Your accountant is not expensive because they are greedy.
They are expensive because a good part of what you pay for is somebody sorting out a plastic bag.
That part of the bill is entirely within your control, and most one-person businesses have never been told so.
What they are actually trying to do
Two things, and understanding them makes everything else obvious.
Work out what came in and what went out. Every rand of income, every rand of business expense, for the year.
Prove it. Not because anyone assumes you are dishonest, but because a number without a document behind it cannot be defended if it is ever questioned.
Everything below serves one of those two.
What to have ready
Every invoice you issued. All of them, numbered in order, including any that were cancelled or credited. Gaps in a number sequence generate questions.
Every business expense, with the slip. Not a list from memory. The document.
Your bank statements for the full year. The business account. If business and personal share an account, they will need the whole thing, and that is slower and therefore dearer.
Anything unusual, explained. A big equipment purchase, a refund, a bad debt, money you put into the business yourself. One line of explanation each saves an email exchange that takes a fortnight.
Vehicle records, if you claim vehicle costs. The split between business and private use.
The one change that saves the most
Separate your business bank account from your personal one.
If there is a single thing on this page worth doing, it is that. Untangling a year of groceries, school fees and business purchases from one statement is the slowest job your accountant does, and you pay for every hour of it.
What good looks like
You send one file. It contains the year's income, the year's expenses with the slips attached, and your bank statements.
Your accountant opens it, checks it, asks two or three questions, and does the work you are actually paying them for.
That is the difference between a straightforward year end and an expensive one.
To be clear about what software does
It keeps clean records and produces the export.
It does not replace an accountant. A professional still reviews the numbers, applies the rules to your situation, and signs off. Anybody telling you software removes the need for that is selling you something.
What it does is make their job quick, which makes their bill smaller.
The honest summary
Your accountant's bill has two parts. The expertise, which you want to pay for. And the sorting out, which you do not.
Record it as you go, keep the business account separate, and hand over one tidy file.
KatisoBiz keeps your invoices and slips together all year and exports them for your accountant. Statements, reports and the accountant export come with the R49 plan.