Zambia: set up open source accounting

The same path as text: every command with Zambia already on it, and the codes a first invoice is written with. An AI agent helping you reads the same text as Markdown, at /countries/zm/set-up.md.

Ekwo keeps double-entry books in a database you own, with the rules of Zambia as data. On Ekwo Cloud the Zambia pack is ready to use, with an account opened in a minute; this page is the other way in, Ekwo OS, the open source core, installed on your own project. It is generated from the Zambia pack, version 0.1.0; every code on it is read from the pack.

The Zambia pack is community: contributed, and reviewed by nobody.

Your accountant works in the same books, with their own access, and the pack carries its sources, its version and its status. To find an accountant who works with Ekwo in Zambia, see the directory or our partners. What Ekwo is, and its limits: the disclaimer.

1. What you need

A Supabase project of your own. The free plan is enough to start; Ekwo does not create it, pay for it or have access to it.
From its dashboard: the connection string (Connect → Session pooler), the Project URL and the service_role key (Project Settings → API). The key is used once, to create your first administrator, and is written nowhere. The anon (publishable) key, on the same page, is what you sign in with afterwards.
Node 20 or later on your machine. Nothing else: no Supabase CLI, no Docker, no clone.

2. Install

One command. It asks for the rest as it goes.

npx ekwo-os init --country ZM

One chart of accounts: Zambia reference chart of accounts, 147 accounts.
The books are kept in en.
A financial year follows the calendar unless you pass --fiscal-year-start YYYY-MM-DD.

The same, with no question asked — every value your own:

npx ekwo-os init \
  --country ZM \
  --db-url "postgresql://postgres.<ref>:<password>@<pooler host>:5432/postgres" \
  --supabase-url "https://<ref>.supabase.co" \
  --service-role-key "$SUPABASE_SERVICE_ROLE_KEY" \
  --org "Your Organisation" --company "Your Company" \
  --admin-email "you@example.com" \
  --yes

3. Before you go live

Four settings of your project no installer can reach: turn off self sign-up, keep two administrators, keep the service_role key off every other machine, and read the disclaimer. init prints them; the installation guide explains each.

4. A first invoice

Sign in as the administrator you just created, pick the company, and write a draft. --dry-run shows the entry the database would write, and writes nothing; post books it.

ekwo login --supabase-url https://<ref>.supabase.co --anon-key <publishable key> --email you@example.com
ekwo use "Your Company"
ekwo contact add "First Customer" --country ZM --ref customer-1
ekwo doc new --contact "First Customer" --ref invoice-1 --line "name=Consulting,price=1000.00,account=4000,tax=ZM-S-16"
ekwo post invoice-1 --dry-run
ekwo post invoice-1

A line names its account and its tax by code, never by rate. 4000 is the account the pack names for sales; the chart may carry a closer one for what you sell — services, a reduced rate — and list_accounts lists them.

What the invoice says about your company — its address, its VAT number — comes from the company’s profile, which the MCP tool update_company_profile fills; ekwo init sets only the name.

The domestic sale taxes the pack carries today. Which one a sale carries is a question about that sale, for you or your accountant: the list is the pack’s, not advice.

Tax code	Name	Rate
`ZM-S-16`	Sale, standard rate 16 %	16 %
`ZM-S-Z-DOM`	Sale, zero-rated (domestic — medical supplies and drugs)	0 %
`ZM-S-Z-WATER`	Sale, zero-rated (mains water and sewerage, from 1 January 2026)	0 %

5. With an AI agent

The MCP server lets an agent keep the books as you, under your own row level security, and never with the service_role key. Configuring it, and what an agent must and must not do.

What the Zambia pack carries

Charts of accounts: Zambia reference chart of accounts (147).
12 taxes, at 0 %, 16 %.
The Monthly Value Added Tax return (ZM-VAT-RETURN), 15 boxes, filed month.
Financial statements: Statement of financial position, Statement of profit or loss.

What it does not do

No library of this repository writes the file of the ZM-VAT-RETURN yet: the return is computed and frozen here, and typed on the administration’s portal.
Nothing is sent to an administration, a Peppol network or a bank by the open source software: transmission is yours, or an operator’s you appoint.
What the pack leaves out on purpose is in its README.

Set up Ekwo for Zambia

Create your Ekwo Cloud account

Run it yourself

Step by step