09/09/2026
I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve presented Quenta to businesses already. But this one was a first, so I really wanted to share it.
One thing we have proven again and again is that when businesses grow into several companies, seeing the whole picture becomes much harder.
Each company has its own books, payroll, employees and operations. But the owners and management team still need to know: How are we really doing?
That is one of the reasons we built Quenta.
What I loved about this presentation was that they immediately saw the difference.
They saw that Quenta is not simply accounting or payroll software being offered in the Philippines. It was built around Philippine business practices and the way businesses here actually operate.
And when I heard that we were “pushing the right buttons” with Quenta, you can imagine what that meant to me.
These are the moments that make building Quenta even more meaningful.
We still have a lot we want to do, but every business that comes onto the platform — and every conversation we have with the people using it - gives us more reason to keep going.
Our goal remains the same: help businesses understand their numbers better so they can grow with greater clarity.
Every number tells a story. 💚
It has been a while since I shared what has been happening with Quenta.
We have been busy making Quenta better and continuing to build it into what I have always wanted it to become:
the Financial Command Center for Philippine businesses.
And quite a lot has changed.
Quenta Payroll and Operations has evolved into a much more robust payroll system, largely because of the requests we have been receiving from clients. We have streamlined the payroll run into six easy steps, with a wizard guiding the user from beginning to end.
Our Inventory Management module has grown too, with a new branch-aware procurement process and OCR document intelligence now being applied to supplier documents as well.
We have also built a tax and compliance pack for PEZA- and BOI-registered companies to help with their reportorial requirements.
Then there is our Tax Center, which has become one of the areas I am most excited about.
Quenta follows the tax components of a transaction from the moment it is recorded and carries those components into the Tax Center, where the system computes the tax payable for you.
And the numbers are verifiable.
Click on an amount and Quenta can take you back to the ledger and the source documents supporting it.
We also built monitoring for creditable withholding taxes that have not yet been supported by the corresponding certificates, because we know how often that becomes a problem come filing time.
The BIR tax deadlines are monitored too and appear on the dashboard.
And one feature clients have been particularly happy about is the automatic preparation of BIR Form 2307. Quenta prepares it from the transactions already in the system. You simply review it and issue it by print or email.
That is the kind of work I want Quenta to take away.
Not the judgment.
Not the accounting.
The repetitive work around it.
We have also strengthened Business Insights, including a module for your books of accounts, ready for export or printing. This is particularly useful for companies moving from manual books to loose-leaf books, and for those already maintaining loose-leaf books.
And one of the improvements I am surprisingly excited about is something much smaller:
Quenta now has a search bar.
It may sound simple, but as the platform grows, I think this becomes increasingly important.
A new user should not have to know where everything is before the system becomes useful.
Need to run payroll? Search for it.
Looking for a tax report? Search for it.
Trying to find a particular process? Search for it.
A powerful system should still feel easy to use.
And a lot of what we have been building comes from listening to the businesses already using Quenta, and the businesses considering it.
One thing prospects often ask when I come in for a presentation is whether I have anyone with me.
Usually, the answer is no.
I still present Quenta myself.
Not because I have to, but because I want to hear the comments firsthand.
Yesterday was one of those meetings.
At one point, the president told me that with Quenta,
"you are pushing the right buttons."
He said that what we are building feels genuinely localized, something that fits the way Philippine businesses actually operate.
You can probably imagine how that felt to hear.
Because that has always been the point.
I never wanted Quenta to be just another accounting system that happens to be available in the Philippines.
I wanted it to understand how businesses here really work.
Our payroll requirements. Our taxes. Our supporting documents. Our branches. Our inventory. Our regulatory requirements. Our books of accounts. And the need of owners and managers to see what is happening while there is still time to do something about it.
Then came the part that made me laugh.
I mentioned that we wanted Quenta to remain affordable.
He stopped me and said, in effect:
"Don't call it affordable. We don't do cheap. It's a fair deal."
Haha. Point taken.
Maybe that was a reminder for me too.
The goal is not to make Quenta cheap.
The goal is to make sure that what a business gets from it is worth what it pays for.
And in the middle of the presentation, they handed me this thoughtful gift.
Not even at the end. I think they were simply excited by what they were seeing.
But I think the bigger gift was hearing, directly from another business owner, that we may indeed be building the right thing.
That is why, for now, I still want to be the person in the room presenting Quenta.
Because every conversation teaches us something.
Every number tells a story. So does every conversation behind Quenta.
