CUNNTAS
Why CUNNTAS?
Choosing accounting software should not mean choosing which essential business functions you are prepared to pay extra for.
CUNNTAS was developed around a different idea: one integrated financial platform, one straightforward monthly price, and the tools a UK Organisation needs to manage its accounts, bookkeeping and payroll properly.
The name CUNNTAS is pronounced “KOON-tas”. It comes from the Scottish Gaelic word cunntas, meaning “account”, “accounts”, “accounting” or “reckoning” — a name that reflects both the purpose of the platform and its Scottish identity.
CUNNTAS brings accounting, banking, VAT, payroll, sales, purchases, reporting and financial administration together within the same Organisation and the same accounting records.
And it costs £30 per Organisation per month, plus VAT.
1. Accounting and Payroll Together
Payroll is not an optional extra in CUNNTAS.
Every subscribing Organisation has access to the CUNNTAS accounting and bookkeeping platform together with payroll as part of its £30 plus VAT monthly subscription.
This matters because payroll is part of an Organisation's financial activity. Wages, PAYE, National Insurance, pensions and other payroll liabilities ultimately belong in the accounts.
CUNNTAS is designed so that payroll and accounting work together rather than requiring a business to maintain two disconnected financial systems.
2. One Integrated Accounting Record
CUNNTAS is built around a complete double-entry General Ledger.
Sales, purchases, payments, banking, payroll, VAT and other financial activity ultimately form part of that accounting record.
That means CUNNTAS is not simply a collection of screens for performing unrelated administrative tasks. Its modules are designed to work together.
An invoice affects the accounts. A payment settles an amount due. A payroll run creates accounting consequences. A bank transaction can be reconciled against the underlying records. VAT is derived from the transactions to which it relates.
The objective is simple: enter or obtain information once and allow the platform to use it properly throughout the accounting system.
3. Built for UK Organisations
CUNNTAS is being developed specifically around the requirements of Organisations operating in the United Kingdom.
UK VAT, Making Tax Digital, PAYE, National Insurance, pensions, UK banking, Companies House-related information, accounting periods and recognised accounting frameworks are not afterthoughts added to software designed principally for another market.
They are part of the architecture of CUNNTAS.
The platform supports different forms of Organisation, including limited companies, LLPs, sole traders, partnerships, charities and companies limited by guarantee.
4. Straightforward Pricing
CUNNTAS costs:
£30 per Organisation per month, plus VAT.
The subscription includes the core CUNNTAS platform, including:
- Bookkeeping and General Ledger
- Banking and reconciliation
- Customer and Sales accounting
- Supplier and Purchase accounting
- Sales Invoices and Credit Notes
- VAT and Making Tax Digital facilities
- Payroll
- Financial reporting
- Departments and financial analysis
- Document and transaction records
- User and Organisation administration
- Security and Two-Factor Authentication
- Integrated Help and Warning facilities
The price is per Organisation, not per User.
A business should be able to understand what its financial system costs without working through a complicated collection of essential modules, User licences and payroll additions.
5. One User, Multiple Organisations
A CUNNTAS User Account belongs to the individual, not to a single company.
An authorised User can therefore access one Organisation or several Organisations through the same secure account.
This is particularly valuable for business owners and directors who operate several companies, groups of related Organisations, professional advisers and other Users who legitimately need access to more than one entity.
Each Organisation retains its own accounting records and permissions while the User has one coherent CUNNTAS identity.
6. Banking Connected to the Accounts
Banking should form part of the accounting process rather than exist beside it.
CUNNTAS is designed to connect eligible bank accounts through supported banking and Open Banking services so that banking activity can be brought into the Organisation's financial workspace. CUNNTAS is awaiting completion of the required FCA approval process before automated Bank Connections can be provided. Manual statement upload and controlled reconciliation remain available during this period.
Transactions can then be reviewed and reconciled against the accounting records.
The platform is deliberately designed to preserve the integrity of bank information rather than allowing imported bank-statement lines to be casually rewritten to make the records fit.
7. VAT and Making Tax Digital
VAT is integrated into the accounting system.
CUNNTAS uses controlled VAT treatments so that VAT information arises from the underlying financial transactions rather than being maintained as an unrelated calculation.
The platform is designed for Making Tax Digital requirements and for Organisations with more complicated structures, including support for VAT groups where appropriate.
8. Financial Information That Leads Somewhere
Recording transactions is only useful if those transactions produce meaningful financial information.
CUNNTAS is designed to provide reporting from the underlying ledger, including the Trial Balance, Profit and Loss, Balance Sheet, General Ledger activity, receivables, payables, VAT information and other financial analysis.
Users can therefore move from day-to-day bookkeeping to an understanding of the Organisation's financial position within the same platform.
9. Help Where It Is Needed
Accounting and payroll terminology is not always self-explanatory.
CUNNTAS does not assume that every User already knows what every field, accounting expression or statutory term means.
The interface includes contextual Help (?) facilities that explain functions and terminology at the point where the User encounters them.
Important consequences or risks are separately identified through Warning (!) facilities.
This provides detailed guidance without turning every screen into an instruction manual.
10. Security Is Mandatory, Not Optional
Every CUNNTAS User is required to use Two-Factor Authentication.
Compatible Authenticator Apps can be used, and Users can choose to trust a browser under their control for 30 days.
Recovery Codes, secure session management, User permissions, trusted-browser controls and audit records provide additional layers of protection.
Security features are not reserved for a more expensive subscription level. Protecting financial, banking and payroll information is a fundamental requirement of the platform.
11. Controlled Support Access
Getting technical support should not require giving somebody permanent unrestricted access to an Organisation's financial information.
CUNNTAS includes controlled Support Access facilities through which temporary access can be authorised when assistance requires it.
This approach provides support personnel with the access necessary to investigate an authorised issue while maintaining User control and an auditable record of support activity.
12. Designed for Accountability
Financial records should be capable of explanation.
CUNNTAS maintains audit and event information around important activity so that significant actions can be traced.
The platform is being developed around the principle that accounting integrity matters: transactions, permanent financial documents, banking information and system activity should form a coherent and reviewable record.
13. Interface Standards Are Tested
CUNNTAS does not rely solely upon somebody noticing that a page has stopped working.
The platform includes internal Interface Standards and integrity controls capable of identifying structural problems involving database requirements, application routes, views and services.
This allows certain application and schema inconsistencies to be identified before an affected function is encountered during ordinary use.
It is part of a wider approach in which the platform itself assists with maintaining its operational integrity.
14. Designed for Real Businesses, Not Just Accountants
CUNNTAS needs to satisfy accounting requirements, but it also needs to be understandable to the people running businesses.
Information is organised into clear workspaces, blocks, registers and task areas. The interface is responsive across desktop, tablet and mobile displays, while Help and Warning facilities provide additional explanation where required.
The objective is not to hide proper accounting behind an oversimplified interface. It is to make proper accounting more understandable.
15. Your Organisation Can Grow Without Outgrowing the Platform
A business may begin with one company and later operate several Organisations.
It may register for VAT, employ staff, create Departments, add Users, establish a group structure or require more sophisticated financial reporting.
CUNNTAS has been designed with those developments in mind.
The same platform can support a relatively straightforward Organisation while providing the structures required by businesses with multiple entities and more complicated accounting requirements.
16. Moving to CUNNTAS
Changing accounting systems should not mean losing useful financial history.
CUNNTAS is being designed to support the import and mapping of information from established accounting systems, including information originating from Xero, Sage and QuickBooks.
Where appropriate, an Organisation can instead establish new CUNNTAS accounting records and begin from an agreed starting position.
17. A Platform That Continues to Develop
CUNNTAS is not being designed merely to reproduce the functions of existing bookkeeping software.
Its architecture brings together accounting, payroll, banking, Organisation management, security, contextual assistance, controlled support and system integrity within one platform.
New capabilities can be introduced within that common architecture rather than requiring Users to assemble a growing collection of unrelated products.
18. Why CUNNTAS?
Because bookkeeping, accounting, banking, VAT and payroll belong together.
Because security should be fundamental rather than optional.
Because Users should be able to understand the system they are using.
Because an Organisation's financial records should be coherent, traceable and capable of review.
Because a business with several Organisations should not need a different identity for every company it manages.
And because the price of essential business accounting software should be straightforward.
CUNNTAS provides the complete core platform for £30 per Organisation per month, plus VAT — including payroll.
CUNNTAS — one Organisation, one integrated financial platform, one straightforward price.
Last Updated: 10 August 2026