Comparisons
Three jobs. One platform.
Most sellers shortlist a settlement connector, a cloud ledger, or a profit dashboard. Each does one of three jobs. Nexus does all three — the Amazon connector, the double-entry ledger, and weighted-average inventory — with GCC VAT native, in one place. This page is an honest map of what each tool optimises for, so you can decide whether all-in-one fits you.
An Amazon settlement assembles into a balanced double-entry journal entry: sales, fees, refunds and weighted-average cost of goods sold, with debits equal to credits and the entry left in draft for human approval.
FIG 1 — One Amazon settlement → one balanced entry
Amazon settlement · Mar 1–14
- Read-only Amazon connection
- Double-entry ledger
- Weighted-average COGS inventory
- KSA 15% / UAE 5% VAT
- USD → SAR / AED at settlement-date FX
- Prepare → check → approve · nothing auto-posts
- Bilingual EN / AR books
- 11-year audit retention
The loop
One engine runs the whole loop, connect to close.
A connector stops at moving cash. A dashboard estimates profit. A general ledger keeps generic books. Nexus is the single engine for every step between connecting your Amazon account and closing the period — each step feeds the next, with no hand-off to a second tool.
- 01
Connect
Connect Amazon, read-only
A read-only Selling Partner API connection streams each settlement in full — sales, referral and fulfilment fees, refunds, reserves — instead of one lump-sum deposit you unpick by hand. No buyer PII is stored.
- 02
Decompose
Break the settlement into its parts
Every payout line is parsed and mapped to a GL account — gross sales, marketplace fees, refunds, FBA reimbursements, adjustments — each line traceable back to its source transaction.
- 03
Compose
Compose a balanced journal entry
The decomposed lines become one double-entry journal that balances to the cent. A database trigger refuses any entry where debits ≠ credits, so an unbalanced settlement can never post.
Debits = Credits · enforced by trigger
- 04
Cost
Relieve inventory at weighted-average cost
As units ship, the perpetual inventory subledger relieves cost of goods sold at weighted-average cost per SKU — real COGS, not an estimate — and the inventory asset ties to the GL.
WAC COGS per unit shipped
- 05
Tax
Compute GCC VAT per line
Output and input VAT are computed per line at KSA 15% or UAE 5%, with foreign-currency lines converted USD → SAR / AED at the settlement-date FX rate — so the return is built as the books are, not bolted on at quarter-end.
KSA 15% / UAE 5% · settlement-date FX
- 06
Reconcile
Watch the trial balance tie
Every posted entry rolls into a trial balance whose debits equal credits — computed live, never a cached snapshot — and every row drills back through the journal entry to the source document and the extraction job that produced it.
TB ties · row → JE → source document
- 07
Close
Approve, then close the period
Nothing auto-posts: prepare → check → approve. Add a second user and dual control binds automatically — the checker cannot be the preparer; on a solo account the single-approver post is permanently attested in the audit log. Period close requires the TB to balance within ±0.01, and posted entries are immutable — corrections are reversals, fully traceable.
Append-only · reversal-only after close
The three jobs
Connectors and dashboards each cover one. Nexus covers all three.
A settlement connector moves cash into a ledger. A dashboard estimates profit. A general ledger keeps the books. None of them does the other two — so the seller pays for, and reconciles across, three tools. Nexus is one engine for the whole loop.
Connect
Pull every settlement, automatically
Read-only marketplace connection streams each payout in full — sales, referral and fulfilment fees, refunds, reserves — instead of one lump-sum deposit you unpick by hand.
- Multi-marketplace, multi-currency
- Every line traceable to its source transaction
Compute
Balance the books and value the stock
Each settlement decomposes into a double-entry journal that balances to the cent, with weighted-average cost relieved as units ship — real books, not an estimate, and a trial balance that ties.
- Debits equal credits, enforced
- Weighted-average COGS per unit shipped
Control
You approve every entry
Nothing auto-posts. Prepare → check → approve, with dual control binding automatically from the second user, GCC VAT computed per line, and a filed-ready return — so the books survive an audit.
- KSA 15% / UAE 5% VAT per line
- Append-only audit trail, 11-year retention
What it replaces
Three tools and the seams between them — or one platform.
The usual Amazon-seller setup stitches a settlement connector to a separate ledger and a spreadsheet for inventory. You pay for all three, and you reconcile across every seam between them. Nexus collapses the stack into one book of record.
| Stack | Connector | Ledger | Total / mo |
|---|---|---|---|
| Link My Books + Xero | $41–$47 | $90 | ≈ $131–$137 |
| A2X + QuickBooks Online | $59 | $85 | $144 |
| Nexus Ledger (Growth → Pro) | — | — | $59–$99 |
connector, ledger and WAC COGS in one subscription
Replace $131–$144/mo of A2X/Link My Books + Xero/QuickBooks with $59–$99 — and get a perpetual inventory subledger behind your COGS, not a cost file you maintain. (Stack prices verified 2026-08-13.)
24–59% below the mid-band stack above, derived from these same figures · Incumbent stack prices verified 2026-08-13; re-checked quarterly.
Link My Books raised prices on 1 July 2026 and withdrew annual billing for new customers; $41 is the legacy rate the published band was built on, $47 is the vendor’s own current quote for one store at 1,000 orders/mo.
The stitched stack
Three subscriptions, three logins, and a reconciliation seam between each.
A settlement connector
Posts payouts — but is not your ledger.
A general cloud ledger
Keeps generic books the connector posts into.
A cost file you maintain
The unit costs the connector multiplies to post COGS.
One platform
One subscription, one login, one book of record — no seams to reconcile.
- Connector, ledger, and inventory subledger in one engine
- Weighted-average COGS computed inside the books, not a side sheet
- GCC VAT and USD → SAR / AED FX native from the first entry
- Bilingual EN / AR books, prepare → check → approve, audit-grade
Category by category
Where each tool fits — and where all-in-one fits better
We respect every tool here. The honest framing is what each optimises for, and which seller that fits — not a scoreboard. Pick a category to see the trade-off.
A2X
The established Amazon-to-ledger settlement connector.
What it does well
- Accurate, trusted settlement-to-ledger postings.
- Broad marketplace and sales-channel coverage.
- Clean accrual summaries your accountant already understands.
Where it fits best
Sellers who already run a cloud ledger with an accountant and only need clean settlement postings into those existing books.
Where all-in-one fits better
Sellers who want the connector AND the books AND weighted-average-cost inventory in one place — plus KSA / UAE VAT — instead of paying for and reconciling across three separate tools. A connector stops at posting the cash; it is not your ledger and it does not value your stock.
The proof is the product
What all-in-one actually puts on screen
Not a feature checklist — the real artefacts a connector or dashboard cannot show you: a trial balance whose debits tie to credits, a VAT return ready to file, and an approval queue where nothing auto-posts.
| Account | Debit | Credit |
|---|---|---|
| 1100Amazon clearing | 19,100.00 | — |
| 1330Inventory — FBA (WAC) | 9,360.00 | — |
| 4000Amazon sales — US | — | 24,800.00 |
| 5000Cost of goods sold (WAC) | 9,360.00 | — |
| 2200VAT payable | — | 13,020.00 |
| Totals | 37,820.00 | 37,820.00 |
| Account | Base | Rate | VAT |
|---|---|---|---|
| Output VAT — KSA | 86,800.00 | 15% | 13,020.00 |
| Input VAT — KSA | 24,200.00 | 15% | 3,630.00 |
| Net VAT payable | 9,390.00 | ||
- 24,800.00JE-1042Prepared
Mar settlement · sales, fees, refunds
- 9,360.00JE-1043Checked
WAC COGS relief · units shipped
- 9,390.00JE-1044Approved
VAT return · period close
Compliance built in — US and GCC
Compliance is in the schema, not a quarter-end scramble
A tool built for one home market adds GCC requirements as plug-ins. Nexus encodes them from the first entry. References below describe how the product is designed and aligned — they are not certifications of regulatory conformity; you remain responsible for your own filings.
IFRS
SOCPA-endorsed IFRS chart of accounts
A default IFRS-aligned COA, customisable per client on import — so the books map to the standard Saudi auditors expect, not a generic template.
ZATCA
ZATCA-aware invoice parsing
Invoice UUID, QR payload and hash are captured, with missing-QR invoices flagged. In Phase 1 we consume e-invoicing inputs — clearance is a documented Phase 3 step, not claimed today.
VAT
KSA 15% / UAE 5% VAT register
Output and input VAT computed per line at the right GCC rate, netted into a return — the seller sells in USD, reports in SAR or AED, and the VAT follows automatically.
Companies Act
Books in Arabic and English
Every account and every statement exists in both languages at once, and journal narratives are bilingual on the entries our templates compose. Saudi company law expects books in Arabic; this is native, not an export filter.
PDPL
PDPL-aware data residency
EU-region storage (Stockholm) with a DPA and SCC-equivalent transfer terms. In-Kingdom residency is not provisioned today and no plan entitles you to it — raise it before you sign if you need it.
Retention
11-year append-only audit trail
Every state change is logged immutably and retained 11 years (≥10 by ISA 230 + SOCPA). Posted entries never mutate — corrections are reversals, linked to the original.
What it reads
Connect the sources, the books keep themselves
Nexus connects directly to the systems where a seller’s money actually moves — Amazon and Wise stream in over their APIs, no monthly export. Where a source has no feed, you can still upload a statement or snap an invoice. Every connection is read-only and every figure drills back to its source.
Marketplace
Amazon Selling Partner API
Settlements, fees, refunds and FBA reimbursements, streamed read-only — multi-marketplace, multi-currency.
Advertising
Ad spend, from the settlement
PPC billed on a settlement is booked as operating expense, kept separate from cost of goods so margin stays honest. No separate Ads connection to authorise.
Supply
Supplier invoices
Bilingual supplier PDFs are OCR’d and extracted to seed landed cost — the basis for weighted-average COGS.
Cash
Bank & wallet activity
Bank statements and multi-currency wallet balances reconcile against the deposits in each settlement entry.
Before you buy
The traps we see most when sellers compare
Buying the wrong stack is expensive — and independent of which vendor a seller eventually picks. These are the questions to ask before you commit.
- 01
A connector is not your books.
A settlement connector posts your payouts into a ledger — it does not act as the ledger. You still pay for the ledger, and you still track inventory and COGS somewhere else. Nexus is the connector, the ledger, and the inventory subledger in one — one subscription, one login.
- 02
A profit dashboard is not double-entry books.
Dashboards estimate profit beautifully, but a bank, an auditor, or a tax authority wants double-entry books and a VAT return. A dashboard is not that. Nexus gives you both: profit by SKU sits on top of real, balanced, drillable books.
- 03
A generic ledger treats a payout as a mystery deposit.
Without Amazon-native logic, a settlement lands as one lump-sum deposit with sales, fees, refunds and reserves blended together. Reconstructing them by hand is where the spreadsheet begins. Nexus decomposes every settlement into a balanced entry automatically, each line traceable to source.
- 04
GCC VAT and multi-currency bolted on later is fragile.
A GCC seller sells in USD, reports in SAR or AED, and owes KSA 15% or UAE 5% VAT. Tools built for one home market add these as plug-ins. Nexus encodes multi-currency FX and GCC VAT into the schema from the first entry.
- 05
AI without controls is a liability, not a feature.
Auto-posting journal entries from AI extraction without a named human approval creates audit risk. We require prepare → check → approve before any entry posts, dual control binding automatically from the second user, and a heightened-review window on every new workspace.
The moat
The one thing no connector ships: real bilingual books
Saudi company law expects books in Arabic. Every account, every journal narrative, and every statement exists in English and Arabic at once — the same balanced entry, mirrored. Flip it and watch.
| 1100 | Amazon clearing | 19,100.00 | — |
| 5210 | Referral & selling fees | 5,000.00 | — |
| 4000 | Amazon sales — US | — | 24,100.00 |
The same entry, the same figures — mirrored start-to-end under right-to-left. No settlement connector ships this.
Switching over
Moving from your current stack
You do not rebuild your history by hand. We onboard you with opening balances and recent settlements, and you keep control of every entry.
- 1
Bring your opening balances
We import your trial balance as at your switch date, so the books start tied.
- 2
Connect Amazon read-only
Recent settlements stream in and compose into draft entries for your review.
- 3
Approve, then run live
You approve each entry through prepare → check → approve; from there the loop runs itself.
- No long-term lock-in · export your data anytime
No. Nexus is the double-entry ledger, not just a feed into one. Settlements, fees, refunds, weighted-average COGS, GCC VAT, trial balance and period close all live in the same book of record — so the connector-plus-ledger pairing is replaced by one platform.
A connector posts your Amazon payouts into a ledger you pay for separately, and it does not value your inventory. Nexus does the connector’s job AND keeps the ledger AND runs a weighted-average-cost inventory subledger — plus KSA 15% / UAE 5% VAT — in one place.
Never in Phase 1. Every journal entry is prepared, checked, then approved by a named person before it posts. From two users, dual control binds automatically (the checker cannot be the preparer); a one-person workspace posts as sole approver and every such post writes a permanent attestation to the audit log — so an auditor is never told a control fired that did not.
A perpetual subledger holds weighted-average cost per SKU, seeded from your supplier invoices. As units ship, COGS is relieved at weighted-average cost and the inventory asset ties back to the general ledger — real COGS, not a dashboard estimate.
Yes. Foreign-currency lines are converted at the settlement-date FX rate, output and input VAT are computed at the GCC rate, and the books report in your reporting currency. Multi-currency and GCC VAT are in the schema from the first entry, not bolted on.
Every trial-balance row drills to its journal entry, then to the source document, then to the extraction job that produced it — model, prompt version, confidence. Posted entries are immutable; corrections are reversals linked to the original; the audit log is append-only with 11-year retention.
Comparing one tool in particular?
See it on a real settlement of yours
Connect your Amazon account read-only, or send us one recent settlement. We will turn it into a balanced, drilled-down journal entry and walk you through it against whatever connector and ledger you are evaluating us against.