ERP for startup. Books, payroll and compliance from day one, without hiring a back office.
A startup does not need a back office; it needs the books, payroll and filings to run without a founder awake at midnight. Kinnow has no ready-made startup setup, so we set up the right applications and controls with you in the first two weeks. Available in the United Kingdom from early 2027.
From early 2027How does Kinnow help a startup? You start with the finance core and add what you need: invoices, bills and expenses, bank reconciliation, payroll, VAT return groundwork, and statements an investor or auditor can read. There is no startup industry setup in the product, so approval limits, who signs off, and reports are set up with you rather than switched on from a template. Nothing is filed, paid or posted without a person.
Your company, in one paragraph.
You are a handful of people with no finance team. The founder raises invoices, matches the bank statement on a weekend, chases a customer who has not paid and asks the accountant what is due this month. Payroll is run from a spreadsheet, and every investor update means piecing a profit and loss together from three tools. Buying an ERP feels too early, so the books live in something you will outgrow in a year.
Three things keep the founder awake: a filing date nobody owns, cash that looks fine until payroll week, and a first audit or due diligence that finds the books were never closed properly.
What we set up with you, and what is not a template
We say this plainly because the other industry pages describe a ready-made setup and this one has none.
| Area | What we set up with you | Where it comes from |
|---|---|---|
| Applications | Which of the 49 you switch on, for each company: typically Masters, Sell, Buy (bills and expenses), Account, People, Comply, Know and Vault | Applications are switched on company by company |
| Starter data | A General item group and six payment terms (advance, due on receipt, 7, 15, 30 and 45 days) come with every company | Starter data that every company gets |
| Approval limits | Who approves a journal, an invoice or a credit limit, and from what amount. You decide the figures, in pounds | Ready-made limit templates and the approvals designer |
| UK country setup | VAT sales and purchase registers and a rate summary, VAT return sign-off, payroll sign-off, a second-person check on manual journals | UK country setup, from early 2027 |
| Industry setup | If you build software, the Tech Product Development setup fits; services firms can start from IT Services or Professional Services. Otherwise none is applied | 15 industry setups exist; none is called Startup |
| Opening position | Your lists (Masters) and opening balances brought in during the first week; you can run alongside your current books until a month agrees | Moving your books across, with a trial balance that must agree |
Tell us your stage and team size; we will propose the first three applications to switch on.
How your month runs on Kinnow
This is a setup we build with you, not a template: you choose which steps you need.
| Step | Who | What Kinnow does | Where a person approves |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Invoice and collect | Founder | Invoices are raised in Sell with the supplier VAT number, date, running number and VAT shown in sterling checked; a simplified invoice is allowed up to a limit set in the UK country setup. Overdue reminders are drafted by days overdue. | Invoices above a value you set wait for approval. |
| 2. Capture bills and expenses | Founder, ops | The AI Invoice Extractor reads a supplier PDF into bill fields and checks the amounts add up. Expense claims are approved by someone other than the claimant. | The approver signs; the claimant cannot. |
| 3. Reconcile the bank | Founder | Bank Reconciler pre-matches statement lines to receipts and shows its reasons. A line it cannot match gets a drafted journal from your own history, which waits in the approval queue. | An accountant or the founder approves the draft. |
| 4. Run payroll | Founder, HR | Kinnow works out PAYE (tax taken from pay each month), employee and employer National Insurance, pension contributions and student loan in a payroll run. | The run is approved by someone other than the person who prepared it. |
| 5. Watch the dates | Founder, accountant | The compliance calendar checks deadlines every night and alerts you 15, 7 and 1 day before each. The groundwork to draft the nine-box VAT return and a file is completed before launch. | A person reviews and files it. |
| 6. Close the month | Founder, accountant | Every journal is checked to balance before it posts. The close runs twelve checks and seven must pass; the Close Checklist pre-fills the list and drafts variance notes. | A person confirms the close. |
| 7. Read the numbers | Founder, investors | Trial balance, profit and loss, balance sheet and cash-flow statement come straight from the books. A weekly summary covers revenue, collections and alerts. | The founder reviews before anything is shared. |
| 8. Face the audit | Founder, auditor | Kinnow gathers an audit file: the period status, lists of what customers owe you and what you owe suppliers for confirmation, the fixed-asset schedule and bank accounts with the date each was last reconciled. | The accountant reviews and signs off. |
Agents a startup would start with
Bank Reconciler
Matches bank lines to receipts ahead of time and shows why it matched each one. Lines it is unsure about come up as suggestions only and are never committed on their own.
AccountClose Checklist
Runs the twelve period-close checks, helps clear the ones holding up the close and drafts the commentary on variances. A person confirms the close.
Account / KnowCash-flow Forecaster
Builds a rolling cash forecast for the next 30, 60 and 90 days from post-dated cheques, bills due and how customers have paid in the past, with a range around each figure to show how sure it is.
Sell + AccountCollections
Drafts overdue reminders and steps them up according to how many days a payment is actually late. A person approves each reminder before it goes out.
ComplyFiling Prep
Builds the sales-tax return file from your books and lists every document it left out, with the reason, for a person to clear before filing.
AccountAI Invoice Extractor
Reads the text of a supplier invoice and fills in the bill for you, checking that the amounts add up before anything is saved.
AccountDouble-entry Validator
Stops any journal entry that does not balance, or that uses a ledger that is not valid, before it can be posted.
VaultAsk Kinnow
Answers questions from your documents and from the records of the applications you use, and only shows what the person asking is allowed to see.
Every agent is validated with each client before it works on their books, and every output waits for a person.
Ask us to run the bank reconciler on one of your own statements.
Dates a UK startup keeps
The compliance calendar checks deadlines every night and alerts you 15, 7 and 1 day before each. Dates are as we understood them when this was written, so your accountant confirms each one. There is no clearance e-invoicing mandate in the United Kingdom; the rule is digital records that feed the VAT return.
| Obligation | When it falls | What Kinnow does |
|---|---|---|
| VAT return (nine boxes), once registered | One calendar month and seven days after the period end; your HMRC stagger group (the quarter pattern HMRC gave you) decides the period | Groundwork to prepare the nine-box return and file from sales and purchase records, completed before launch. A person files it. Kinnow does not send anything to HMRC |
| VAT rates on invoices | On each invoice | Applies 20%, 5% or 0% from a starter list of items, and the reverse charge on supplies to customers outside Great Britain. Your adviser confirms the rate for unusual items |
| Confirmation statement | Annually, at Companies House | Tracks the date and reminds you. Your adviser confirms it |
| Annual accounts | Nine months after the accounting reference date for a private company | Tracks the date; does not prepare or file the accounts |
| Corporation tax return | Twelve months after the period end; tax is due earlier | Tracks the date; does not work out the tax or prepare the return |
| ICO data protection fee | Annually | Tracks the date and reminds you |
| Payroll | Each pay period | Worked out in a payroll run a second person approves; nothing is sent to HMRC |
There is no default VAT stagger group: you set it, and Kinnow will not guess.
What the founder can ask
| Ask Kinnow | The answer comes from |
|---|---|
| Give me the trial balance as of today | Trial balance |
| How did we do this year? | Profit and loss |
| What is our cash forecast for the next 90 days? | Cash forecast |
| Which customers owe us the most and for how long? | Customer balances by age |
| What VAT did I charge this quarter? | VAT sales register |
| Which supplier invoices are missing a VAT registration number? | VAT purchase register |
| When is my next VAT return due? | Compliance calendar |
Each answer shows its source and cost before it runs. Veil, our privacy layer, holds back bank, tax and ID numbers and swaps names for placeholders before an AI call. It covers Ask Kinnow and most agents today; the rest are being added.
See your own first month-end close on Kinnow.
Controls a founder can set on day one
Second person on journals
A manual journal needs a second person, so the books never rest on one set of hands.
Payroll signed off
The person who prepares a payroll run cannot be the one who approves it.
VAT return signed off
The return waits for a named person before anything is sent.
Write-offs reviewed
Writing off an overdue invoice prompts a review of the VAT bad-debt relief deadline, since relief is repayable if the customer later pays.
Questions
Is Kinnow overkill for a ten-person startup?
No, if you start small. There is no licence fee for the ERP or any application, and nothing per user. Every business gets one fixed price, set with a Kinnow partner, and you switch on only the applications you need.
Is there a Startup industry setup?
No. Fifteen ready-made industry setups exist (we call them industry packs) and none is for startups. A software company can use Tech Product Development, a services startup can start from IT Services or Professional Services, and we set up the rest with you. The United Kingdom country setup, which carries VAT reports and approvals, applies to every company.
Can I start with accounting and add the rest later?
Yes. Applications switch on per company when you need them. Sales, bills, payroll and compliance share one set of books from the first day, so nothing is moved twice.
Will it handle our first audit?
It prepares for one. Journals are checked to balance, the close runs checks before a period is locked, and the audit file gathers confirmation lists, the fixed-asset schedule and bank reconciliation status. Your auditor still decides what they need.
Who files our VAT return?
Your team or your accountant. The groundwork to prepare the nine-box return and a file is completed before launch, and your adviser confirms each box before first use. A person then files it through recognised software or HMRC. Kinnow does not submit to HMRC.
Is it available in the United Kingdom now?
No. The United Kingdom edition is available from early 2027. Each agent is validated with each client before it works on their books.
How long does set-up take?
About two weeks to first results for one company: your client, supplier and account lists (Masters) and opening balances in the first week, agents switched on and a first close in the second.
Show me Kinnow for startup.
Answer three questions. Get the applications, the agents and a two-week plan for your business.