Zoho Corporation, a global technology company, has unveiled the Nigeria edition of Zoho Books, a cloud-based accounting solution designed to strengthen financial information management for businesses.
The solution was introduced alongside Nigeria editions of other applications within Zoho’s finance and operations suite.
Prashant Ganti, Vice President, Global Product Strategy and Alliances, Finance and Operations Business Unit at Zoho, said in a statement on Thursday that Zoho Books would help businesses manage Value-Added Tax (VAT) and e-invoicing compliance.
Ganti said compliance and financial visibility were increasingly becoming competitive advantages for Nigerian businesses.
He explained that the solutions were designed to reduce the manual processes associated with VAT and e-invoicing while providing businesses with real-time financial insights.
According to him, the Nigeria edition of Zoho Books automatically applies VAT rates based on item type and customer classification while supporting reverse-charge transactions.
He added that the platform enables businesses to manage withholding tax for residents and non-residents and generate VAT schedules in the format required by the TaxProMax portal.
“Businesses can generate and submit e-invoices to the Nigeria Revenue Service (NRS) through an approved e-invoicing service provider.
“Beyond compliance, Zoho Books provides invoicing, online payment collection, accounting, bank reconciliation, inventory tracking, budgeting and workflow automation capabilities,” he said.
Ganti also disclosed that a recent survey of more than 100 Nigerian small and medium-sized businesses showed limited adoption of artificial intelligence for financial management.
He said only 24 per cent of respondents currently used AI tools for financial management, while 65 per cent identified lack of awareness as the major barrier.
According to him, 30 per cent of businesses already using AI reported saving between one and three hours each week.
Ganti said Zoho Books’ AI capabilities could help businesses categorise bank transactions, retrieve financial data, forecast trends and identify anomalies through its Zia platform.
He added that the Nigeria edition would also cover Zoho’s billing, invoice, commerce, inventory, spend, expense, procurement and practice applications.
According to Ganti, integrating the applications on a common platform would allow data to flow between them, reducing repeated data entry and improving financial information management.
He said Zoho’s finance and operations platform currently offers country-specific editions designed to address local tax and compliance requirements across 16 markets.
About The Author
