A new entity shouldn't mean rebuilding the month-end spreadsheet. Yet when a company grows, the work of joining up its accounts can grow with it, until finance spends more time assembling the numbers than explaining them.
Choosing general ledger software is a chance to address that work. Start with the change you expect next, whether that's an acquisition, another currency or a new reporting requirement. Then ask each vendor to show how your team would handle it.
What should you test before comparing products?
Choose a few transactions that expose the structure of the business: an intercompany recharge, a foreign currency receipt and a cost split across departments. Follow each one into entity accounts and group reporting.
Then correct a posted transaction and close a period. Inspect the history, permissions and evidence. Ask how finance adds a new reporting dimension, what requires a consultant and how the team exports its data.
The multi-entity accounting guide goes deeper on group requirements. Keep those separate from the question of how many currencies a product can display.
Which general ledger options should you consider?
This shortlist reflects Light's assessment of public product information checked on 28 September 2026. It is a guide to fit, rather than an independent ranking.
| Product | Best for this situation | What to establish before buying |
|---|---|---|
| Xero | Straightforward small-business accounting | How the full reporting setup will work as complexity grows |
| QuickBooks Online | A small business evaluating core accounting and reporting | The exact country edition, plan and connected applications |
| Sage Intacct | Financial management across multiple entities | Consolidation, reporting and implementation scope |
| NetSuite OneWorld | A group evaluating finance alongside wider ERP operations | The modules, configuration and resources the project requires |
| Light | A growing group bringing finance workflows onto one platform | Coverage of the group's accounting, payment and control requirements |
Xero and QuickBooks Online deserve consideration when the requirements remain straightforward. Sage Intacct, NetSuite OneWorld and Light address broader finance needs through different product and implementation choices. Demonstrate the proposed setup rather than deciding from the category label.
Xero and QuickBooks Online
Best for: smaller businesses with a clear set of core accounting requirements.
Xero and QuickBooks document invoicing, banking and reporting features. Check the local edition and plan instead of assuming that every feature on a global website appears in your subscription.
Less suitable when: the required group process depends on recurring exports and manual reconciliation that the team already struggles to maintain. Include any consolidation applications and their administration in the evaluation.
Sage Intacct
Best for: a finance-led project that needs multi-entity accounting and consolidation.
Sage Intacct describes management of multiple entities and consolidated reporting. Use your own chart of accounts and reporting requirements to test the design.
Less suitable when: the business needs only a basic ledger and has little capacity for a wider financial systems project.
NetSuite OneWorld
Best for: groups evaluating financial management within a broader ERP project.
NetSuite OneWorld's product brief covers multiple subsidiaries, currencies and global operations. That breadth makes it worth evaluating when finance must connect with wider operational requirements.
Less suitable when: the proposed scope brings more implementation and administration work than the business can justify. Ask for a concrete delivery plan and the cost of later changes.
Light
Best for: growing groups that want general ledger, accounts payable, accounts receivable, spend management and group reporting on one finance platform.
Light combines these finance workflows, so selecting it does not require buying a separate spend management product to cover employee expenses and cards. Its multi-entity accounting product connects entity accounting with consolidation, while bill payments, subscription management and spend management cover the transactions that feed the ledger.
You can also evaluate Light primarily as the ERP while retaining tools that already work for the business. Agree which workflows will move into Light, which systems will stay connected and how transactions will be reconciled. Confirm each required integration and its scope during evaluation.
What to ask Light to demonstrate: take a supplier bill, a customer invoice and an employee expense through their controls and into the accounting record.
- Accounts payable: submit a bill, follow the configured approval steps and inspect the accounting entry posted after final approval. The bill approval documentation explains that sequence.
- Accounts receivable: upload a sales invoice PDF, review the extracted draft against the original and correct any flagged details before posting. The sales invoice walkthrough shows the checks and their limits.
- Spend: follow an expense through receipt capture, policy review, approval and settlement. Check how card spend and employee reimbursements differ using the expense management documentation.
- Group reporting: inspect entity balances, group-currency amounts and intercompany eliminations using the consolidation walkthrough.
For a published example, All Gravy brought four entity accounting systems, spend management and bill payments into Light. The same story describes the team's own CPQ tool connected to Light. It illustrates both the scope of the finance platform and the option to retain a specialist tool; it is not a guarantee that another company's migration will have the same scope or outcome.
Less suitable when: the selection hinges on operational requirements outside the finance scope demonstrated in the proposal. Require evidence for those requirements before choosing a platform.
How do you compare the cost of changing ledgers?
Include migration, integrations, training, ongoing administration and the work of retaining historical records. A cheaper licence can still create a larger operating cost, while a broader system can cost more than the company needs.
Use the ERP migration checklist to agree what moves and how finance will reconcile it. The winning ledger should make the next few years workable, with a delivery plan your team can carry out.
