SoloDesk vs. CashCtrl

With SoloDesk — you never see an account number. You receive a Lyreco invoice: SoloDesk reads it, identifies the vendor, and shows you one card:

You tap confirm. The entry is created with the correct account and VAT rate, and the bank match is queued automatically. After a few confirmations for the same vendor, SoloDesk proposes the correct categorisation every time. You tap confirm — no re-deciding.

With CashCtrl — every entry starts with an accounting decision. Take the same Lyreco invoice. You open the journal, create a new entry, choose a debit account (is this 6520 Office Supplies, or something else?), choose a credit account, enter the amount, select the VAT rate, and save.

The software provides the structure. You provide the knowledge of what goes where. CashCtrl's reference clients include BFH, FHNW, cantonal commercial schools, and accounting firms. The product is woven into Swiss accounting education — students train on it and use it professionally. That tells you exactly who it was designed for.

With SoloDesk — you scan or upload the invoice. SoloDesk reads the supplier name, amount, VAT rate, and line items. One card appears: "Mobilezone · CHF 230 · Equipment." You tap confirm. If SoloDesk is not certain, it shows two options and asks which applies to your business. You choose once. It remembers.

With CashCtrl — the same invoice runs through a sequence of manual steps: open the journal, create a new entry, enter the date, choose a debit account, choose a credit account, enter the amount, select the VAT rate, save. Five to eight fields. Two accounting decisions. Two to three minutes per invoice.

Forty invoices a month: 80–120 minutes of manual bookkeeping, every month, requiring you to know the correct account each time.

If you have an accountant, the same split shows up there. With SoloDesk, they log in through their dedicated read-only seat — included in Mid, separate from your user slot. They see the same live picture: the entries you confirmed this week, the VAT balance, the documents in the feed. Their time — the time you pay for — goes to what only they can do: compliance checks, tax optimisation, structural questions. With CashCtrl PRO, the accountant login consumes one of three shared user slots. If you already have two collaborators on the account, adding your accountant means a tier upgrade.

The same CashCtrl invoice runs through a sequence of manual steps every time. Two accounting decisions. Two to three minutes per invoice. Forty invoices a month: 80–120 minutes of manual bookkeeping, every month, requiring you to know the correct account each time.

Bank reconciliation means checking that every transaction in your bank account is recorded in your accounting software — and that the numbers match. It is how you know your books are accurate.

With SoloDesk — you upload your bank statement directly: PDF, CSV, or CAMT (the standard Swiss bank export format). SoloDesk reads it and matches transactions to existing entries. Any format, any bank, all tiers including Free. A month with 30 transactions typically takes 10–15 minutes. By month six, 80%+ of transactions match automatically.

With SoloDesk — yes. Native apps for iOS and Android. You can scan documents, send invoices, check your dashboard, and review incoming transactions from anywhere.

VAT is a quarterly obligation in Switzerland. If your revenue crosses CHF 100,000, you register with ESTV and file Form 405 each quarter — input tax, output tax, balance owed. The question is when you see those numbers.

With SoloDesk — every document carries the right VAT rate from the moment it enters the system. 8.1% standard, 2.6% reduced (food, books), 3.8% for accommodation. SoloDesk reads each line of a document separately — even when one receipt has three different rates. The VAT balance for the current quarter is on the dashboard every day: how much you owe ESTV, how much they owe you. At quarter-end, the VAT report mirrors Form 405 line by line. You review, lock the period, submit. Ten minutes.

With CashCtrl — you configure VAT rates in setup step four. Every entry requires manual tagging — input or output, which rate, which method. Tag something wrong and the VAT calculation is wrong; you find out only when the VAT report runs. The current quarter's balance is not a running figure on a dashboard — it surfaces when you generate the report, not as you work.

CashCtrl PRO costs CHF 340/year — around CHF 28/month. SoloDesk Mid costs CHF 29/month (or CHF 290/year). The price is almost identical. What each includes is not.

Most accounting software assumes you know accounting. SoloDesk assumes you don't — and handles it automatically.

One gives you accounting software and expects you to be an accountant. The other does your accounting and lets you run your business.