Best practice management software for CA, CS and accounting firms: what it must do, and how to check

The best practice management software (PMS) for a CA, CS or accounting firm is the one that raises every client's recurring compliance work by itself, shows where every job stands without anyone being asked, bills everything that is finished, and keeps the registers a professional office needs: digital signatures, documents in and out, and the client's own view of their work. Features beyond that are nice to have; these decide whether the firm still uses the software a year later.

MyTask is practice and office management software built around exactly those needs, for chartered accountants, company secretaries, tax practitioners, and accounting, bookkeeping and CPA firms, in India and abroad (the UAE and the Gulf, the UK, Australia and the US). It has been in use since 2019 by 1,700+ firms and 15,000+ users.

Who this guide is for

• Chartered accountants and CA firmsGST, income tax, TDS, audit and ROC work for a client list, in India or abroad.
• Company secretaries and CS firmsROC and MCA filings, board and annual compliance, registers and the documents that go with them.
• Accounting, bookkeeping and CPA firmsBookkeeping, VAT or sales tax, payroll and year-end work for small-business clients, in the UAE and the Gulf, the UK, Australia, the US and elsewhere.

The work differs by country and profession; the way a practice runs it does not. The same checks apply to all of them.

Why most "top 10" lists will not help you choose

Search for the best practice management software and you get ranked lists. Most are written by a vendor, and the vendor's own product is usually first. They also rank by feature count, which is the wrong test: the software a firm keeps is the software its juniors actually update in the busiest month. This page gives you the checks instead, so you can rank any product yourself, ours included.

The 12 checks, and how MyTask answers each

Built from the 32 questions practising chartered accountants asked about their own firms. Every one of them is covered below.

1. 01

   Recurring work is raised by itself, and nothing a client asks for is missed

   Why it decides the outcome: Most of a practice is the same work every period: GST, TDS, ITR and ROC filings in India, VAT and corporate tax in the Gulf, year-end accounts and returns everywhere. Work created by hand is created late, or not at all.

   How MyTask does it: Monthly, quarterly and yearly tasks are created in bulk for every client and assigned to the right staff automatically, and every request received is logged as a task with an owner and a due date. Work, Staff & Office Management →

   Answers: How do you keep track of every running service? · How do you make sure no client request is missed in a busy month? · Is work being completed as fast as new work comes in?

2. 02

   Every job's status is visible without asking anyone

   Why it decides the outcome: At six in the evening on a due date, a partner needs the list of what is not done, in one click, not a round of phone calls.

   How MyTask does it: Dashboards by service, by staff member and for the whole office show what is not started, in process, stuck, on priority, due today, due this week or overdue; the office's own work runs as tasks too, and partners get yesterday's work by email every morning. Work, Staff & Office Management →

   Answers: When a client rings, what is actually pending on their job? · Who on your staff is working on what, right now? · Will every job be finished before its due date? · Is the team working on the priority jobs first? · Who manages the office's own work? · What work was done yesterday? · How do I get alerts when a task's status changes?

3. 03

   Your procedure is built into every job, so assistants can carry it

   Why it decides the outcome: If the steps live in a partner's head, the partner checks every step, and the firm cannot grow past the partner's hours.

   How MyTask does it: Each service carries its own checklist and milestones, down to four levels, and reports show which checks were completed on every job and by whom.

   Answers: Is the procedure you wrote actually being followed? · Can your assistants carry the work you hand them without you checking every step?

4. 04

   Clients are kept informed without phone calls

   Why it decides the outcome: Jobs stuck on a client's missing information, and clients ringing to ask where their return is, eat hours in every filing season.

   How MyTask does it: Clients get automatic reminders by email and WhatsApp for pending information and due dates, and see their own work status, documents and invoices in the client portal and app. Client Login Portal →

   Answers: When a job is stuck on the client's information, has anyone told the client? · How much time do you spend answering client calls about work status?

5. 05

   Everything finished is billed, expenses included

   Why it decides the outcome: Small jobs finished and never invoiced, and out-of-pocket costs never recovered, are the most common leaks in a practice.

   How MyTask does it: Invoices, receipts, estimates and credit notes are raised from the task; an unbilled list shows everything completed but not invoiced; expenses are approved and billed back; recurring invoices for the whole year are prepared as drafts in bulk. Invoicing & Financial Management →

   Answers: Is everything you completed also billed — including the small jobs? · Have the out-of-pocket expenses been billed back? · What have we quoted, and did any of it turn into work? · Can we export a full year of billing?

6. 06

   Dues are followed up without a partner doing it

   Why it decides the outcome: Fee follow-up is the work everybody postpones, and the gap between billed and banked is never one number.

   How MyTask does it: Outstanding fees are shown by client and by age, follow-ups go out automatically, and one statement shows a client's work beside their invoices, receipts and balance.

   Answers: Are the dues coming in on time? · What have we done for a client, and what have they paid? · What did we bill, what did we collect, and what is still outstanding?

7. 07

   You know what every job cost, and whether effort became revenue

   Why it decides the outcome: Without time against each job, every renewal is repriced blind.

   How MyTask does it: Staff log billable and non-billable hours against each task, so every job, client and service carries its real cost, set against what was billed. Time-Sheet & Cost Management →

   Answers: What did each service actually cost you to deliver? · How much of your team's time is billable, and how much is not? · Is the effort your firm puts in actually turning into revenue?

8. 08

   The registers a professional office needs: DSCs and documents

   Why it decides the outcome: Digital signatures and client papers go missing in every busy month, and nobody can say who has them.

   How MyTask does it: A DSC register records where each signature is, who holds it and when it expires, with alerts; an inward and outward register logs every document received from or returned to a client. Digital Signature Management →

   Answers: Where is every document that came in — and every one that went out? · Which client has your digital signature right now — and which one expires this month?

9. 09

   Work marked done is checked against the government portal

   Why it decides the outcome: A return marked complete in the office is not the same as a return filed, and a defective return or failed refund is found late.

   How MyTask does it: For Indian practices, MyTask reads GST return filing status and income-tax return status from the portals and shows them beside the firm's own task status.

   Answers: That GST return marked complete — was it actually filed on the portal? · Do you know which returns came back defective, or whose refund failed?

10. 10

    One record per client: emails, notes, documents and history

    Why it decides the outcome: When something goes wrong, or a staff member leaves, the firm must show what was said, what was done and when.

    How MyTask does it: Client emails, notes, observations and documents are kept against the client and task, with a dated record of every task, comment and change. Document Management →

    Answers: If something goes wrong, can you show what was done and when? · When someone emailed a client last month, can the rest of the firm see what was said? · Are your notes and observations in one place, or spread across notebooks and chats?

11. 11

    Staff are where they say they are, and can work from the phone

    Why it decides the outcome: Software that only works at a desk is updated at the end of the week, from memory, and attendance marked from home tells you nothing.

    How MyTask does it: Attendance is marked only from saved office or client locations, leave is applied for in the app, and the whole product runs on the web and on iOS and Android. Attendance & Leave Management →

    Answers: Was your team at the client's office today, or only marked present?

12. 12

    More than one office, more than one currency

    Why it decides the outcome: It is expensive to add later and easy to fake in a demo, and it matters most to firms with offices in more than one country.

    How MyTask does it: Every branch runs in one system, each with its own financial year and currency, consolidated or seen on its own. Multi-branch →

Three things to do in any demo

1. 01

   Use your own data

   Ten real clients, your real services and your real year end. Most of the twelve checks answer themselves in twenty minutes.

2. 02

   Hand the phone to a junior

   Ask them to log a timesheet and close a task. If it takes more than a minute, the data will not be there by the second month.

3. 03

   Ask the second-year price

   Per user and per add-on, and what changes when the firm grows. Get it in writing.

For the full list of questions to put to a vendor, read fourteen questions to ask before you buy practice management software.

For firms outside India

Accounting and CPA firms in the UAE and the Gulf, the UK, Australia and the US run the same kind of recurring client work under different calendars. The same checks apply; the last one matters more, because the financial year, currency and tax structure differ by office.

• Accounting firmsPractice management for accounting and bookkeeping firms anywhere.
• UAEVAT, corporate tax and AED billing.
• Saudi Arabia and the GCCZakat, VAT and multi-country offices.
• United KingdomSelf assessment, VAT and year-end work.
• AustraliaBAS, tax returns and the July to June year.
• CPA firms in the USReturns, extensions and estimated taxes.

Questions buyers ask

What is the best practice management software for CA firms in India?

The one that passes these twelve checks with your own data. MyTask was built for Indian CA, CS and tax practices around them, is used by 1,700+ firms, and can be tried free for 7 days.

What is the best practice management software for accounting firms outside India?

Use the same checks. For firms with offices in more than one country, the last check, branches, currencies and financial years, matters most. MyTask is set up for accounting and CPA firms in the UAE and the Gulf, the UK, Australia and the US, each office in its own currency, priced per user per month in US dollars outside India.

Is there practice management software for company secretaries?

Yes. MyTask is built for CS firms as well as CA firms: recurring ROC and MCA work raised for every company client, the documents and registers that go with it, and the client's own view of their status.

What is the difference between practice management software and accounting software?

Accounting software keeps a client's books. Practice management software runs the firm: its jobs, staff, deadlines, documents and billing. MyTask is practice management software, not accounting software.

Is there practice management software for small CA firms?

Yes. MyTask is priced per user per month for firms from 6 users, and the same system grows to 200+ users and several branches.

Can one software run several branches of a CA or accounting firm?

Yes. In MyTask every branch has its own financial year and currency, and partners see all branches together or each on its own.

Does practice management software track DSC expiry?

Good ones do. MyTask keeps a register of every digital signature, who holds it and where it is, with alerts before it expires.

Is there a free trial?

MyTask has a 7-day free trial for up to 6 users, with no card needed. The apps are free to download.

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