Book keeping/Accounts

[PGM Tiling Solutions]

Hello again all,

This post has probably been discussed before but thought I'd ask the question!
I am hoping to start up around May time this year and was wondering what you all do regarding book keeping? Do you/better half keep business related reciepts together etc and present to an accountant a couple of times a year or do you just employ a book keeper who sorts that all out and then send to accountant in time for the tax man?
Hope to hear from some of you soon,

Cheers

Paul

 

[Mouldy]

Do my own accounts using Quicken

 

[nybor62]

i use an accountant , keep all reciepts then give to him end of year

quicken never heard of it any good then

 

[Stewart]

I use an accountant and I have a bookkeeper that comes in a couple of times a month.

 

[Mouldy]

Quicken is excellent and very easy to use. Set up catagories as you see fit, ie cost of materials; fuel; insurance; etc etc. Then basically copy your bank statment into the software assigning catorgies to each transaction. If its a private transaction for personal use then have a catagory fot this.

Balance the books at the end of the accounting year and run a profit and loss sheet. Run VAT statments of if your not VAT registered find out if its worth your while becoming so.

Easy peasy!

 

[doug boardley]

quite like the sound of that Quicken is it a freebie?

 

[Gazzer]

I use Instaform Invoices and estimates pro.
It will do everything I need and its very easy to use.

 

[andy8758]

Hello again all,

This post has probably been discussed before but thought I'd ask the question!
I am hoping to start up around May time this year and was wondering what you all do regarding book keeping? Do you/better half keep business related reciepts together etc and present to an accountant a couple of times a year or do you just employ a book keeper who sorts that all out and then send to accountant in time for the tax man?
Hope to hear from some of you soon,

Cheers

Paul

Keep all your receipts. A box file is good for this - chuck em in here every day, then sort them out once a month.

Good idea to keep track of what you are spending. Set budgets (be realistic - e.g. how much to spend on stationary, how much on tiles, how much on marketing, vehicle costs etc. - then stick to your budgets, harder than you think especially the "tiling tools" budget!!); then work out all your expenses for a month - deduct expenses covered by customer billing - add your pay, and divide by 20 - thats going to be your minimum "day rate."

This is where a nice accounts package can help - Quicken and Sage are 2 most popular. However if u r good with Excel you could create your own accounting spreadsheets.

Dont spend too much on your accountant - but employ a good one (recommended by someone you trust the opinion of). How much you use them depends on how much work you generate (and thereby how much accounts work). But generally just let them prepare the year end accounts for the taxman - that will still cost a couple of hundred.

If you dont like doing your own accounts, find someone who is (a) trustworthy, (b) not likely to charge more than £10-15/hour, and (c) is happy for you to employ them for just 3-5 hours a month to update your business accounts.

If at the end of the year you can give the accountant a copy of your business accounts on computer disc, and all your receipts and invoices. That might just save you a whole wedge of money on their very expensive time!

Good luck.

 

[Mouldy]

quite like the sound of that Quicken is it a freebie?

Alas no me old mucka! However it saves me a packet on accountants fee's. I basically get mine to check over what I've accounted for and indeed if I've accounted for everything I can.

 

[Mike]

i just keep a book with logs of all receipts payments etc. i number all the receipts. i photocopy all important documents i.e.insurance payments/van receipt so i've got one for my accountant. i'm going on a freebie book keeping course today so i may get some better ideas.

 

[grumpygrouter]

Quicken is no longer available in this country as it is basically a personal fnance manager. It's bigger brother Quickbooks Pro is available is more like a "proper" accounting package.
Used properly and judiciously, a proper package can save a huge amount of time if you can get to grips with it.

 

[doug boardley]

Quiken not quick enough for me, failed miserably to get my books in on time, spent too much time trying to get my truck sorted via insurance etc and accounts kinda got stuck on the back burner, so will have to swallow the ton fine

 

[Stewart]

Quiken not quick enough for me, failed miserably to get my books in on time, spent too much time trying to get my truck sorted via insurance etc and accounts kinda got stuck on the back burner, so will have to swallow the ton fine

Lol.... What about the six months before that?

 

[doug boardley]

always live it on the edge Stewart, this is first time I've failed tho', I hate doing bookwork!

 

[White Room]

The best accounts system is a Tesco carrier bag:cool2: