Import Business Software in Nepal: What to Look For

A normal billing program records a purchase and a sale. An importer needs to record much more: a purchase that may take weeks or months to arrive, a payment that goes through a bank, costs that appear after the goods have moved, and an exchange rate that changes. Choosing software that does not understand this chain leads to a spreadsheet beside it that holds the real numbers. Here is what to look for.

Think shipment first, not invoice first

For an importer, the shipment is the unit of work. Everything hangs from it: the supplier, the proforma and final invoices, the LC or payment, the transport, the agent, the cost lines and the goods received. Ask the vendor to show you a shipment screen. You should be able to see its status, the money paid so far, the cost added so far and what has been received. If the system only has a purchase bill screen, it is a general program and will struggle with your trade.

Landed cost is the main feature

The real price of imported goods is the invoice value plus freight, insurance, duty and taxes, agent and port charges, transport, bank charges and any other cost that must be paid to bring goods into your godown. Software should let you add each of these as a separate line and then allocate the total across the items. Allocation methods differ: by value, by weight, by quantity or manually. Ask which methods are supported and test them with a real consignment from last year. Compare the software result with your own sheet.

Be careful with any vendor who claims the software calculates duty for you automatically. Duty depends on classification, rules and notices that change. A trustworthy system lets you enter the amounts from the official clearance documents and use them in costing, without claiming to replace your agent.

LC and bank record keeping

If you use letters of credit, the software should store the LC number, issuing bank, amount, currency, margin paid, opening date, shipment deadline and expiry date, and warn you ahead of them. It should also keep the bank charges and exchange gains or losses linked to the shipment. Be clear in your own mind that this is record keeping. The software does not open an LC or talk to your bank on your behalf.

Foreign currency ledgers

• Each supplier ledger should show invoices and payments in the supplier currency.
• The NPR value at each transaction should be stored with the rate you entered.
• Advance payments should be matched to later invoices.
• The supplier statement should be printable for reconciliation.

Documents and audit trail

An import file grows quickly. Look for the ability to attach scanned documents to each shipment and to see who changed what and when. During an audit or a dispute with an agent, being able to open a shipment and see every bill is a considerable time saver.

From arrival to sale

Costs matter only if they reach your stock and sales. Check that goods received from a shipment enter stock at the landed cost, that partial receipts are supported and that shortages and damages are recorded against the shipment. Then check that a local sale uses that cost for margin and bills VAT at 13% where it applies. If the import part and the sales part are separate systems, you will be copying numbers again.

Questions to ask the vendor

1. Can I see a full shipment, from order to stock, using one of my own past consignments?
2. How does landed cost allocation work and can I change the method?
3. How are exchange rates entered and stored?
4. Can I attach documents and see an audit trail?
5. What reports show profit by shipment and by item?
6. Who owns the data, and how do I export it?

Reports an importer actually needs

Ask to see reports before you see the data entry screens. The useful ones for an importer are: open shipments with status and next deadline, profit by shipment, landed cost per item over time, supplier balances in both currencies and goods in transit with value. If the vendor says a report can be built later, ask for a date and a price in writing. Reports that arrive late often never arrive at all.

Be realistic about integration claims

Some vendors promise links to banks, customs systems or government portals. Treat such claims carefully. Ask exactly what is connected, who maintains the link and what happens when the other side changes. A record-keeping system that is honest about what it does and does not do, and that lets you export data cleanly, is usually safer than one that promises everything.

Next step

Pick one shipment from the last year and collect all its bills. Ask the vendor to enter it and compare their landed cost per unit with yours. See how this works in our import and export software, and message us on WhatsApp to arrange a demo. If you need full company books beyond shipments, compare with accounting software for Nepal or an ERP system.

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