How to Choose Sahakari Software in Nepal: 9 Checks

The best sahakari software is the one your cashier can use on a busy Friday, your auditor can read without complaint and your board can still trust five years from now. Price and screenshots matter far less than how the system handles your real rules. Here are nine checks to run before a board signs anything.

1. Does it treat your co-operative as a co-operative?

Many products sold to Nepali offices are general accounting packages with a few member screens added. A sahakari has share capital, compulsory and voluntary savings, loan committees, guarantors and a member who is also an owner. Ask the vendor to show the member record: do shares, savings, loans and fines for one person appear on a single screen? If you have to jump between modules to see one member's position, the software was not designed for you.

2. Bikram Sambat dates everywhere

Nepali dates are not a cosmetic detail. Instalment due dates, interest periods, fiscal year closing in Ashadh and opening in Shrawan, and the AGM report all depend on BS months of 29 to 32 days. Test it: enter a loan on a late-month BS date and check that the instalment dates land correctly. Test a report for a BS range that crosses the year end.

3. Interest you can explain to a member

Disputes in a sahakari almost always come back to interest. Ask which methods are supported: flat, reducing balance, daily balance for savings, quarterly posting, penalty on overdue instalments only or on the whole loan. Then ask the important question: can I see how a particular figure was calculated? A system that shows only the result will not help when a member challenges it at the counter.

4. Passbook and statement printing

Members trust the passbook. Check that the software prints to the passbook format you actually use, handles reprinting after a printer jam without duplicating entries and can produce a dated statement for members who lost the book. Ask whether Nepali text prints cleanly on your existing printer, because a font problem on the day of go-live is an unpleasant surprise.

5. Controls and audit trail

Your auditor will ask who can edit a voucher after posting. Look for user roles for cashier, manager and board, approval before a loan is disbursed and a log of changes. Deleting a wrong entry silently is dangerous; correcting it with a reversing entry is what you want.

6. Reports that match what you are expected to produce

A sahakari answers to its members, its auditor and the regulator. The software should produce trial balance, income and expenditure, balance sheet, share register, loan ageing and savings summaries from the same entries. Reporting formats from the Department of Co-operatives can change, so ask the vendor how updates are handled and confirm the current requirements with the regulator rather than relying on a sales claim.

7. What happens to your data

Ask three questions. Who owns the database? Can you export everything to Excel at any time? What is the backup routine? Your members' records are your co-operative's asset. Avoid any arrangement where leaving the vendor means losing your history.

8. Offline behaviour and hardware

Many sahakaris operate in places where power and internet are unreliable. Ask whether the system works on a local server without internet, what runs on a modest computer and how backups are taken. If the answer is that it needs a fast connection all day, consider whether your branch really has one.

9. Support in your language and time zone

When the year-end trial balance does not match at 6pm, you need someone who answers in Nepali on WhatsApp, not a ticket queue. Ask who supports you, how fast they respond and whether a visit is possible for training.

Bonus check: growth and extra branches

A sahakari that has one office today may open a second ward office in three years. Ask how a new branch is added: is it a new licence, a new database or just another location inside the same system? Ask how consolidated reports are produced across branches and whether a branch cashier can see only their own counter. Also ask what happens when you want a feature the vendor did not plan, such as a member loyalty scheme or produce collection. A vendor who builds custom software for a living can add it, while a fixed product usually cannot.

Finally, talk to the person who will use it every day. The cashier who has to enter forty deposits an hour will notice a slow screen, an awkward search or a missing keyboard shortcut within ten minutes. Their opinion should carry as much weight as the board's.

A simple demo scorecard

Check	What good looks like
Member view	Shares, savings and loans on one screen
BS dates	Correct instalments across month and year ends
Interest	Method selectable and calculation traceable
Passbook	Prints to your format without duplicates
Controls	Roles, approvals and change log
Data	Full Excel export and clear backup plan

Your next step

Bring ten real members, three real loans and your last trial balance to the demo. A good vendor will enter them live. See how our co-operative hisab kitab software handles that test, and message WebsNP on WhatsApp on +977 9846280400 to book a demo with your own sample data. If you also run a branch network of small group loans, read about our microfinance software too.

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