. Invoice with ease

Billing shouldn't slow down your operations each day. A good billing system allows you to send invoices in seconds, from anywhere on any device, be it a laptop, PC, tablet, or any smartphone.

It should also speak to your brand through a custom logo, your template styles, and personalized reminders. In case you are working with international clients, multi-currency should be available when it is required without going through a major switch. The system should handle it all with ease.

5. Less Compliance Pressure

Tax laws are complex and different in different parts of the world. Sales Tax in the US. VAT in the UK or EU. GST in Australia or India. Many businesses didn't want to handle that complexity themselves, and some businesses are yet to get to the tax thresholds.

Billing systems let you keep things simple; just add taxes to the transaction, record your revenue, and export the data when it's time to file. Your accountant or tax advisor can take it from there. You stay focused on running your business without having to master compliance tools and deal with those overheads.

6. Be Cost-Effective

When you're building or running a small business, every penny counts. Every tool you choose should justify its cost. If your day-to-day activity involves billing, why pay for advanced accounting features?

A billing system gives you what you need without making you pay for what you're not using. It should be cost-efficient, focused, and scalable when you need it to. You can always climb to a full accounting system when your operations require it. But, until then, your billing system will do all the wonders.

Begin with Billing

So, this precisely clarifies why we need a billing system. Simple, flexible, ease of use, industry adaptability, and cost efficiency are exactly what a good billing system should offer.

That's exactly what Zoho Billing is built for. It brings together a range of features that help you manage revenue without overpouring with what you don't use. Whether you're creating a simple invoice or setting up a complex recurring billing flow, Zoho Billing adapts to your business and keeps your complexities grounded.

As you grow, it connects seamlessly with Zoho Books, letting you expand into accounting and beyond. With Zoho Billing, you don't just get a tool; you get a complete ecosystem that fits right where your business is today and supports where it's headed tomorrow.

First things first: Get started with Zoho Billing.

    • Sticky Posts

    • Community Learning Series | Digest #5 — September 2020

      Dear customers, We're happy to bring you the September edition of our #CommunityDigest! Keep track of your subscription KPIs right from your smartphone: Last month, we enhanced our Android mobile app to help our customers get daily updates on their business health. We got to know from a lot of customers that this has made their job much more easier because they no longer have to keep a reminder to manually check on the previous day's revenue or activations. If you have not downloaded it yet, here's

    • Community Learning Series | Digest #4 - August 2020

      Dear customers, We hope you're staying safe and healthy. I'm happy to bring you the fourth edition of our #CommunityDigest with some brand-new updates from us. 1. Daily Business Updates (for Android users) The Zoho Subscriptions Android app has got a cool new update: You can now get a push notification to your smartphone that lets you know how many activations and cancellations have taken place, and what's the net revenue for the previous day. The best part is, you can tell the app when exactly you

    • Community Learning Series | Digest #3 - July 2020

      Dear customers, We hope you're staying safe and healthy. We're glad to bring you the July edition of our #CommunityDigest. New community members can view our previous newsletters here. This time, we have two major updates and three interesting topics for you: 1. Zoho Subscriptions Developer Community Since the inception of Zoho Subscriptions, our team believed that the recurring billing platform we provide should be able to offer an extensive API library that empowers businesses to automate most

    • Introducing: Community Learning Series | Digest #1 - May 2020

      Dear customers, We hope you are staying safe and healthy. Helping businesses manage their customer subscriptions more efficiently has always been, and always will be, our goal at Zoho Subscriptions. We strongly believe this is possible if we grow together as a community and share what we know with each other. To nurture this shared learning experience, here is our brand-new Community Learning Series! ​ Welcome to the first edition of our digest! Each edition of our community digest includes guides

    • Recent Topics

    • Contacts per department

      Hello, Is it possible to limit Contacts to a Department? Thanks

    • How to restrict user/portal user change canvas view

      Hi , I would like to restrict user / portal user change their canvas view because I hide some sensitive field for them. I dont want my user switch the canvas view that do not belong to them But seems Zoho do not provide this setting?

    • Collections Management: #3 Tackling Payment Failures

      Sam refreshed the dashboard. "Payment failed". Same customer. Same subscription. This is happening for the third time. He sends a usual email: "Your renewal payment failed again. Could you please check and retry?" A couple of days passed, and there was

    • How do I increase the email attachment size in Zoho CRM ?

      It looks like I'm limited to 10MB when sending an attachment using the email widget on a record in Zoho CRM. Is there a way to increase the size? Or can I use some other tool? From what I'm reading online, I'm maxed out at 10MB. Any insight would be greatly

    • Custom Field in Zoho Projects pulling into Analytics

      We have a client that we have built our their new business process using Zoho Projects, and we have build a lot of custom fields with their their Projects where they are capturing specific data points that we want to be able to track and pull data, as

    • Bookmark Loading is Buffering

      Hi, i clicked on the bookmark tab, around yesterday and since then it's been constantly buffering and doesn't allow me to access the mail's i have tried login in and out but of no help also trying to share a screenshot of the issue around 232 kb size,

    • Request to remove domain "greentechcoatings.vn" from previous Zoho account

      Hello Zoho Support, I would like to register the domain "greentechcoatings.vn" in my new Zoho Mail account, but I receive the message "This domain is already associated with another account". Please remove the domain from any previous/unknown account

    • WhatsApp Channels in Zoho Campaigns

      Now that Meta has opened WhatsApp Channels globally, will you add it to Zoho Campaigns? It's another top channel for marketing communications as email and SMS. Thanks.

    • Zoho sign and creator error message {"code":9043,"error_param":"Checked by","message":"Extra key found","status":"failure"}

      Good day, I receive the error message: {"code":9043,"error_param":"Checked by","message":"Extra key found","status":"failure"} when running below code from creator to sign, void TestForSign(int ID) { //Fetch Template Details (Optional, for dynamic mapping)

    • Download a writer template as .docx instead of .pdf.

      I have been trying to implement a feature to download a writer template as a .docx and got it working partly but it isn't good. Earlier I checked our code and I saw openurl("https://crm.zoho.com/crm/org121314/specific/Template.do?action=print&step=pdfPreview&id="

    • Allow the usage of Multi-Select fields as the primary field on "Layout Rules"

      We want to force our users to enter some explanation strings when a multi-select field has been utilized. I can't understand the reason for the usage restriction of Multi-Select fields as a primary field. This is a simple "Display hidden mandatory field

    • WriterTh

      After every space Writer goes to capital letters mode in my Android tablet. The cap mode stays till the second letter is typed in the word then it comes to normal mode.

    • Extract Archived Projects using Zoho Projects API

      In my organization we archive the projects when they are already completed, charged, invoiced, so that only those that are still pending process remain active. I need to access all projects (active and archived) from an external system, but the API v3

    • Pincode based Product Restriction

      we have different types of products. 1) Very bulky items like plywood. 2) Too delicate items like glass These type of products we want to sell to local customers. Other products we want to supply all over India. There should be an option to restrict products

    • Ask the Experts: Five-hour live Q&A session with Zoho WorkDrive product experts

      Have questions about WorkDrive 5.0? Let’s talk! We recently launched Zoho WorkDrive 5.0, packed with powerful updates to help your team work smarter, stay secure, and get more value from your business content. From content-centric workflows and AI-powered

    • File upload support for subforms

      Dear All, Subforms help you add and track data related to your CRM records. We've always supported most of the commonly used field types in subforms, so as to cater to your business requirements. Now we're happy to extend support to file upload fields.

    • Circular record relationship in CRM

      Given there is a lookup in custom module Transactions creating a related list on the chosen Contact record. I. e. a lookup field on Transactions module points to Contacts. The related list on a Contact record can thus have have many transaction records.

    • Is it possible to pull the Zoho desk data into Zoho analytics in real time

      Hi - I am looking to add more dashboards and reports of Zoho Desk in analytics. I see there is a schedule to pull the data into analytics, but I'm wondering if there is an option to pull the data in real time instead of a specific interval?

    • Enhance productivity with the revamped Zoho Sheet View

      Hello folks, For some time now, you've been able to use the Zoho Sheet View to quickly edit multiple records or to insert a batch of new records. Its tabular interface allows users to engage in these tasks productively. Despite this, the existing Sheet

    • How to set value of dropdown field to variable

      For the life of me, I can't figure out why the following code won't set input.status to the previousSelection. Steps to reproduce: 1. Click input.complete 2. input.status dropdown updates from '1-Backlog' to '4-Done' 3. Click input.complete again to deselect

    • [Product Update] TimeSheets module is now renamed as Time Logs in Zoho Projects.

      Dear Zoho Analytics customers, As part of the ongoing enhancements in Zoho Projects, the Timesheets module has been renamed to Time Logs. However, the module name will continue to be displayed as Timesheets in Zoho Analytics until the relevant APIs are

    • [WEBINAR][MEA] Learn how to control your inventory and multi-channel sales with the Zoho Inventory & Zoho Books integration

      Hello there, We are hosting an exclusive live webinar tailored for businesses across the Middle East and African countries, where you'll learn how to take full control of your inventory and multi-channel sales while keeping your accounting perfectly in

    • Less clicks, more connection – the usability edge of Zoho Desk

      Imagine joining a new workplace, eager to prove your skills, partner with peers, learn new tools, and build a strong foundation for your career. The standards you've set could drive pressure into your head. You now discover the organization is using Zoho

    • Tip #3 Automating total item weight calculation for your sales orders in Zoho Inventory

      Hello, Hope the day is treating you well. Last week, we saw how we could automate the calculation of total shipping charges from numerous shipments for your sales orders and invoices. This week, we will see how you can automate the calculation of total item weight for your sales orders.  How does this work? First, you are required to capture the weight of all your items using a custom field. And when you create a sales order, you can either have the system display the individual weights for you or

    • Why Format section gets disabled when we create Merge Template over PDF

      I need some assistance I have a Client who is going to give certificates to users who passes his exam. So, I am using mail merge but in ZOHO writer after I upload the PDF and create merge Template over PDF the format Section gets disabled. My problem

    • How to remove some users in zoho accounts

      How to remove some users in Zoho accounts.

    • Whatsapp Integration on Zoho Campaign

      Team: Can the messages from Zoho Campaign delivered through Whatsapp... now customers no longer are active on email, but the entire campaign module is email based.... when will it be available on whatsapp.... are there any thirdparty providers who can

    • How to calculate separate totals for Product Line Items filtered by category in Quotes?

      Hello! I'm working with Quotes in Zoho CRM and need help calculating conditional totals for line items. Current setup: I have two tables in my Quote template (Zoho Writer), both displaying Quoted Line Items Table 1 (top): Shows all products where Product

    • I Need Help Verifying Ownership of My Zoho Help Desk on Google Search Console

      I added my Zoho desk portal to Google Search Console, but since i do not have access to the html code of my theme, i could not verify ownership of my portal on Google search console. I want you to help me place the html code given to me from Google search

    • Zoho Desk API Documentation missing a required field

      We are trying to create a section using this information. Even after preparing everything based on that page, we still get an error. The error we get is this: {"errorCode":"INVALID_DATA","message":"The data is invalid due to validation restrictions","errors":[{"fieldName":"/translations","errorType":"missing","errorMessage":""}]}

    • Fetch Subform values through a lookup of a lookup

      Hi, I'm having an issue fetching the values of a subform through a lookup field through another lookup field. The code works perfectly to show me the subform row ID, but the second I try to get any readable data, it says "Error occurred. Please contact

    • Ability to modify what displays in calendar invite?

      I am a long time calendly user and want to make the switch to bookings.  I understand that there is not currently a meets/hangouts integration, is one on the roadmap? Is there anyway I can modify the calendar invite to include the meet link?  I can add it to the emails no problem, but I would also like it to display on their calendar.  Is there some work around I can do to get it on the calendar?  Also am I able to modify the calendar event title?

    • Turn Decision Box to a button

      Dear all, I need your help on CSS to turn a Decision Box to a Button. I have a Decision Box like: Turn on/off to refresh the information. (on User Input, either True or False, will refresh the information) Now I want to simulate to treat it like a Refresh

    • Emails not being received from a particular domain

      Cannot receive any emails sent from atco.com Domain is in the spam whitelist so should be no reason for it not to be coming through. Have filed a ticket and besides a generic response of we are looking at it - it seems there is no actual support workers

    • Stock Count

      The stock count is a nice new feature, but we cannot figure out how to: 1. Use it without assigning to a person, we have a team or one of multiple do stock counts as do most any company. 2. Add any extra fields to what the "counter" sees. The most important

    • Can you import projects into Zoho Projects yet?

      I see some very old posts asking about importing project records into Zoho Projects. But I can't find anything up to date about the topic. Has this functionality been added? Importing tasks is helpful. But we do have a project where importing projects

    • How to delete attachments form Zoho mail accounts

      I can't find a way to delete attachments from Zoho mail messages, either individually or in bulk. Searches here are providing conflicting results and often talk about workspace, whereas I am only interested in how to delete attachments that are seen with

    • Send Whatsapp message from Whatsapp template with custom variables

      Hi, I'm trying to do some basic integration for sending WhatsApp messages from Zoho CRM using Zoho Desk whatsapp templates. When creating new whatsapp template in Zoho Desk we can choose ticket related fields as variables but it's not clear how to use

    • Outgoing blocked: Unusual activity detected.

      I just made payment for my Zohomail Today and have been debited so i will like to be Unblocked because this is what it says (Outgoing blocked: Unusual activity detected) Thank you i await your swift responses

    • Integrating with My Own Application and ZOHO CRM Simultaneously

      I have my own WhatsApp bot that uses my WhatsApp business account. I want to use the same phone number to integrate with ZOHO as well. What is the recommended way to do that? Should I integrate my application with ZOHO, forwarding messages whenever the

    • Next Page