80+
Countries with local payment rails, native to the ledger
Comparison · Light vs AccountsIQ
Light vs AccountsIQ
AccountsIQ is a cloud financial management platform built specifically for multi-entity, multi-currency groups, with real-time group consolidation, automated FX and intercompany handling, and native expense management. Light covers the same multi-entity ledger and consolidation ground, and adds an AI-native architecture, corporate and virtual cards issued from the ledger, and vendor payments on local rails in 80+ countries.
Book a demo$2B
Revenue Tillo runs on Light across 8 entities
76%
Cut in Tillo's month-end processing time
4
People on the finance team scaling Lovable to $500M revenue
Compare Light vs AccountsIQ
| Light | AccountsIQ | |
|---|---|---|
| Implementation | Weeks, with a dedicated implementation team and account manager included | Typically weeks; AccountsIQ markets go-live in as little as 4-6 weeks and implements with its own UK and Ireland team |
| Architecture | One AI-native ledger; consolidation posts as transactions happen | Cloud general ledger designed around multi-entity groups, with consolidation as a first-class feature; conventional rather than AI-native |
| Agents | Agents complete work end to end inside your controls; every action logged and attributable | AI applied to approvals, coding suggestions and reporting; work is routed and assisted rather than completed end to end |
| Configuration | Astra learns from your data and suggests workflow and configuration changes to increase performance; applied in-product, no consultants | Self-serve configuration plus partner support for complex group structures |
| Subscription management | Contract-based invoicing and deferred revenue automated | Recurring invoicing is supported, with prompts when a recurring invoice is due; it is not a subscription-billing product with usage metering and deferred-revenue schedules |
| Spend management | Corporate and virtual cards with Apple Pay and Google Pay, expense capture via Slack, Teams and email, native to the ledger | Native through ExpenseIn: expense capture plus physical and virtual cards with Apple Pay and Google Pay, issued by Stripe under the ExpenseIn brand. The cards are issued by a third-party sponsor into the expense product and post to the ledger, rather than being issued from it |
| Global bill pay | AP and vendor payments executed on local rails in 80+ countries, from the ledger itself | Approvals and payment runs through banking integrations; payment execution is not performed by the ledger itself |
| Advanced reporting | Real-time multi-entity reporting with instant drill-down; no spreadsheet exports | Group reporting, dashboards and BI across entities; a well-reviewed strength |
| SaaS metrics | ARR, MRR, NRR, churn and cohort metrics computed from the ledger and contracts, in real time | Not a SaaS-metrics product; ARR, NRR and cohort analysis would live elsewhere |
| Global coverage | Local payment rails in 80+ countries; multi-entity, multi-currency by default | Used across 85+ countries with UK and Ireland as the core market; coverage is accounting reach rather than payment rails |
What AccountsIQ actually covers
AccountsIQ is a cloud financial management platform built specifically for multi-entity, multi-currency groups. Each entity keeps its own books while the group gets real-time consolidation, with automated FX and simplified intercompany handling.
Around that core it covers approvals, budgeting, dashboards and BI reporting, plus expense management and cards through ExpenseIn, which is part of AccountsIQ. So the comparison is not ledger-versus-ledger with a gap on one side: both platforms run a multi-entity general ledger, and the differences are architectural.
Where Light and AccountsIQ actually differ
Both run a multi-entity general ledger and both consolidate across currencies. That ground is shared, and the difference is not that one can do it and the other cannot. Both also cover expenses and corporate cards.
The difference is where those capabilities live. Light is AI-native: consolidation posts as transactions happen, and agents complete work end to end inside your controls, with every action logged and attributable. Cards are issued from the ledger, and vendor payments execute on local rails in 80+ countries from the ledger itself. In the AccountsIQ stack, cards are issued by Stripe into ExpenseIn and payments execute at the bank, with the ledger receiving the result.
Accounting reach and payment reach are different things
Operating in 85+ countries as an accounting platform means the ledger handles the entities and the currencies. It does not mean money moves on local rails in those countries. For a group paying vendors and staff internationally, that distinction shows up every payment run.
Light treats payment execution as part of the ledger rather than as an integration, which is why AP, vendor payments and card spend all post without a reconciliation step between systems.
When AccountsIQ is the right answer
If your priority is group consolidation across many entities and currencies with strong reporting, and your payments are handled adequately by your banks, AccountsIQ is a credible and well-established choice with a real customer base.
Light is the better fit when you want the spend and payment layer inside the same ledger as the consolidation, and when you want agents doing the repetitive close work rather than routing it to people.
Signs you’ve outgrown AccountsIQ
Consolidation is solved. The stack around it is still assembled.
AccountsIQ does real-time multi-entity consolidation well, and since acquiring ExpenseIn it covers expenses and ships cards too. Those cards are issued by a third-party sponsor into a separate expense product and post across to the ledger, so the spend layer and the ledger are still two systems being kept in step.
You are running an integration stack around the ledger
A typical AccountsIQ group runs the GL and consolidation in AccountsIQ and connects banking, payments and other finance tools around it. Every connection is another reconciliation and another set of permissions.
The work is automated, but people still do it
Approvals, workflows and dashboards reduce effort. They do not remove it. The month-end still depends on people moving work through a queue rather than agents completing it inside your controls.
“We evaluated several vendors. Light won because it covers our full finance stack, revenue, AR, AP, expenses, and consolidation, without stitching together a patchwork of point solutions.”
TanjaDirector of Finance, Omnea
Top 3 reasons leaders pick Light over AccountsIQ
An all-inclusive platform
Leverage native products for AP, AR, Procurement and budgeting that seamlessly leverage AI and integrate to Slack and Teams.
Superior performance
Whether you are processing 100,000 or 50 million transactions, the Light Ledger is based on a hyper-performant database.
Beautiful reporting
Stop the reporting headache of spreadsheets, and get fast, intuitive reports with instant drill-down capabilities.
More reasons to love Light
Enjoy integrated products that both finance and the employees enjoy using.
Expense Management
Automate expense approvals, track spending in real-time, and gain insights with AI-powered analytics.
Vendor Management
Streamline vendor relationships with simplified onboarding, tracking supplier performance, and enforcing procurement policies.
Cards
Issue vendor and employee cards with Apple Pay and Google Pay globally. Upload receipts via Slack, Teams or email.
Frequently asked questions
Does AccountsIQ do multi-entity consolidation?
Yes, and it is the product's core strength. AccountsIQ was built specifically for multi-entity, multi-currency groups, with real-time group consolidation, automated FX and intercompany handling. This is not a gap in their product.
How is Light different from AccountsIQ if both do multi-entity?
The ledger and consolidation overlap substantially. Light differs in being AI-native, with consolidation posting continuously and agents completing work end to end inside your controls, and in having corporate and virtual cards plus vendor payments on local rails in 80+ countries native to the ledger rather than connected to it.
Does AccountsIQ handle expenses and corporate cards?
Yes to both. Expense management is native through ExpenseIn, which is part of AccountsIQ, and ExpenseIn ships physical and virtual cards with Apple Pay and Google Pay, issued by Stripe. The structural difference from Light is where the cards are issued: ExpenseIn's come from a third-party sponsor into the expense product and post across to the ledger, while Light issues cards from the ledger itself.
Is AccountsIQ only for UK and Ireland?
No. Its core market is UK and Ireland, but it reports users across more than 85 countries. Worth distinguishing accounting coverage from payment coverage: operating the ledger in a country is not the same as executing payments on that country's local rails.