Cloud ERP & Accounting for Panama and LATAM
Financial management, multi-company control, production, and e-invoicing in one cloud platform, built for the realities of operating in Latin America.
Since 1987
Grupo Barrdega
SOC 2 · ISO
Certified security
99.9%
Uptime SLA
EN/ES
Bilingual by design
CifraHQ is P4 Software’s cloud ERP and accounting platform, designed around the reality of doing business in Panama and the region: DGI e-invoicing, ITBMS handling, withholding-agent compliance, and lease accounting under IFRS 16 and ASC 842. Quote-to-cash in one system.
A lot of small and mid-sized companies in Panama run on an accounting package, a separate invoicing tool and a set of spreadsheets that do not talk to each other. A cloud ERP puts those pieces on one record. CifraHQ is an ERP for SMBs in Panama and a cloud ERP for Latin America: sales, purchasing, production and accounting share the same data, with the interface in English and Spanish. It is multi-company and multi-currency, so a group with several legal entities, or with operations elsewhere in LATAM, runs everything on one platform. Larger groups can use CifraHQ Enterprise, covered further down.
Pricing, documentation and the full feature tour live on the product site: cifrahq.com.
How a cloud ERP handles Panama's tax obligations
Currency. Panama runs on the US dollar, with the balboa at par for government transactions. CifraHQ keeps multi-currency books with automatic exchange rates and revaluation, which matters for importers, exporters and any company with suppliers or accounts in other currencies in the region.
ITBMS. ITBMS is Panama's value-added tax. The general rate is 7%, with special rates of 10% (alcoholic beverages and lodging) and 15% (tobacco products), and several rates can appear on the same invoice. That is why the rate is set per product line: FacturaHQ applies it when each document is issued, and CifraHQ builds the monthly Form 430 return from the same data. The return is filed through the DGI's e-Tax 2.0 portal within the first fifteen calendar days of the following month, including months with no activity.
E-invoicing. A sale produces the DGI-authorized electronic invoice and its journal entry in the same step. FacturaHQ, which is natively integrated with CifraHQ, handles authorization through WebPOS and Alanube, two DGI-authorized PACs (qualified authorization providers). See Panama DGI e-invoicing and the explainer on how e-invoicing works in Panama.
Purchases and Form 43. Purchases record their ITBMS input credit when they are entered. When each supplier invoice is posted, CifraHQ stores the supplier's RUC and DV (tax ID and check digit), the expense concept and the ITBMS per line, so the detail for the DGI's monthly Form 43 purchase report comes from the same ledger that feeds the balance sheet.
Payroll. nominaHQ and CifraHQ produce the file for the DGI's monthly Planilla 03 payroll and withholding report from the month's payroll, with the same employees and withholdings reported to the Social Security Fund (CSS). Planilla 03 is due within 60 calendar days after the month it covers.
IFRS and year-end. The general ledger is 100% IFRS-compliant, and CifraHQ keeps the IFRS figure and the tax figure on the same ledger. Unless the DGI has authorized a special fiscal period, the fiscal year closes on December 31 and the corporate income tax return is due on March 31 of the following year. activoHQ keeps book and tax depreciation per asset and posts its entries to CifraHQ. The system also covers withholding-agent compliance and lease accounting under IFRS 16 and ASC 842.
No system files the returns for you: uploading to e-Tax 2.0 and the accounting judgment stay with the company and its accountant. What changes is that the inputs for Form 430, Form 43 and the income tax return come from the transaction record, instead of being rebuilt in spreadsheets for months that are already closed. For the local detail, see cloud accounting for Panama.
Key capabilities
100% IFRS-compliant general ledger
Multi-company and multi-currency with automated consolidation
Accounts payable, receivable, and cash management
Production and bill of materials
Quote-to-cash sales cycle
Native e-invoicing integration (FacturaHQ for Panama,
PACs for Mexico, Colombia, Chile, Peru, Ecuador)
REST API with OAuth 2.0
General ledger and financial reporting
The general ledger is 100% IFRS-compliant and supports a localized chart of accounts for each country the company operates in, Panama included. Financial statements, cost-center reports and budgets all come from the same ledger.
Multi-company and multi-currency
Several legal entities and currencies run in a single environment, with inter-company transactions, automatic revaluation and consolidated reporting. Consolidation is built from each entity's own records, so nobody waits for every company to send in its numbers.
Payables, receivables and cash
Accounts payable, accounts receivable and cash management work on the same record, and bank reconciliation inside the system shows the differences before month-end.
Production and bill of materials
Bills of materials, work orders and production costing, integrated in real time with inventory and the general ledger. It is designed for light and medium manufacturing; see also software for manufacturing.
Quote-to-cash
The sales cycle runs from quote to collection in one system, and each electronic invoice creates its journal entry when it is issued, with no re-keying.
Integrations and API
Inside the platform, CifraHQ integrates natively with FacturaHQ, with logisticaHQ for warehouse management (WMS) and with activoHQ for fixed assets. nominaHQ, activoHQ and FacturaHQ are included in CifraHQ. For custom integrations, CifraHQ provides a full REST API with OAuth 2.0 authentication. For how the two sides of the business divide the work, read WMS vs ERP.
CifraHQ Enterprise for groups and holding companies
CifraHQ Enterprise is the edition of CifraHQ for holding companies, distributors and multi-country operations. It runs on the same CifraHQ feature set: unlimited legal entities with automated consolidation, inter-company transactions and eliminations, landed cost management, advanced commissions and revenue recognition, role-based access control with granular permissions, an audit trail with SOX-aligned controls, and dedicated implementation support.
The features are the same in both; what differs is the support a large group needs during implementation.
Customer example in Panama: Fábrica de Velas La Soledad
Fábrica de Velas La Soledad, S.A. is a Panamanian manufacturer with multiple operating entities that needs IFRS-aligned financial reporting alongside DGI tax compliance. With CifraHQ it reported a 20% improvement in operational efficiency, a 15% cost reduction, a 40% faster month-end close and a 99.9% tax compliance rate.
The close got faster because of two changes: inter-company transactions and data from previously disconnected systems became available in real time, and local tax reports and IFRS reports are generated from one source. Read the full case study.
Frequently asked questions
Does CifraHQ comply with IFRS and DGI requirements?
Yes. CifraHQ's general ledger is 100% IFRS-compliant and supports a localized chart of accounts per country, Panama included. ITBMS is calculated per line, and the system builds the inputs for Form 430, Form 43 and the income tax return from the transaction record.
Do I need an authorized PAC to invoice with CifraHQ?
Yes. In Panama, electronic invoices are issued through an authorized PAC, and FacturaHQ is not on the DGI's register of PACs. It is natively integrated with CifraHQ and issues through WebPOS and Alanube, which are DGI-authorized PACs, and you receive the authorization with its CUFE code online.
Can I run several companies and currencies in the same system?
Yes. CifraHQ is multi-company and multi-currency: unlimited legal entities and multiple currencies in one environment, with inter-company transactions and eliminations, automatic revaluation, consolidation and consolidated reporting, plus landed cost and audit controls.
Does CifraHQ file my returns with the DGI?
No. Uploading to e-Tax 2.0, validation and filing remain with the company and its accountant. CifraHQ prepares the data for those returns from the daily record, so months that are already closed do not have to be rebuilt in spreadsheets.
Does it work for companies operating outside Panama?
Yes. CifraHQ supports a localized chart of accounts per country, and country-specific e-invoicing in Mexico (CFDI), Colombia (DIAN), Chile (SII), Peru (SUNAT), Ecuador (SRI), Argentina (ARCA/AFIP), Brazil (SEFAZ NFe) and Uruguay (DGI CFE). The country pages linked below cover the local details.
Where can I see pricing and documentation?
Pricing, documentation and the feature tour are on cifrahq.com. If you would rather see it with your own data, you can request a 45-minute live demo.