Zoho Books is now ICAEW accredited

Zoho Books, an end-to-end accounting solution trusted by thousands of businesses and finance professionals worldwide, is now officially accredited by the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW), as well.

This marks a major milestone in our mission to support businesses and finance professionals in the UK with an accounting solution that is reliable, robust, and compliant.

ICAEW was founded in 1880 and has a long history of serving the public interest and continues to work with governments, regulators, and business leaders globally. They are the world-leading improvement regulator which supervises and monitors more than 11,500 firms. All ICAEW members and students are held to the highest standards of professional competency and conduct.

Why is this accreditation important? 

With the tax and regulatory landscape constantly evolving, practice owners and businesses are under pressure to balance compliance, security, software offerings, and tax-season readiness.

The ICAEW software accreditation scheme provides independent, expert-backed evaluation which assures that Zoho Books has met high standards regulated by accountancy firms.

Zoho Books has undergone a stringent technical and functional evaluation across core areas such as access security, data, SaaS hosting, usability, and functionality. This means businesses or accountancy firms can choose Zoho Books, backed by ICAEW, and know it's a reliable accounting solution instead of spending hours vetting multiple software against industry standards.

Key pillars of ICAEW's evaluation

Zoho Books's assessment highlights operational strengths across key areas.

Core bookkeeping & financial control     

• Double-entry: Maintain your financials with complete integrity, ensuring balanced books, accurate general ledger posting, and reliable trial balance generation.

• Auditability & traceability: Comprehensive audit trails log every transaction, edit, and deletion, so auditors and accountants have total visibility over historical data.

• Bank reconciliation: Reliable bank feed processing and rule-based matching keep books balanced and accurate.

Operational stability & security     

• System reliability: Infrastructure designed for high availability, minimising downtime during critical reporting periods.

• Access security: Identity and Access Management (IAM) supporting Single Sign-On (SSO via SAML/ADFS), role-based permission matrices, and Multi-Factor Authentication (biometric ID, push notification, QR code, and TOTP ).

Usability & efficiency     

• Intuitive interface: Designed to reduce the learning curve for business owners and finance professionals while providing deep control of finances.

• Workflow efficiency: Robust automation for routine bookkeeping tasks, admin work, and complex financial processes with workflow audits.

Flexible reporting & integrations     

• Real-time financial reporting: Over 70 built-in reports such as trial balances, profit & loss statements, balance sheets, and aged debtors/creditors with user-defined parameters, comparative analysis, and drill-down to original transactions.

• Unified ecosystem: Operates as a scalable core accounting solution that integrates seamlessly with inventory, purchasing, sales, and practice management tools across the Zoho ecosystem of 60+ apps and other third-party apps.

"Our mission to design Zoho Books to meet the highest industry standards aligns perfectly with ICAEW accreditation. This official accreditation gives confidence to accountants and businesses in the UK when it comes to choosing accounting software. It also reflects our long-term commitment to the UK market to evolve with the regulatory changes."

     Prashant Ganti
     Vice President & Head of Product Management and Global Alliances, Zoho Finance & Operations Suite

Key benefits of choosing Zoho Books

The right accounting solution plays an important role in shaping the future. Whether you are an accountant, a bookkeeper, or a business owner in the UK, Zoho Books offers a secure, compliant, and scalable solution. Here is what sets us apart.

Taxation and compliance: Designed to help you stay compliant with HMRC regulations and mandates, we help reduce your compliance risks and ensure your finances stay audit-ready. We provide direct filing for MTD for Income Tax, MTD for VAT, SA100, CIS, CT600, and Final Accounts to HMRC and Companies House, too.

Business efficiency: Finances are streamlined through robust automation and audit-ready approval workflows to drive business growth. Not just automation, you can enjoy effortless collaboration with your vendors, customers, accountants, and bookkeepers all in one place.

Reporting: Access over 70 reports to stay on top of your business performance or build customisable reports to align with your needs.

Mobile app and intuitive UI: With a simple yet intuitive interface designed to ease everyday accounting, Zoho Books's mobile app helps stay on top of your finances from anywhere.

Integrated ecosystem: Scale as you grow, by integrating within the Zoho ecosystem (60+ apps) and other third-party apps to orchestrate your business processes seamlessly.

Affordability: It's available as a free plan to start, providing access to powerful accounting and compliance capabilities. Upgrades to paid plans are available at affordable prices as your business grows.

AI-powered intelligence: Our AI-powered accounting system highlights business insights, detects anomalies, and makes reconciliation suggestions. Routine task automations are also available through built-in AI agents or Zoho MCP.

What's next? 

Explore Zoho Books, the ICAEW accredited accounting solution for you and your clients to stay compliant and seamlessly run finance workflows.