Your business shouldn't run behind your back.
Your team records the expense, the invoice, the stock movement — and none of it is booked until you approve it. Stock, contact ledgers, cash and bank in one app, on your phone. Your filing software keeps HMRC happy; this keeps you in control.
Free tier · no contract · iPhone, Android, Mac, Windows and the browser
Three engines, one app
Not three subscriptions and three copies of the same customer.Most small firms run a filing tool, a spreadsheet and a WhatsApp group. We replace the last two.
Bookkeeping
Everything that happens before the return: recording, ordering, evidencing.
- Income, expenses and transfers between accounts
- Sales and purchase invoices, delivery notes
- A ledger per customer and supplier with a statement
- Cash and bank balances that move as you work
- Period lock so closed months cannot shift
The return itself is your accountant's job — we prepare the file for them.
ERP
What enters the store, what leaves it, what becomes something else.
- Stock in and out with weighted average cost
- Bill of materials, recipe and production order
- Stock assigned to a named worker
- Projects and cost centres
- Plant, vehicles, meter readings and fuel
Built for trades, workshops and retail — not for a factory floor.
CRM
At the level of the account, not the sales opportunity.
- Rating and tags on every customer and supplier
- Balance and statement on the same screen
- Directory and supplier network
- Two-sided reconciliation
- Cheque portfolio with endorsement chain
If you want a sales pipeline and marketing automation, this is not it.
What it actually does
These are screens in the app today, not roadmap promises.
Daily money
- Income and expense with a photo of the receipt
- A site float with a spend limit
- Transfers between accounts
- Yesterday's net on one screen
Invoices
- Sales and purchase invoices
- Automatically linked to stock movement
- Delivery notes
- VAT rate per line
Stock
- Weighted average cost
- Low-stock alerts
- Assigned to a worker
- Counts and adjustments
People
- Invite by mobile number
- Permissions per module
- Attendance and hours
- An audit trail: who did what, when
Reports
- Profit and loss by month and site
- Debtor ageing
- Cash flow and plans
- XLSX/CSV export for your accountant
AI assistant
- A helper bee that explains each screen
- A financial assistant that reads your numbers
- Bug reports with a screenshot attached
- Works in English
The idea the app is built on
The approval chain.Most bookkeeping software assumes the person entering data is the owner. In reality it is the worker, and the owner finds out a week later. This inverts that.
1 · The worker enters
An expense, an invoice or a stock movement from their phone, with the document attached.
2 · It stays pending
Invisible in the lists, no effect on balances, until it is approved.
3 · You get notified
Who, how much, and why — opened from your phone wherever you are.
4 · You decide
Approve, reject, or ask for an explanation; a rejection goes back with the reason.
5 · Then you delegate
Hand approval to a site manager so you stop being the bottleneck.
Who this is for
And who it is not for.Being honest here saves you more time than any feature list.
It fits if…
- People spend money on your behalf, away from the office
- You run two or more sites with separate numbers
- You want stock, ledgers and cash on one screen
- You manage from a phone more than a desk
- Your crew speaks more than one language
Trades · workshops · retail and wholesale · transport · field services
It does not fit if…
- You need MTD filing inside the same app
- You need UK payroll, PAYE, RTI or pensions
- You are a contractor who needs CIS
- You need a till or EPOS
- You need UK-only data residency
These are not delayed plans — they do not exist today.
In the UK specifically
Where the rules stand on 2 August 2026 — and where we stand against them.We wrote this section so you know before you install, not a month after.
Making Tax Digital for VAT
- Mandatory since April 2022 for every VAT-registered business, whatever the turnover
- Includes voluntary registrations below the £90,000 threshold
- Typing figures into the HMRC portal by hand is no longer possible — submission goes through an API
- HMRC publishes the list of compatible software on gov.uk
i-shim is not on that list and holds no HMRC connection. You need MTD software; keep it.
MTD for Income Tax — this is live now
- April 2026: sole traders and landlords over £50,000 gross income
- April 2027: the threshold drops to £30,000
- April 2028: down to £20,000
- Four quarterly updates a year plus a final declaration replacing the Self Assessment return
- HMRC puts the first wave at over 860,000 people
We submit none of it. Your MTD software or your accountant does — we keep the records tidy for them.
VAT on invoices
- You type the rate on the invoice and it is stored with it
- A different rate can be set per line
- The country preset exists for Türkiye only so far
The default shows 20 because that is Türkiye's rate. It happens to match the UK standard rate — a coincidence, not a feature. No reduced/zero-rate logic, no VAT return.
Payroll, CIS and pensions
- No PAYE calculation and no RTI submission
- No CIS deduction, verification or monthly return
- No auto-enrolment or pension handling
The built-in payroll engine is configured for Türkiye and Azerbaijan. Run payroll where you run it today and record the payment here.
English, and one honest defect
- English is the app's source language — 11,762 strings written in English first
- 18 UK cities are in the city list
- But their names are stored in Turkish spelling — "Londra", not "London" — in every language
A known defect, being fixed. We would rather you read it here than find it in the picker.
Where your data sits
- Google Firebase, with access enforced server-side
- Someone outside your company cannot read its data at all
- Servers are in western Europe
No UK-only residency. If that is a contractual requirement for you, this is not for you today.
What we don't do
Nobody writes this on a sales page — so we do.It is easy to list features and let you discover the gaps a month in. If any single line below is a hard requirement for you, please don't buy.
- No MTD filing — VAT or Income Tax.
Not on HMRC's compatible list, no API connection, no quarterly updates.
- No VAT return, and no reduced or zero-rate logic.
You type a rate per line; that is the whole of it.
- No UK payroll, PAYE or RTI.
The engine inside is built for Türkiye and Azerbaijan.
- No CIS.
No deductions, no verification, no monthly contractor return.
- No auto-enrolment or pensions.
- No Companies House filing.
No confirmation statement, no accounts submission.
- No bank feeds or Open Banking.
You import a statement or enter movements; nothing syncs automatically.
- Country presets exist for Türkiye only.
Which is why the VAT default is 20 rather than a UK-aware setting.
- City names are not localised.
The picker shows "Londra" instead of "London" in every language. Known defect, being fixed.
- No accounting-package export format.
You get XLSX and CSV with a period lock.
- No UK data residency.
Servers are in western Europe.
- No till or EPOS.
- No sales pipeline or marketing automation.
- No offline mode.
Financial records write straight to the server because the approval chain needs one source of truth.
We add features constantly and some of this will change — but we do not promise dates. What you read here is the app as it is today, not a roadmap.
From install to first invoice
1 · Sign up
With your mobile number or email. No card.
2 · Create the company
Name, trade, city and currency — GBP.
3 · Add a site
Even if it is one office; sites are what separate the numbers later.
4 · Invite one worker
And set their permissions module by module.
5 · Enter one of each
An invoice and an expense — then watch the approval land.
If that takes more than fifteen minutes, that is our problem — write to [email protected].
Us and the UK incumbents
An honest comparison starts with an admission.Xero, QuickBooks, FreeAgent and Sage start from the accountant and the filing deadline, and they are plainly better at that than we are — they are MTD-recognised and we are not. We start from the owner.
| What you need | i-shim | UK incumbents |
|---|---|---|
| MTD for VAT submission | No | Yes — their core strength |
| MTD for Income Tax quarterly updates | No | Yes |
| UK payroll, PAYE, RTI | No | Mostly yes |
| CIS for contractors | No | Some |
| Bank feeds / Open Banking | No | Yes |
| Approval required on every entry | Yes — the design premise | Limited |
| Several companies and sites in one account | Yes | Varies, often priced per entity |
| Phone-first for the owner | Yes | Mostly web-first |
| 14 languages over one dataset | Yes | Usually English only |
| Stock, BOM and production order | Yes | Varies, often an add-on |
| Permanently free tier | Yes | Usually a limited trial |
Frequently asked
Is i-shim MTD-compatible? Can I file my VAT return with it?
No. i-shim is not on HMRC's list of MTD-compatible software, it holds no HMRC API connection, and it cannot submit a VAT return or a quarterly Income Tax update. If you are VAT-registered you already need MTD software, and you will still need it alongside i-shim. We are the control layer, not the filing layer.
Then what is i-shim actually for, in the UK?
The questions your filing software does not answer: did that expense your engineer entered pass your approval? What does this supplier owe you right now? How much is left in the site float? What did yesterday actually net? Filing is quarterly; control is daily.
MTD for Income Tax starts April 2026. Does that affect me?
If you are a sole trader or landlord with gross income above £50,000, yes — from April 2026 you keep digital records and send four quarterly updates plus a final declaration. The threshold drops to £30,000 in April 2027 and £20,000 in April 2028. HMRC estimates over 860,000 people in the first wave. i-shim does not submit any of it; your MTD software or your accountant does.
So why would I run two tools?
Most people already do — a filing tool plus a spreadsheet plus a WhatsApp group. We replace the spreadsheet and the WhatsApp group, not the filing tool. If that sounds like one tool too many for your business, we would rather you did not sign up.
What is the approval chain?
A worker records an expense, an invoice or a stock movement from their phone. It stays pending — invisible in the lists, no effect on balances — until you approve. You can reject, ask for an explanation, or delegate approval to a site manager once you outgrow being the bottleneck.
Does it handle UK payroll, PAYE, RTI or pensions?
No. There is no UK payroll engine, no RTI submission, no auto-enrolment. The built-in payroll engine is configured for Türkiye and Azerbaijan. Record the payment in i-shim after your payroll provider has run it.
Does it do CIS for construction?
No. There is no CIS deduction, verification or monthly return. If you are a contractor that is a hard requirement and we do not meet it.
Can I set 20% VAT on invoices?
You type the rate on the invoice and it is saved with it, and you can set a different rate per line. But the country preset only exists for Türkiye today, so the default shown is 20 because that is Türkiye's rate — it happens to match the UK standard rate, which is a coincidence, not a feature. There is no reduced-rate or zero-rate logic and no VAT return.
I run two sites. Does it handle that?
Yes — multiple companies and multiple sites in one account, each with its own stock, float and people, and a combined picture only you see. 18 UK cities are in the city list.
Is the app in proper English?
English is the source language of the app — 11,762 strings, written in English first and translated outward, not translated in. One honest exception: city names in the picker are stored in Turkish spelling (“Londra” rather than “London”) in every language. It is a known defect and it is being fixed.
Can I hand data to my accountant?
Yes — a single XLSX or CSV export with a period lock so a closed period cannot shift underneath them. There is no export in any specific accounting package's format, and no filing.
What does it cost?
There is a permanently free tier that genuinely runs a small business. Deeper features are a subscription, priced per storefront by Apple and Google — which is exactly why we do not print a number on this page.
Where is my data held?
On Google Firebase, with access enforced server-side: someone who is not a member of your company cannot read its data at all. Servers are in western Europe. If you have a contractual UK-only data residency requirement, this is not for you today.
Does it work offline?
No. Financial records are written straight to the server because the approval chain needs one source of truth. There is a local cache for chat only.
How is this different from Xero, QuickBooks, FreeAgent or Sage?
They start from the accountant and the filing deadline, and they are better at that than we are — they are MTD-recognised and we are not. We start from the owner: approval on every entry, several sites, stock and cash on one screen, phone-first. Many businesses run one of each.
Is there a contract or minimum term?
No. Sign up, create a company, use it. The subscription is monthly and you cancel it in the store.
How do I start?
Install it, create a company, add one site and one worker, then enter one invoice and one expense. If that takes longer than fifteen minutes it is our problem — write to us.
I found a bug. How do I tell you?
There is a helper bee inside the app: type “feedback” to it and your message goes to the team with a screenshot attached. Or email [email protected].
174 countries. One page at a time.
Each country page is written in that country's language and with its own facts — never a copied translation.So far: Türkiye, Germany, Saudi Arabia and the United Kingdom.
Türkiye · Deutschland · السعودية · France · España · Italia · Sverige · Worldwide · Privacy · Terms · [email protected]