Leather & footwear
Accounting software for leather and footwear businesses
Tanneries want cash, retailers want credit and returns arrive at season end. Let each document post its own entry and spend the month end reading the gap.
In short
SimpleERP is accounting software for leather and footwear businesses in India. Tannery and sole bills, retailer invoices, returns, receipts, payroll and depreciation post their own journals, and the trial balance and P&L are ready on any date.
Illustration: saving invoice INV-2026-27-0213 moves stock, posts the customer ledger, records CGST and SGST and updates the dashboard in one step.
An accounting day at Yamuna Footcraft
Yamuna Footcraft pays the Kanpur tannery within a fortnight because good finished leather is scarce, but its retailers pay in 60 to 90 days and return unsold pairs at the end of each season. The money is always out before it comes back.
The accountant used to sit with a cash book, a tannery ledger and a box of retailer slips, trying to work out who owed what after returns. Profit for the season was a number the CA produced months later.
SimpleERP posts the entries as the documents are posted. The tannery bill raises leather stock and the payable, the invoice raises the sale and the retailer's balance, and a credit note for returned pairs reverses both the sale and the stock in one step.
What accounts does a footwear unit keep?
The seeded chart covers stock, sales, purchases, GST, wages and overhead. Footwear units usually add an account for closing charges paid to outside karigars, separate sales accounts for footwear and leather goods, and asset accounts for skiving and sole-pressing machines.
- Retailer and tannery balances come from documents, never typed in.
- Machines sit in the asset register with depreciation posted to the books.
- Manual journals cover only what no document does, such as a loan repayment.
| Account | What posts to it | Month-end check |
|---|---|---|
| Sales: footwear | Invoices to retailers and distributors | Agrees with the sales register |
| Sales: leather goods | Wallets, belts and bags | Separate line in the P&L |
| Sales returns | Credit notes for returned pairs | Each matched to an original invoice |
| Inventory | Leather and soles in, work orders and invoices out | Matches stock value by godown |
| Closing charges | Bills from outside karigars | Each bill matched to uppers returned |
| Input GST | Tannery, sole and component bills | Checked against GSTR-2B |
| Sundry debtors | Retailer invoices net of receipts and returns | Ageing reviewed before new cartons go out |
| Bank | Receipts, tannery payments, wages | Each entry checked off against the passbook by hand |
How do season-end returns show in the books?
Each credit note reduces sales, the output GST and the retailer's balance, and brings the pairs back into stock at cost. The P&L shows the season's real sales after returns, and the retailer's statement shows the bill and the return together.
- Credit notes are capped at what the original invoice billed.
- A credit note can settle another open invoice instead of a cash refund.
- Cancellations reverse the entry, so nothing disappears from the audit trail.
Illustration of receivables ageing: ₹2,14,800 to collect across 5 buckets, with customer totals.
How do I close the month without the CA?
Run the checks in the table, read the trial balance and the P&L, then set the lock date. Posted documents in the locked month cannot change, and reopening it needs an approval that is logged with the name and time.
- Balanced by the database: an unbalanced journal is refused before it saves.
- Balance sheet and P&L on any date, not only at year end.
- Every report prints on A4 or exports to CSV for the CA.
One system
Where the books connect
Purchases, sales, returns, work orders and payroll post to one ledger, so every report agrees with the documents.
Leather & footwear
A BOM per article, work orders per lot, leather stock in sq ft and GST invoices.
See howGST billing for footwear makers
Pairs by article and size on GST invoices to retailers, with HSN per line and IGST for other states.
See howInventory for footwear makers
Finished leather in sq ft, soles in pairs, adhesive in kg and finished pairs by size, per godown at average cost.
See howPayroll for shoe factories
Monthly payroll for clickers, closers, lasters and finishers, with attendance, advances, PF and PT.
See howManufacturing for footwear makers
A bill of materials per article and size, and work orders per lot that cost every pair from real leather use.
See howAccounting
A double-entry ledger with journals, bank registers, statements and a lock date.
See how
Honest limits
What SimpleERP does not do yet
- No bank feeds: bank entries are recorded and reconciled by hand
- No multi-currency; every document is in rupees
- GST return filing and e-invoicing are not done inside the product
- No export incentive or foreign-currency receivables: every retailer is billed in rupees.
Getting started
Start with accounting
Sign up with your phone
Name, phone number and a password. No card for the seven-day trial, and email is optional.
Tell us about the business
Type your GSTIN and the state fills itself. Accounts, GST rates, units, roles and numbering are seeded for you.
Enter opening balances
Enter opening balances for the bank, machine loans, each skiving and sole press machine, and what every retailer and tannery owes on the start date.
Run the trial balance
Every posted document is already in the ledger; the trial balance and P&L are ready on any date.
FAQ
Questions, answered
Can I see the season's sales after returns?
Yes. Credit notes for returned pairs post to a sales returns account, so the P&L shows gross sales, returns and the net figure for any period you choose. Each return also shows against the original invoice on the retailer's statement.
How do I record closing done by an outside karigar?
Enter the karigar's bill as a purchase against a closing charges account, or as additional cost on the work order if you want it in the cost per pair. If the karigar is not registered for GST, ask your CA how to treat it.
Can I keep the CA on his own software?
Yes. The trial balance, P&L, balance sheet, sales and purchase registers and HSN summary all export to CSV and print on A4. Hand him the month's reports instead of a box of bills.
Does it reconcile my bank account automatically?
No. There are no bank feeds. Receipts and payments are recorded from the documents, and you tick them off against the bank statement by hand. Most units do it weekly so the month end stays short.
Related
Keep reading
Leather & footwear
A BOM per article, work orders per lot, leather stock in sq ft and GST invoices.
Read moreGST billing for footwear makers
Pairs by article and size on GST invoices to retailers, with HSN per line and IGST for other states.
Read morePayroll for shoe factories
Monthly payroll for clickers, closers, lasters and finishers, with attendance, advances, PF and PT.
Read more
See how accounting works in SimpleERP for leather and footwear
Seven days free. No card. Your first GST invoice in minutes.