Accounted vs ANNA: Business Account vs AI Bookkeeping

Accounted vs ANNA: Business Account vs AI Bookkeeping

ANNA (Absolutely No-Nonsense Admin) offers something genuinely unusual: a business bank account with built-in bookkeeping and tax filing. It is an all-in-one proposition that appeals to sole traders who want to simplify their financial admin as much as possible. Open one account, get banking and bookkeeping in one place.

Chat with Penny on WhatsApp — your AI bookkeeper

Accounted is a dedicated AI bookkeeping platform that works with any UK bank account. It does not offer banking — it focuses entirely on making your bookkeeping and tax compliance as automated as possible.

These are fundamentally different approaches, and neither is objectively wrong. Let us compare them honestly so you can decide which suits your situation.

The ANNA Proposition

ANNA's core idea is elegant: if your bookkeeping software and your bank account are the same thing, there is no need for bank feeds, data syncing, or reconciliation. Every transaction is automatically in your books because your books are your bank. ANNA also handles invoicing, tax filing, and company formation. It is a genuine one-stop shop.

The free plan includes a business current account with basic bookkeeping features. Paid plans add more capabilities including VAT filing and Self Assessment.

For someone starting a brand-new business who does not already have a business bank account, ANNA offers an attractively simple setup process.

The Accounted Proposition

Accounted does not care where you bank. Whether you are with Starling, Monzo, Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds, or any other UK bank, Accounted connects via bank feeds and imports your transactions. Its AI bookkeeper Penny then categorises everything, scans receipts, calculates tax, and flags exceptions for review.

This bank-agnostic approach has a significant advantage: you are never locked in. You can switch banks without switching bookkeeping software, and you can use the bank that offers you the best rates, service, or features.

Self Assessment Coverage

This is one of the most important differences between the two platforms. ANNA supports 4 SA schedules. That covers basic sole trader income and a few other scenarios, but it falls short for anyone with more complex tax affairs.

Accounted supports 11 of 13 SA schedules. If you have rental income, capital gains, foreign income, pension contributions, or other supplementary pages, Accounted can handle them. You can file your complete Self Assessment directly to HMRC without needing separate tax software.

For a sole trader with a single income source and no complications, 4 schedules may be enough. But tax affairs have a way of becoming more complex over time — buying a rental property, receiving investment income, or working abroad can all require additional schedules that ANNA cannot handle.

Banking Lock-in

This is the elephant in the room with ANNA's model. Your bookkeeping is tied to your ANNA bank account. If you decide to switch banks — perhaps because another bank offers better interest rates, a larger overdraft, or better customer service — you also lose your bookkeeping platform. Your financial history, categorisations, and records are all bound to the ANNA account.

With Accounted, your bookkeeping is entirely independent of your banking. You can switch banks, add additional accounts, or maintain personal and business accounts at different banks, all feeding into one set of books. This flexibility is particularly valuable as your business grows and your banking needs evolve.

AI and Automation

ANNA offers some automation features, including automatic categorisation of common transaction types and receipt scanning through its app. These work reasonably well for straightforward transactions.

Accounted's AI is more comprehensive. Penny uses confidence scoring on every categorisation, learns from your corrections, and handles receipt scanning through WhatsApp. The confidence scoring is particularly valuable because it creates transparency — you can see exactly how certain the AI is about each decision, and you only need to review items where confidence is lower.

Receipt Management

ANNA lets you photograph receipts through its banking app and attach them to transactions. Since everything is in one app, the workflow is fairly streamlined.

Accounted takes receipts through WhatsApp. You photograph the receipt, send it to Penny, and the AI extracts all the relevant data — supplier, amount, date, VAT, category — and matches it to the corresponding bank transaction. No dedicated app required. For people who already use WhatsApp daily, this is arguably the most frictionless receipt capture method available.

Accountant Collaboration

ANNA does not offer a dedicated accountant portal. If you work with an accountant, sharing data requires manual export or granting access to your banking app — which many people are understandably reluctant to do.

Accounted's accountant portal is free and purpose-built. Your accountant gets their own login, sees only what they need to see through the exception-first workflow, and can manage multiple clients from a single dashboard. The portal includes practice management tools, which means accountants can run their practice on Accounted at no cost.

MTD Compliance

Both ANNA and Accounted support MTD for VAT. Accounted also supports MTD for Income Tax Self Assessment, which becomes relevant for sole traders and landlords from April 2026. If you need to make quarterly submissions to HMRC, Accounted is ready for that workflow.

Pricing

ANNA offers a free business current account with basic bookkeeping. Paid plans that include tax filing and additional features start from around £11 per month, with higher tiers for more advanced capabilities.

Accounted starts at £14 per month for Starter, £24 for Professional, £34 for Business, and £44 for Complete. You will also need your own business bank account, which may or may not have fees depending on your provider.

On a pure cost basis, ANNA can be cheaper because you are combining banking and bookkeeping in one payment. However, you need to factor in the opportunity cost of not being able to choose the best bank for your needs independently.

Where ANNA Wins

• Simplicity of setup: One account gives you banking and bookkeeping
• No reconciliation needed: Transactions are automatically in your books
• Free tier: Basic banking and bookkeeping at no cost
• Company formation: Built-in service for new businesses
• Single app: Everything in one place

Where Accounted Wins

• Bank independence: Works with any UK bank, no lock-in
• Self Assessment coverage: 11 SA schedules vs ANNA's 4
• AI depth: Confidence-scored categorisation with WhatsApp receipts
• Accountant portal: Free, purpose-built collaboration tools
• MTD for Income Tax: Ready for quarterly submissions
• CIS support: Essential for construction industry
• Scalability: Handles complex tax affairs as your business grows
• Migration engine: Switch from any platform without losing data

The Verdict

ANNA is a clever product that solves a real problem — the friction between banking and bookkeeping. If you are starting a new business, want maximum simplicity, and your tax affairs are straightforward, ANNA is worth considering.

But if your tax affairs are anything beyond basic, if you want to choose your own bank, if you work with an accountant, or if you want the most capable AI handling your bookkeeping, Accounted is the stronger platform.

Start a free trial of Accounted, connect your existing bank account, and let Penny show you what AI-powered bookkeeping feels like. You keep your bank, you keep your independence, and you get a bookkeeper that never sleeps.

Related Reading

• 25 Features Accounted Has That No Competitor Offers
• Cheapest MTD Software in 2026: Affordable Options That Actually Work

Start your free trial and see how Accounted simplifies your bookkeeping.