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UNCTAD · My Account · Uganda analysis · how capture modes work

Bringing daily entry to users who only know monthly, without counting anything twice

Uganda’s users enter one set of figures per month today. The new system adds day-by-day entry. To make both live together, the monthly figure becomes the total for the month and daily sales are the detail inside that total. The app only records what is missing to reach the total, so the numbers add up once, whichever way the user works.

Where we start

1Today in Uganda: monthly only

Monthly one number a month Daily not available yet Easy Accounts today (legacy)

Entrepreneurs using Easy Accounts today fill in one set of figures per month. There is no way to record a sale on the day it happens.

2The risk when daily entry arrives

3,000,000 March, as she always declared it 2,800,000 she tries the new daily entry for the same month report would show 5,800,000 ✕ new system, as built: adds both, no warning

The new system (Accounting-Next) already has both screens, but it does not reconcile them yet. If we bring daily entry to Uganda without the fix, the first person who tries it on a month she already declared gets this.

+Their monthly history comes along

Jan · Feb · Mar in Easy Accounts (legacy) migration Each month → a declared total nothing to re-enter, same numbers new ledger The day she starts recording daily, the top-up rule below already applies: her declared total is the target, her sales fill it in.

How we make them work together

3The month total rules; the gap is flagged as unsupported

March · Sales Already recorded daily 2,800,000 Month total (you type it) 3,000,000 Save ⚠ Unsupported no receipts yet 200,000 March report 3,000,000 ✓ 3,000,000 − 2,800,000

The user sees what is already in daily entries and types the real total. The app records the difference as an unsupported amount: part of the total with no receipts behind it yet.

4A sale added later: the total holds

+100,000 new daily sale Month total3,000,000 Day by day, now2,900,000 ⚠ Unsupported, now100,000 March report still 3,000,000 ✓

Each receipt the user adds shrinks the unsupported amount. When every sale is recorded, it reaches zero and the warning disappears.

4bThe other way round: daily sales pass the declared total

Declared total2,800,000 Day by day, now3,000,000 Unsupported0never negative March report 3,000,000 ✓ receipts win ⚠ Recorded sales are 200,000 above your total You declared 2,800,000 for March, but your receipts add up to 3,000,000. Was a sale entered twice? Update total to 3,000,000 Review 2 possible repeats Daily entry is never blocked. The warning stays until theuser updates the total or removes a repeated sale.

Rule: the report always shows the larger of the declared total and the recorded sales. When the declared total is larger, the gap is “Unsupported”. When recorded sales are larger, the app asks the user to fix the total.

★What the user sees in the app: the March report

Income statement · March 2026 UGX Sales Recorded sales (40 receipts)2,800,000 ⚠ Unsupported amount Declared in the monthly total, no receipts recorded yet 200,000 Total sales (as declared)3,000,000 7% of March sales has no supporting records. Add missing sales Attach a report Why this wording “Unsupported” is the word auditors use: an amount with no document behind it. The user sees at once that something is missing, and how much. It never hides the number: the total stays what the owner declared. An official report sent to URA can show it as a separate line, or require it at zero. Other wording options • “Not yet itemised” (softer) • “Sales without receipts” (plainest)

The amber line is the gap between what the owner declared and what they recorded. It stays visible until it reaches zero.

5Switch any time: monthly, daily, mixed, back to monthly

Janmonthly Febmonthly Marmixed: total + detail Aprdaily Maydaily, stops halfway Junback to monthly Every month counted exactly once ✓ May: they type the month total; the half-month of daily sales is kept as detail.

No “mode” to understand. The user works however suits them that month, and the books stay right.

6Safety net: total lower than what’s already recorded

types total: 2,500,000 Check this number Your daily sales for March already add up to 2,800,000. Is a sale entered twice, or is the total wrong? Nothing is recorded until you fix it.

7What changes in the app

  • The questionnaire shows “already recorded day by day” next to each figure.
  • The monthly number is saved as the month total. The gap goes into the books as an “Unsupported amount” line, marked in amber.
  • The unsupported amount is recalculated whenever a daily sale changes, and it disappears at zero.
  • Monthly figures get the active business attached, so they always show up in reports.
  • A warning appears when the total is lower than the daily sales already recorded.

Build time: a few hours of agent work, plus review and merge by Frank’s team (human time, separate).

Nelson Pérez · nelson.perez@unctad.orgProposal sketch · 24 Sep 2026 · for discussion, not built