Stop paying Xero and an accountant.
Pay one of them.
Owner CFO does both jobs — bookkeeping, GST/BAS, P&L, and AI explanation — free to start, AI from $7/mo.
No credit card required · One-click Xero import · Cancel anytime
Cash runway
GST owed
Net profit (FY)
Transaction review
P&L this month
What you get
Everything a CFO watches, automated
Owner CFO replaces both your bookkeeping software AND the accountant you pay to interpret it. AI does the boring parts; you keep the upside.
AI Categorisation
Bank imports land pre-tagged. Vendor rules learn your patterns; AI handles the edge cases.
90%+ of transactions categorised on arrival.
Real-time P&L
Revenue, expenses, gross and net profit — live, not at month-end. Drill into any line.
Know your margin before the invoice is even paid.
GST & BAS in minutes
NZ GST 101A (15%) and AU BAS (10%) auto-calculated. One-click export ready for your portal.
Filing prep cut from hours to minutes.
Receipt OCR
Photo your receipt. Qwen2.5-VL reads the vendor, amount and GST, then matches it to a transaction.
No more end-of-quarter receipt archaeology.
Anomaly Detection
Median + MAD statistical model flags unusual spend, duplicate charges, and expense spikes.
Catch billing errors and overspend early.
Payroll + KiwiSaver
NZ PAYE, KiwiSaver contributions, ESCT, and student loan — calculated correctly for every pay run. Export IR348 + IR345 ready for myIR.
Payroll done right, every fortnight — no spreadsheets.
Who it's for
Built for how you actually work
Sole Trader
Running everything yourself
Stop hand-keying GST returns. Owner CFO reads your bank, sorts your receipts, and hands you a pre-filled 101A (NZ) or BAS (AU). Your accountant reviews — not builds — your numbers.
Small Agency
2–15 people, multiple shareholders
Multi-shareholder P&L, ICA ledger (NZ) or franking credits (AU), client revenue rollup, and project margin — built for agencies that outgrew spreadsheets but don't need Xero's complexity.
Tradie / Creative / Consultant
Invoicing + receipts + mileage
IRD-approved mileage rates, home-office calculator, and one-tap receipt capture. Keep all your evidence in one place so the end-of-year stress disappears.
The maths
What you're paying right now
Most small businesses pay for software and for someone to use the software for them. Owner CFO collapses both into one bill.
Xero Ignite (NZ)
Software only — you still do the bookkeeping
$35 / mo
Accountant (NZ avg)
$1,500/yr typical for a sole trader / agency
≈ $125 / mo
Total Xero + accountant
What most small businesses actually pay today
$160 / mo
Owner CFO Business
Bookkeeping + tax + AI explanation in one
$39 / mo
You save about $111 / month — that's ≈ $1,330 / year, every year.
NZ averages cited. Xero Ignite $35/mo as of 2024. Beany sole-trader accounting from $145/mo; independent NZ accountants average $1,500/yr for a small business.
vs. the alternatives
How we actually compare
We're not the only option — here's what's actually different.
| Feature | Owner CFO | Xero NZ from $35/mo | Hnry 1% of revenue | LedgerMind NZ only |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Replaces your accountant | ||||
| AI auto-categorisation | ||||
| AI explains every number ("why this figure?") | ||||
| Real P&L (not just a ledger) | ||||
| Receipt OCR + auto-match | ||||
| NZ GST 101A + AU BAS in one product | ||||
| Anomaly / spike detection | ||||
| Flat monthly price (no % of revenue) | ||||
| Built for owners, not accountants |
Xero NZ Ignite $35/mo as of 2024. Hnry charges 1% of invoiced revenue, capped at $1,500/year. LedgerMind is NZ-only with no public pricing. Data based on publicly available product pages.
FAQ
Common questions
I'm on Xero — how do I migrate?
Go to Integrations → Migrate from Xero. We pull your last 24 months of transactions, contacts, invoices, and tax codes via Xero's read-only API. Your chart of accounts maps automatically to Owner CFO's category system. Most users are running on Owner CFO in under 15 minutes — and keep Xero on read-only access until they're confident.
Do I still need an accountant?
No — that's the whole point. Owner CFO does the day-to-day bookkeeping AND explains what every number means, the way a good accountant would. Most users still want a second opinion at year-end, which is maybe 1–2 hours with an accountant instead of ongoing monthly retainer fees. If you want one inside the product, invite them as an Accountant role and they see only what you choose to share.
How is this different from Xero?
Xero is built for accountants — that's why even Xero says you need one to use it properly. Owner CFO is built for the owner. The same bank import, GST return, and P&L exist, but they're presented with AI explanation and exception-flagging instead of a chart of accounts you have to learn. You don't need to know what "input-taxed" means — Owner CFO marks it correctly and tells you why.
Does it work in Australia?
Yes. AU BAS (10% GST), PAYG instalments, the AU financial year (Jul → Jun), ABN validation, and the ATO compliance calendar are all built in. The tax engine switches automatically based on your entity's jurisdiction.
Is my financial data safe?
Data is stored in Supabase (ISO 27001, SOC 2 Type II) hosted in ap-northeast-1 (closer to NZ/AU than US-region competitors). Row-level security means your data is invisible to other accounts at the database layer, not just the app layer. We never sell or share your data.
Can I cancel anytime?
Yes. No lock-in, no cancellation fees, no 12-month contracts (looking at you, Beany). Cancel from Settings → Billing and your data remains fully exportable for 30 days as CSV + PDF. We don't hold your numbers hostage.
Cancel Xero. Cancel the accountant.
Keep the difference.
14-day trial. No credit card. One-click Xero migration. Works for NZ (GST 15%) and AU (GST 10%).
Create free accountAlready on Xero? See the migration guide →