For firms, before the 2027 budget
Bring a software-spend review to your next client budget meeting.
ShadowLedger reads your clients’ books for recurring software charges, price increases, possible overlap, and projected renewals. You check the findings, then bring the client a report under your firm’s name.
Card required. Nothing charged until the trial ends. Then from $60/mo (4-client minimum).
Prefer to start without a card? Run one free audit with a CSV from any accounting tool.
Auditing your own company? See the single-company audit
- Fabrikam IncSpike$285
Twilio's latest bill came in at more than double its usual amount
- Contoso LLCDuplicate$210
Pipedrive and Zoho, two CRMs billing side by side
- Northwind TradersDuplicate$167
Slack and Microsoft Teams both billing every month
- Riverstone CoDuplicate$150
Asana and ClickUp, two project tools on monthly plans
Fictional sample figures. Your audit reads your clients’ own ledgers.
How it works
From client file to client-ready report.
How does a firm run a software spend audit for a client?
Add the client, give the engine its ledger, and hand over what it finds. Most of that is the engine’s work: vendor matching, billing cadence, and the dollar figure on each finding.
Add a client
Each client gets its own workspace. Your active roster is what the bill counts, and archiving a client takes it off.
Upload, then connect
Start from a transactions CSV. Connect the client's QuickBooks Online or Xero file with the access you already hold when you want weekly re-scans. We never write to the books.
Hand over the report
Findings ranked by cost, under your logo and a prepared-for line. Print it to PDF or send a revocable share link.
The job to be done
Something you deliver, across your whole book.
How does a bookkeeping firm bill for a software spend audit?
As a fixed-fee deliverable tied to a meeting already on the client’s calendar: a review before the budget conversation, then a check each quarter. Price it against the decisions it supports, not the hours it takes.
The engine does the prep
Vendor matching, billing cadence, and the dollar figure on each finding come from the engine, and a connected client re-scans itself every week. Your time goes into checking the findings and leading the conversation.
A new advisory line
A report with named vendors, charge history, and reasons to review each finding gives your client something specific to discuss. Offer the audit as its own advisory line item.
A reason for the next review
Projected renewals and the new charges a weekly re-scan turns up give you a reason to book the next client review, with something specific already on the agenda.
Start without asking for access
Lead with a CSV. No client login required.
Do I need access to my client’s QuickBooks or Xero account?
Not to start. A transactions CSV from any accounting tool is enough for the first audit, with nothing to connect. Bring the client the first report, then connect the ledger with the access you already hold for the clients you want re-scanned every week; we never write to the books. How the data is handled is on the security page, and the Xero side is covered on the Xero page.
The deliverable
What each audit hands the client.
What is in a software spend findings report?
Every subscription the audit found, with its cadence and payment rail, and each finding ranked by severity and cost with the reason it was flagged, under your firm’s logo and a prepared-by line. In the fictional sample company, about $19,824 a year is paid by ACH, check or invoice, where a card tool can’t see it.
A report you hand the client
Every audit renders a clean findings report with your logo, a "Prepared by [your firm]" line, and "Prepared for [client]". Print it to a PDF or send a revocable share link. The client never has to log into anything.
The spend their card tool can't see
Ramp and Brex see what runs through them: their cards, and bills paid through their own bill pay. The books record payments made off the card too, including ACH from the operating account, checks, direct debits, and annual invoices paid from the bank.
Renewals and cancellation windows
Projected renewal dates from charge cadence alone. Add a contract's end date and notice period and it guards the cancellation deadline too: "give notice by the 14th or you are locked in for another year" is the kind of catch a client remembers.
Possible duplicate vendors, amounts that changed, charges that repeat
Possible duplicate vendors, amounts that changed, charges that repeat after a newer one replaced it. Overlaps and cheaper annual terms carry an estimate of the saving. A ledger records what was paid, not who logged in, so the audit does not report seat usage.
The market
Is this actually billable?
Firms already sell expense management to their clients as a service, and most of the profession has not started. These figures come from a 2022 survey of US accounting firms and small businesses run by CPA.com and BILL. They describe the category, not ShadowLedger.
Pricing
One plan, priced per client.
Every client on your list is billed at the same flat rate from the day you add it. Archive a client and it comes off the bill.
4-client minimum ($60/mo)
14-day free trial, card required. The first charge is when it ends.
Everything the product does, across your whole book, under your firm’s name.
- Client workspaces with per-client scans and reports
- White-labeled reports: your logo, prepared by, prepared for
- Live QuickBooks Online and Xero sync. We never write to the books.
- Weekly background re-scans for every connected client
- Custom detection rules across every client
- Billed per active client, from the day you add it
Running more than 25 clients? Ask about volume pricing.
Start a 14-day trialQuestions
What firms ask before connecting a client.
Does my client have to log in or approve anything?
Not in ShadowLedger. You upload a transactions CSV, or connect the client's QuickBooks Online or Xero file with the accountant access you already hold. Check that your engagement letter covers sharing client data with a third-party tool before you connect.
Will the report read as a review of our bookkeeping?
No. It is a list of vendors, what each one costs, and why it was flagged. It says nothing about how the books were kept.
What if a client barely uses software?
The audit also reports recurring spend in five named families: insurance, telecom, utilities, memberships, and merchant or processor fees. They sit in their own section of the report with their own subtotal.
How is the firm plan billed?
$15 per active client per month, from the day you add the client, with a 4-client minimum ($60 a month). Archive a client and it comes off the bill. A new firm plan starts with a 14-day free trial. A card is required, and the first charge is when the trial ends, for the clients you have then, with the minimum.
Can the report carry our firm's name?
Yes. Each report carries your logo, a prepared-by line with your firm's name, and a prepared-for line with the client's. Print it to PDF or send a revocable share link.
Can it show which of a client's staff use a tool?
No. A ledger records what was paid, not who logged in, so no audit built on one can report seat usage. It reports possible duplicate vendors, charges that repeat after a newer one replaced them, amounts that changed, and renewals you can see from the charges.
Can I try it before paying for a firm plan?
Yes, two ways. A new firm plan starts with a 14-day free trial with every firm feature: a card is required and nothing is charged until the trial ends. Or, without a card, run a free audit on one company's CSV and keep one full report. The firm plan adds client workspaces, white-labeled reports, and live sync across your book.
Run it on a few of your own clients first.
Firm bills from 4 clients. The 14-day trial needs a card. The free CSV audit does not.