Accounting System Setup for Tourism Company (Xero or Alternative) + Data Migration + Staff Training

We are a tourism company in Iceland.
Our sales come from multiple platforms:
• Bokun (our booking engine)
• GetYourGuide
• Viator
• TourDesk
• Stripe
• MyPOS
• Rapyd
• Valitor
• Direct sales (POS)

We want to set up a complete accounting system from zero, migrate historical data, and build a clean monthly workflow.

We are open to your professional recommendation:

Xero, QuickBooks, Zoho, Sage, or any other system that fits tourism.

Your job is to advise us on what will work best for multi-channel tourism sales, Iceland VAT 11% rules, and automation.

Project Goals
1. Build a modern, clean accounting environment
2. Migrate historical data (2–3 years). Data ready.
3. Automate future bookings → accounting and review past years after uploading data
4. Train our staff to manage everything daily
5. Receive monthly P&L with reliable numbers


1. System Evaluation & Setup

We expect the freelancer to:

Evaluate systems (Xero vs QuickBooks vs Zoho)
• Recommend the most suitable software
• Consider automation options
• Consider Icelandic VAT 11%


If we choose Xero or you suggest any software, you will:
• Build a full chart of accounts
• Set up bank feeds
• Configure 11% VAT
• Create custom tracking categories:

Examples
• Sales Channel (GYG, Viator, Bokun, Stripe, Rapyd, MyPOS, Direct)
• Product Type (Standard Tour, Premium, Shared, Private)

Connect payment processors (manually or via CSV rules)
• Stripe fees
• Rapyd fees
• MyPOS fees
• OTA commissions

Automate booking → invoice
• Bokun → Xero (via Zapier or API)
• Draft invoice with correct VAT + service date

2. Historical Data Migration (2–3 years)

We provide:
• Bokun sales Excel sheets
• OTA reports
• Payment processor CSVs
• Refund reports
• Bank statements

Your responsibility:

Define exactly how the data should be cleaned

We already have someone cleaning data — you provide the template and rules.

Supervise data preparation
• Verify formulas
• Ensure matching rules
• Identify missing payments
• Identify unclaimed VAT

Import into accounting software
• Historical revenue
• Refunds
• Gross vs net correction
• Processor fees
• Expenses from bank statements

Produce a clean monthly P&L for each past year

3. Future Automation

Set up:

Bokun → Accounting workflow
• Every new booking creates a draft sales invoice
• With the service delivery date
• With VAT applied
• With product/service categories

Reconciliation rules
• Stripe
• Rapyd
• Bank feed rules

So our staff can close daily/weekly/monthly easily.

4. Staff Training

We need simple, practical training:
• How to approve automated invoices
• How to reconcile payment processor statements
• How to post refunds
• How to categorise expenses
• How to generate P&L
• How to do a monthly closing
• How to avoid VAT mistakes
• How to flag missing payments or underpayments

Deliverable:

Written SOP / Hand-typed accounting Manual for our team.

Deliverables Summary
1. Recommend the best accounting system
2. Full setup & configuration
3. Iceland VAT system (11% tourism VAT)
4. Tracking categories
5. Data cleaning structure template
6. Verification of cleaned data
7. Historical import of 2–3 years
8. Automation (Bokun → software)
9. Bank feed rules
10. Staff training
11. Monthly closing SOP
12. Clean historical P&L

Required Skills
• Xero / QuickBooks / Zoho expert
• Experience with historical data handling
• Experience with tourism companies
• Experience with multi-system reconciliation
• Strong with CSV data and logic building
• Good teaching skills (simple explanations)