Papertools: Real Accounting for the Business You Want to Build
By Adis Smajtic, founder of Papertools
Starting a business takes belief: in your skills, your idea, and the possibility of building something of your own.
Then comes the practical side. An estimate to send. A supplier to pay. A receipt to find. A customer who has paid only part of an invoice. A job that looked profitable until you counted the materials, travel and time.
Those details matter. Together, they tell the story of how a business is doing. But keeping that story organised can become a second job.
I built Papertools around a simple belief: people should be able to keep proper books without having to become accountants first. Sole traders, freelancers and small businesses—including incorporated businesses and growing teams—deserve tools that respect both their time and the seriousness of what they are building.
It started with the paperwork
My background is in purchasing, procurement and business operations. Over more than a decade working with suppliers, logistics and the practical demands of business, I learned how much depends on getting the details right.
In September 2025, I launched PaperTools.io with free tools for creating invoices, estimates and other business documents. People could use them without an account or subscription.
The next step grew from conversations with the people using those tools. They wanted to save customer details, reuse information and follow what happened after an invoice was created. A document was a starting point. They needed continuity.
That feedback helped shape today's Papertools: a connected accounting workspace where documents, payments and financial records belong together.
Everyday work, with real accounting underneath
An invoice affects what a customer owes. A payment changes the outstanding balance and the money in an account. A supplier bill records an obligation even before money leaves the bank.
Papertools connects these activities to a double-entry ledger. Owners can work with familiar documents while the accounting foundation supports the general ledger, trial balance, balance sheet, profit and loss, and cash-flow reporting.
For people who need more direct control, there are journals, a chart of accounts and Quick Journal, which guides common entries through plain-language steps. Period locks and an audit log help keep records traceable, while exports make it easier to work with an accountant.
The aim is practical: understand what you are owed, what you owe, how cash is moving and how the business is performing—with records behind the answers.
Follow the work from agreement to payment
Consider a small business taking on a customer project. The work may begin with an estimate and a contract, involve a purchase order for materials, and finish with an invoice and payment receipt. Along the way, someone incurs expenses, drives to the customer and spends time delivering the job.
Papertools brings those needs into one workspace:
- Sales and payments: estimates, invoices, sales receipts, payment receipts and credit notes, with online invoice payments through Stripe on supported plans.
- Purchasing and expenses: purchase orders, supplier bills, vendor credits, payment vouchers, expense records and business mileage.
- Projects and contracts: keep track of agreements and project costs, bringing income, expenses and labour into the view of a job's performance.
- Inventory and payroll: manage stock and its cost, staff records, pay runs and payslips alongside the wider books.
A freelancer may begin with invoices and expenses. A retailer may need inventory. A service company may need contracts, projects and payroll. The breadth is there to support different businesses as their needs develop.
The full feature overview shows how these parts fit together.
Paper-Ai helps with the typing. You stay in control.
Paper-Ai brings a conversational way to work with the books. Describe an invoice or expense in everyday language, and it can prepare a draft for review. It can also help find records, explain bookkeeping concepts and answer financial questions using figures from the workspace.
On supported plans, its document-reading capabilities help turn receipts and PDF bank statements into information you can check, reducing manual entry.
The important boundary is human approval. Paper-Ai prepares the work; you review and save it. An assistant should make it easier to stay on top of the business while leaving decisions about its records with the people responsible for them.
Bring banking and repeat work into the same routine
Bank feeds, where supported by bank and country, bring transactions into the workflow. CSV and PDF statement imports provide other ways to bring in banking records. Matching those transactions against invoices, bills and expenses helps identify what agrees and what still needs attention.
Multi-currency tools support invoices, bills and bank accounts in other currencies while maintaining the business's books in its base currency.
Recurring invoices, recurring bills, payment reminders and payroll scheduling help with repeat work. Payment integration and webhooks provide ways to connect parts of the workflow with other services. Availability and limits depend on the plan and, for bank feeds, the supported institution and region.
A workspace that fits the way you work
Business administration happens between other responsibilities: at a desk, after a customer visit, or while checking a payment on a phone.
Papertools offers Page mode for focusing on one page and Desk mode for working across several pages in tabs. Dark mode provides another viewing option. Team roles let people work with an appropriate level of access, and separate workspaces keep different businesses' records apart.
Those choices serve the same purpose as the accounting features: helping people find their way through the work with less friction.
Built with businesses in different countries in mind
A business should be able to use its own currency, fiscal year and time zone. Local terminology and tax identifiers matter too.
Papertools provides country settings and local packs, with return-specific tax summaries in supported countries. These summaries help organise figures for the relevant tax return; the available local features vary by country.
The country support page lets owners check what is available where they operate. That detail matters whether someone is starting a local business or managing customers and suppliers across borders.
A free foundation, and room for what comes next
The original commitment remains: give people a practical place to begin.
Papertools Essential is free forever, with published usage limits and no credit card required. Proper double-entry bookkeeping is part of that foundation. Paid plans offer more capacity and additional capabilities as a business's needs grow. The plan comparison sets out the features and limits.
For anyone getting started, the Help Center provides practical guides, while the product updates show how the platform continues to develop.
My ambition for Papertools is to help more people put their ideas into practice and build businesses they can understand and manage with confidence. That starts with useful tools, connected records and a clearer view of the work they are already doing.
Whether you are sending your first invoice or organising a growing company's books, you deserve a foundation that takes your business seriously.
Real accounting. For the business you want to build.