Glossary

Tax & accounting terms explained

Plain-language definitions of the CRM, accounting and practice-management terms tax and accounting firms come across.

Tax practice management software

Tax practice management software helps a tax or accounting firm run its whole practice from one system: managing clients, the work owed to them, invoicing and payments, staff tasks, and often the firm's own accounting. It replaces a patchwork of spreadsheets and disconnected apps with a single source of truth.

CRM (Customer Relationship Management)

A CRM, or Customer Relationship Management system, is software for storing and managing an organisation's relationships and interactions with its clients and prospects. It centralises contact details, history, communication and the work associated with each relationship so nothing is lost across a team.

ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning)

An ERP, or Enterprise Resource Planning system, is software that unifies a business's core processes — such as operations, workflow, billing and finance — in one connected system. Instead of separate tools that do not talk to each other, an ERP shares data across the whole operation.

Client portal

A client portal is a secure, private area where a firm's clients log in to view their own information — invoices, documents, orders and the status of their work — and interact with the firm. It gives clients self-service access instead of relying on phone calls and email.

Double-entry accounting

Double-entry accounting is a method where every transaction is recorded in at least two accounts: a debit in one and an equal credit in another. Because debits and credits must always balance, the system is self-checking and produces reliable financial statements.

Chart of accounts

A chart of accounts is the organised list of every account a business uses to record its transactions. Accounts are grouped into categories — typically assets, liabilities, equity, income and expenses — and give each transaction a consistent place to be recorded.

Accounts receivable

Accounts receivable (AR) is the money owed to a business by its clients for goods or services that have been delivered or invoiced but not yet paid. It is recorded as an asset because it represents cash the business expects to collect.

Accounts payable

Accounts payable (AP) is the money a business owes to its suppliers or vendors for goods or services it has received but not yet paid for. It is recorded as a liability because it represents cash the business must pay out.

Workflow automation

Workflow automation is the use of software to carry out routine, rule-based steps in a business process automatically, instead of a person doing them by hand. It handles predictable work — creating records, routing tasks, sending updates — so people can focus on judgement and delivery.

Audit trail

An audit trail is a chronological record of the actions taken in a system — who did what, and when. It captures meaningful events so an organisation can reconstruct what happened, hold people accountable and support reviews or audits.

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