iplicit, Sage Intacct, and Xero lead this list for UK insurance agencies and brokers in 2026. iplicit suits multi-entity broker groups that need quick, reliable consolidation without a full ERP. Sage Intacct fits firms wanting strong configurable dimensional and multi-entity reporting from an established brand, if they can invest in setup and modules. And Xero suits single-office agencies with simpler bookkeeping needs, though it's usually the first thing a growing broker outgrows.
Shortlisted platforms
| # | Software | Best For |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | iplicit | Multi-entity insurance groups needing fast, reliable consolidation |
| 2 | Sage Intacct | Mid-market insurance groups wanting configurable dimensional and multi-entity reporting |
| 3 | Xero | Single-office brokers wanting simple, everyday bookkeeping |
Every separate system creates another version of the business
A-One Insurance Group runs nine companies across the south coast of England, and for years ran them on Sage 50, one file per company, with month-end held together by spreadsheets. Its Group Operations Director later described the experience as driving the business blind.
It is a useful example of a problem that many businesses face. A system that works well for one company may become much harder to manage as an insurance group expands. This happens because premiums, commissions, settlements, multiple entities, and foreign currencies all complicate things.
The right accounting software should make that complexity easier to manage. In this article, we compare 5 platforms available to UK insurance agencies and brokers. We cover their support for multi-currency accounting, Making Tax Digital, and how each one handles premium and commission settlement.
Why listen to us?
A-One Insurance Group, a UK Top 50 broker running nine companies, went from Sage 50 spreadsheets to iplicit in 15 days. That's the kind of implementation timeline we've built our platform around. iplicit has now completed 2,000+ implementations across UK industries, with deep experience in multi-entity insurance broker groups specifically.
How we compared these tools
We make iplicit, so this isn't an independent review. Our comparison criteria — premium and commission settlement handling, multi-currency support, Making Tax Digital compliance and multi-entity consolidation — reflect the issues UK insurance agencies and brokers consistently raise when choosing accounting software. We've checked competitor features and pricing against publicly available product documentation and pricing pages, current at the time of writing; iplicit's own product and pricing information comes from our documentation and product team. This guide was last reviewed on 24 September 2026.
What is accounting software for insurance agencies and brokers?
As with other industries, accounting software for insurance agencies and brokers provides all the functions that general accounting software provides. These include invoicing, payroll, VAT, statutory accounts, etc. However, there are some extra features as well, specific to handling the cash flow in an insurance business.
For example, when a broker places business with an insurer, they charge a premium for their service (some portion of which they retain as their commission) and pay out whatever is due back to the insurer. This might be done by paying them periodically rather than up front against a schedule, which is clearly different from how you'd settle payments to suppliers.
The right combination will depend on the business. Multi-currency may be essential for one broker and irrelevant to another. MTD is now a baseline requirement, while advanced settlement functionality becomes more important where client money arrangements are more complex.
So, besides having general accounting features, accounting software for insurance agencies and brokers handles:
Premium and commission settlement
Client money tracking
Insurance Premium Tax
And consolidation across multiple entities
5 best accounting software for insurance agencies and brokers
| # | Tool | Best for | Multi-currency | Premium/commission settlement | Starting price |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | iplicit | Multi-entity insurance groups needing fast, reliable consolidation | Yes | No dedicated module. Handled through automated bank reconciliation, unlimited dimensions, and approval workflows | Custom quote |
| 2 | Sage Intacct | Mid-market insurance groups wanting configurable dimensional and multi-entity reporting | Yes, 160+ currencies | Not native. Via integration with a policy admin or broker platform through the open REST API | Two tiers: Sage Intacct Essentials, and Sage Intacct. Pricing starts from ~£1,000/month, typically £12,000–£120,000+/year |
| 3 | Xero | Single-office brokers wanting simple, everyday bookkeeping | Yes, higher tiers only | Not native. Via marketplace apps or manual workflows | Various tiers ranging from £3.2–£13/month, excl. VAT for first 6 months |
| 4 | QuickBooks Online | Small agencies wanting simpler invoicing and reconciliation | Yes, Essentials plan and above | Not native. You have to manually set it up or use third-party apps | £10–£123/month, excl. VAT |
| 5 | Clear Books | Very small, single-entity brokers on a tight budget | Yes, Large plan only | Not native | Free basic plan, Small around £8 per month + VAT, Large is £22 per month + VAT |
1. iplicit
iplicit is cloud-based finance software tailored for UK & Ireland mid-market organisations. The platform is a perfect fit for insurance agencies and brokers that run multiple offices or group companies.
For these organisations, the challenge is more about bringing their data together under a single source of truth. iplicit supports these businesses in managing multiple entities, automating financial processes, and improving reporting without moving to a large enterprise ERP system.
Key features
- Multi-entity consolidation: Group companies consolidate automatically, and intercompany transactions or eliminations are all carried out within the same financial management platform as daily accounting activities.
- Unlimited GL dimensions: There's no need to expand your existing chart of accounts structure when performing analysis on transactions.
- Multi-currency accounting: Transactions and consolidation reports across multiple currencies can be generated, which could be very helpful to brokers who place their business with overseas insurers.
- Automated bank reconciliation: Bank feeds are matched against your ledger automatically to help reduce the volume of manual work required for reconciling premiums and settlements.
- Full audit trail with approval workflows: Everything you approve and everything that changes is logged, making sure you have audit-ready records as a regulated broker.
Pricing
Custom pricing is available according to your business size & requirements. No price list is published; however, a demo and guided tour are possible.
Pros
- Implementation time frame is just weeks and not months like with legacy systems. A-One Insurance Group said that it took them only around 15 days from decision to go live.
- Consolidation across group companies removes manual, spreadsheet-based reporting
- Finance-led implementation, without ongoing dependency on consultants
- There's true cloud access, which means that your whole team can work from the same live data across every office, in the browser, with no desktop installs or VPN
Cons
- No published pricing, so budgeting needs a sales conversation
2. Sage Intacct
Sage Intacct is a cloud financial management platform from Sage, known for its multi-dimensional reporting and multi-entity consolidation. It's localised to the UK market for mid-market organisations that are past using entry-level solutions (like Sage 50 or Xero) but do not require an enterprise solution (ERP).
While Sage Intacct is great on the accounting and reporting front, it cannot natively handle insurance messaging. But brokers can connect Sage Intacct to a policy administration system (PAS) or a broker management platform through its open REST API.
Key features
- Configurable dimensional reporting: You can report by department, project, location, or custom dimensions without restructuring your general ledger. If you need any insurance-specific view, you would need to configure it as a custom dimension.
- Native multi-entity consolidation: Multiple group companies consolidate automatically, providing real-time visibility into your company's performance.
- Deep multi-currency functionality: Transactions can easily be recorded in any currency with FX gains/losses posted automatically to 160+ currencies.
- Native MTD for VAT: Digital VAT record-keeping and submission to HMRC is also featured in the UK version without extra charges.
- AI-powered anomaly detection: This feature uses Sage Intacct's Financial Assurance agent to scan journal entries for anomalies and duplicates when they're posted.
Pricing
- Sage Intacct is priced on a subscription basis, depending on the number of users, modules, and entities. There are two tiers available on their official page.
- Sage Intacct Essentials
- Sage Intacct
- Prices are available upon request. However, certain reports claim that to be from around £6,500/year to a typical cost range of £12k-30k/year for small teams and £40K+ up to £120k+/year for mid-market organisations (UK prices). Plus, there are usually additional implementation fees.
Pros
- Excellent dimensional reporting at all levels
- Native MTD and deep multi-currency support
- UK-based company with a large existing broker and insurance customer base
Cons
- High total cost of ownership when all aspects (licensing, implementation & modules) are considered.
- Implementation requires a certified partner and takes several weeks.
- Several core capabilities are behind separate paid modules
3. Xero
Xero is another cloud accounting software designed specifically to work with small businesses. This makes it an excellent starting point for many single-office insurance agencies and brokers.
While Xero does handle basic daily bookkeeping and bank reconciliations very well, there is no native support for multi-entity consolidations within this platform. This is something that will require extra effort from you if your firm has multiple entities. So it's always better to go with iplicit if you manage multiple entities.
Key features
- Core bookkeeping: Basic features such as bank reconciliation, bank feeds, invoicing, and automated matching are standard and well-regarded
- MTD compliant VAT: Available from entry-level plans up, including digital submission to HMRC
- Multi-currency: This feature is available on Xero's higher-priced plans, but does not extend to group-level consolidation.
- Large app marketplace: Integrations may add commission tracking and policy-linked functionality, which isn't included in the native Xero version.
- Simple interface: Xero is widely considered to be one of the easiest systems to learn for non-finance staff entering day-to-day transactions
Pricing
- They offer several different plans:
- Ignite at £3.20 per month, excluding VAT for the first 6 months, then £16 per month.
- Grow is available at £7.40 per month, excluding VAT, for the first 6 months, and then £37 per month
- Comprehensive starts from £10 per month, excluding VAT for the first 6 months, then £50 per month
- Ultimate is priced at £13 per month, excluding VAT for the first 6 months, then you'll be billed £65 per month
Pros
- Low cost and fast to set up for a single office broker with simple requirements
- Strong bank reconciliation and everyday bookkeeping automation
- Large integration marketplace that lets you bolt on commission or policy tools
Cons
- No native multi-entity or group consolidation available
- Commission-specific insurance workflows need to be set up manually
- Reporting and audit trail are limited for a multi-entity brokerage
4. QuickBooks Online (QBO)
QuickBooks Online (QBO) from Intuit is a leading cloud-based accounting system that's quite popular among small insurance agencies because of the clean, simple UI used to create invoices and reconcile bank accounts.
Like Xero, QBO charges a separate subscription fee for each company and doesn't have a native feature for consolidating multiple entities in a multi-entity broker group. But more importantly, UK prices have gone up substantially over the past two years.
Key features
- Automated bank feeds: Ability to automatically import and categorise transactions using rules-based match to cater to your frequent premium and commission activities.
- MTD compliant VAT & income tax: All paid plans now include MTD compliance for VAT, and rolling out MTD for Income Tax for sole traders and landlords from April 2026.
- Multi-currency: Foreign currency invoicing and FX tracking are available from the Essentials Plan and above (this feature is unavailable for entry-level plans)
- AI-assisted tools: Intuit Intelligence has some features around transaction categorisation, reconciliation checks and even some basic forecasting to help track commissions and create insurance-specific workflows.
Pricing
The UK prices range between £10/month (Sole Trader Plus) and £123/month (Advanced), excluding VAT.
Pros
- A well-regarded bank reconciliation system for frequent transaction volumes
- Wide UK accountant and bookkeeper familiarity
- Multi-currency is available from a relatively low-priced tier
Cons
- No native multi-entity consolidation. Each company would need its own subscription.
- UK price has increased by ~75% since 2022, with another raise in Jan 2026
- Depth doesn't provide sufficient detail for a growing, multi-entity broker
5. Clear Books
Clear Books is UK-focused cloud accounting software aimed at small businesses, sole traders, and partnerships. It suits a very small, single-office insurance agency on a tight budget. But its entry-level plan excludes both multi-currency support and MTD-recognised VAT filing, both reserved for the higher-priced plan.
Key features
- MTD compliant VAT filing: This allows you to file your taxes digitally and is HMRC recognised. It's available only if you have the 'Large' plan (not available with their entry-level 'Small' plan).
- Multi-currency: Supports multi-currency payments with a huge range of currencies, but this feature also comes standard on the 'Large' plan.
- Bank feeds & reconciliation: All transactions feed through automatically, making it easier to match them up against your invoices or bills.
- Construction Industry Scheme (CIS) Support: Relevant to brokers with related trade exposure but not part of insurance accounting core functions.
Pricing
The 'Small' plan (starting at around £8/month) and the more feature-rich 'Large' plan (from around £22/month, excluding VAT) for the first three months. After the first 3 months, the prices will be £16 and £44, respectively. In these plans, there's support for multi-currency & MTD VAT filing.
Pros
- Genuinely UK-focused, with UK-based support
- Lower cost than Xero or QuickBooks for a very small, single-entity broker
- CIS support if the agency has related trade exposure
Cons
- MTD-recognised VAT filing and multi-currency are both locked behind the higher-priced Large plan
- No multi-entity consolidation, and not built for a broker running more than one company
- Fewer third-party integrations than Xero or QuickBooks, limiting options for bolting on commission tracking
Match the platform to how your brokerage actually runs
Choosing the right accounting software can sometimes come down to brand name or familiarity (and that's totally fine). However, when working with agencies or brokers, the key considerations you should take into account before landing on a choice are: how many entities you run, whether your business runs internationally, and if your bookkeeper needs to track premium vs. commission monies clearly.
iplicit was built with these exact types of multi-entity and audit-ready structures in mind. Book a demo to see how iplicit consolidates every entity, currency and settlement in one system built for growing UK insurance agencies and brokers.
Sources and review information
Sources: vendor pricing pages, product documentation and publicly available feature comparisons for iplicit, Sage Intacct, Xero, QuickBooks Online and Clear Books, current at the time of writing. iplicit's own product and pricing details come from our documentation and product team. Customer figures for A-One Insurance Group are drawn from iplicit's own published case study.
This guide was last reviewed on 24 September 2026. Vendor pricing and promotional offers change frequently — always confirm current pricing directly with the vendor before making a decision.
Do insurance brokers need industry-specific accounting software?
Not always, but it depends on complexity. A single-office agency doing straightforward bookkeeping and invoicing can usually manage on a general-purpose tool such as Xero or QuickBooks Online. Once a brokerage runs multiple entities, handles premium and commission settlement across insurers, or operates internationally, the priorities shift to native multi-entity consolidation and multi-currency support, which is where platforms like iplicit and Sage Intacct are built to help.
What is premium and commission settlement, and why does it matter for accounting software?
When a broker places business with an insurer, they collect a premium, retain a portion as commission, and pay the remainder back to the insurer, sometimes on a periodic schedule rather than upfront. This is different from how a business typically settles with suppliers, so it's worth checking how a platform handles it: some, like iplicit, manage it through automated bank reconciliation, unlimited dimensions and approval workflows rather than a dedicated settlement module, while others rely on integrations with a policy admin or broker management platform.
How much does accounting software cost for UK insurance agencies and brokers?
It varies by platform and scale. Entry-level tools such as Clear Books and Xero start from a few pounds a month on introductory pricing, rising to around £16-£65 a month depending on the plan. Mid-market platforms including iplicit and Sage Intacct mostly use custom, quote-based pricing that depends on the number of entities, users and modules required, so it's worth getting a tailored quote rather than comparing headline prices alone.
Is Making Tax Digital (MTD) support important for insurance brokers?
Yes, it's now a baseline requirement for VAT-registered UK businesses. Most platforms in this guide support MTD-compliant VAT filing, though it isn't always included at every price tier. Clear Books, for example, only offers MTD-recognised VAT filing on its higher-priced 'Large' plan, so it's worth checking which tier you'd actually need before comparing costs.
When should a broker move on from entry-level accounting software?
Usually once manual consolidation across group companies, a lack of multi-currency support, or commission-tracking workarounds start creating real extra work each month — for example once you're running more than one legal entity, placing business with overseas insurers, or need an audit trail that a single-company tool like Xero or QuickBooks Online can't provide natively.
