Basic Bookkeeping Tips/Books

smoove

Anyone got simple books on looking after reciepts and markings things out to make it nice and simple for your self and so its all ready and neat to hand to your accountant.

Im after very simple advice, because I want to know how (or IF!!!?) if I can claim on things im buying for the business out of my own account, considering its not even started yet, things like desks, chairs etc.

fengirl_2

You cannot claim on anything - you include all your outgoings in your accounts to reduce your tax bill.
If you PM me, I will happily send you some example spreadsheets to use for your book keeping.

ukbill69

Yes anything for business you can claim. The first year of trading like desk etc are classed as assists. Id suggest using sage instant accounts, its a good program and your account will love you for it. It will grow with your business.

Pennywise

ukbill69 wrote: »

Id suggest using sage instant accounts, its a good program and your account will love you for it. It will grow with your business.

Ask your accountant. Accountants won't love you for using Sage - some might, but if you look on the accountants forums and the UK business forums, you'll see that the majority of accountants posting on there hate it. If a prospective client came to me and told me he was using Sage, I'd be giving him a much higher quote as the vast majority of people don't bother getting proper training and make a right hash of it. There are plenty of better, and cheaper, accounting packages. https://www.vtsoftware.co.uk is a free cash book which is remarkably easy to us. https://www.kashflow.co.uk is a well recommended online system that is very user friendly. See the other post in this area for a free copy of Quickbooks simplestart which is also popular and much easier to use than Sage. At the end of the day, you need something that both you and your accountant are happy with - if you take their advice, your accountancy fees should be a lot lower.

Phantom_Avenger

Simplest one for UK I reckon is Simplex D. The lass who wrote it sells it on floppy on Ebay, I got it for about a fiver. You can get the books for it an' all but the software generates purchase ledgers and whatnot to make it simple as ya go along

smoove

fengirl

If you could send them over to me that would be most appreciated!



My accountant basically just said to me, keep all invoices/receipts and that was that. Im kicking myself now because i didnt ask more questions, but Im hoping as this bookkeeping book I've bought will steer me in the right direction.

I dont know the very basic of things, such as, how do I put down in my records that I paid say £40 cheque into my business bank account?

minnie123

I'm an accountant and I HATE - Sage & Simplex D - 99.99% of the time people don't know how to use them properly and they actually make the accountants job take longer hence costing you more money.

I would say just get a cashbook from a stationers list everything coming in on one side (eg, sales, money paid into the business from yourself, loans etc) and everything going out on the other (eg, purchases, telephone, stationery, motor, etc).

It would be good if you could seperate each expense into it's own column. Do it monthly and add the monthly totals up.

Keep all your invoices (sales & purchases) and number them putting the number next to the relevant transaction in your cashbook.

When the accountant needs your books send them your cashbook, your folders of invoices, all your bank statements, details of any loans or HP's taken on, an estimate of stock held at your year end (if any) and a list of your assets (car, computer etc) and your accountant should be laughing.

sandraroffey

when i had a business, my accountant told me to keep it all in simplex D. and for the VAT as well. if you know how to use it, its easy.

fguk

OMG, did someone actually suggest keeping accounts on paper? This cant be 1974, because I am using the internet.......:D

As with most things in computers, put rubbish into your accounts package, get rubbish back out.

I have been using Sage for 4 years now, and have many customers that have used it for longer....the hardest thing about it is the Accounts side of things, not the program itself.

fengirl_2

Smoove, PM me your e mail addy. If you could let me know what type of business you are running, this would help.

elsiemary

I am a unpaid trustee for a charity. They currently use Excel data base for records, but this does not give 'at a glance iformation'. What simple software can be recommended for recording purchases, sales invoices, stock control (what is held, what has been sold, etc, + cost of item, sale price of item, who sold to, etc)? PC World recommended MYOB Accounting at £288. The MYOB BusinessBasic at £60 did not include stock control. Is this a bit pricey for a charity?