Accounting software or an accounting firm: 8 tasks, who does them and what the year costs

Kassify · 6 November 2026

An accounting firm pays for itself as soon as the time that goes into the books costs more than the firm. Accounting software costs from 4.600 kr. a month, but it does none of the tasks: you do them yourself, on your own time and on your own responsibility.

On 4 November Payday published the article "Bókari eða bókhaldskerfi: Hvað hentar þér?" (Bookkeeper or accounting software: what suits you?), which recommends that owners handle the daily books themselves and bring in a bookkeeper for the year end. Here is the other side, task by task: who does it, when it has to be done and what the year costs in krónur.

Software holds the books. It does not keep them.

Accounting software stores the entries, makes sales invoices and puts together a VAT return from whatever has been booked. Payday's subscription costs 4.600 to 11.700 kr. a month excluding VAT, and the full package (Allur pakkinn) at most 2% of turnover if that is lower.

In Payday's own table, the year end and the tax return are tasks the owner can "rarely" do alone. The software is therefore always one bill of two or three: the software, the bookkeeper and the accountant. And however the tasks are split, the managers carry the responsibility. Article 5 of Bookkeeping Act no. 145/1994 says so, and Payday points it out itself.

Who does the work, task by task

Eight tasks come with the books of a private limited company (ehf.) every year. This is how they fall, depending on the route.

Software only changes where the work is done. A bookkeeper changes who does it, by the hour. With Kassify, all eight tasks leave your desk for one firm, at one fixed monthly price that also covers the annual accounts and the tax return.

The deadlines that come with the tasks

Each task has its rule, and most of them have a date at Skatturinn, the Icelandic tax authority.

A due date that falls on a weekend moves to the next working day. That is why the VAT deadline is 7 December this year and not the 5th. The next VAT return, for November and December, is due on 5 February 2027.

Example: a private limited company with three employees

Take an ehf. that files VAT every two months, pays three employees and uses Payday's full package. Assume the tasks in the table above, other than the annual accounts and the tax return, take 8 hours a month. Endurskoðun & ráðgjöf publishes an hourly rate of 15.500 kr. for bookkeeping and a base fee of 130.000 kr. for a company's annual accounts and tax return. This is how the year adds up, excluding VAT:

If you do the books yourself, the year seems to cost 270.400 kr. It also costs 96 hours. At the bookkeeper's rate that is 1.488.000 kr., and those are 96 hours that do not go into sales, staff or customers. The other route turns the hours into an invoice. Either way 130.000 kr. is only a base fee, because anything beyond it is charged by the hours worked.

With Kassify, three bills become one firm with one fixed monthly price, and the annual accounts and the tax return are included in it. The yearly bookkeeping cost is 20% below a traditional accounting firm, and more than 100 hours a year go back into the business. How the firms' prices add up over a year is set out in the article what bookkeeping costs.

The answer to Payday's article

Payday is right about the law. Under Article 5 of the Bookkeeping Act, managers must see to it and answer for it that the law is followed, whether they keep the books themselves or hire a bookkeeper. What the article leaves out is what happens when the tasks are split between the owner, a bookkeeper and an accountant.

A company that does not file its annual accounts on time is fined 600.000 kr. by the annual accounts register. Skatturinn lists the reasons that do not get the fine cancelled. Two of them are "mistakes by the bookkeeper, inspector or auditor" and "misunderstanding or lack of communication between the company and its bookkeeper". The ministry upheld such a fine on a private limited company that filed its 2020 accounts late because of its bookkeeper's mistake. The ruling says the managers carry full responsibility for the company's books.

Every task that passes between two parties is a place where something can fall through. Software, a bookkeeper and an accountant are three parties. Kassify is one.

The mistakes that cost money

• Comparing only the price of the software. The software is the smallest bill. In the example above it is 140.400 kr. of 1.758.400 kr. Software prices are compared in the article the best accounting software.
• Booking at the end of the period. Skatturinn says transactions are to be recorded as soon as possible. Books done in a rush before the VAT deadline carry their errors straight into the return.
• Skipping the VAT return when there is no turnover. A return is due for every period, whether the business was active or not. Otherwise the turnover may be estimated.
• Relying on the bookkeeper to carry the responsibility. Under Article 5 the responsibility is the managers', and a bookkeeper's mistake does not reduce the register's fine.
• Forgetting the payslip forms. An employer files payslip forms RSK 2.01 before 20 January for the previous year's pay.

Kassify: the accounting firm that takes all eight tasks off you

Kassify is an accounting firm that uses AI: a whole finance department at a fixed price. Kassify is both the software and the people who do the work, so you pay for no separate software, bookkeeper or accountant on top.

• Every entry is read, categorised and matched without you typing anything. Manual entries: 0.
• Each bank is connected directly. Bills in your email reach the books by themselves and receipts come in from Messenger and the app, each entry with its supporting document, kept for 7 years.
• VAT returns on time. Withholding tax and social security tax go to Skatturinn before the due date on the 15th, and pension and union returns go to the funds.
• The annual accounts and the tax return are prepared from the same figures by a certified auditor, included in the monthly price, and filed on time. The board reads the draft and signs.
• A fixed monthly price for bookkeeping, payroll, VAT, the app, the annual accounts and the tax return. The yearly bookkeeping cost is 20% below a traditional accounting firm, and more than 100 hours a year go back into the business.
• A bookkeeper replies within 24 hours. Accredited bookkeepers and certified auditors stand behind the work, among them Gunnar Freyr Guðmundsson, owner of Endár ehf.

Software makes the work lighter. A bookkeeper takes it on by the hour. Kassify takes it off your desk at a fixed price. More on Kassify's bookkeeping service, and on how Kassify compares with other firms in the article the best accounting firms in Iceland.

From software to Kassify in less than 7 days

1. 1
   You give the bookkeeper's name

   Kassify talks to them and handles everything from there. You do not have to have that conversation.

2. 2
   Kassify moves the history

   Entries, sales invoices, payslips and opening balances from Payday, dk, Regla or Netbókhald. Every account is reconciled before Kassify takes over.

3. 3
   Kassify takes over

   From day one Kassify books, files VAT and runs payroll. The move is included in the fixed price.

Switch before the new year and Kassify takes over the books from 1 January, the first day of the new financial year for most companies.

Questions

Stop doing the books. A fixed price, known up front.

Leave your email and Kassify goes through the tasks and the costs with you. You get the price in writing before you decide.