Book keeping query

an1179

I have down loaded the VT Cash book.

I have a question about inputting info. I have been trying all sorts of solutions but am ending up tying myself in knots :eek:

We have a holiday company and so we take deposts off clients

I bank the deposits against the bank account and input the day it is paid in so this matches up.

This is where I have the problem

The holiday may not be for a few months,

I create a customer account and credit their account with the deposit. that is the double entry

I have a rental ledger and a deposit ledger

When Mr smith arrives he pays the balance by cash or cheque.

Do I transfer the deposit to the month he is holidaying and if I should how do I do it without changing the banking date details?

I have tried so many way

Any help would be gratefully received

AN

fengirl_2

You can't change the month in which you receive payment - that is a fact. Why would you want to anyway - surely all you need to know for book keeping purposes is the amount you have received and the amounts you have paid out. If you want to keep track of who has paid for whcih holiday, I think you would need to set up a separate system on a spreadsheet or something.

Debt_Free_Chick

an1179 wrote: »

I have a rental ledger and a deposit ledger

When Mr smith arrives he pays the balance by cash or cheque.

Do I transfer the deposit to the month he is holidaying and if I should how do I do it without changing the banking date details?

I would create a purchase invoice for the customer and then use the deposit as a payment on account, against that invoice. Just have the rental/income ledger and ditch the deposit one.

This way, you know that the deposit is showing in the books on the day it is paid and it also enables you to keep track of what is owed, as the remainder of the invoice will appear as a debtor. It's also easy to see exactly what balance the customer has to pay at the end - you should even be able to print off a statement to show the balance owed - although I'm not familiar with the software you're using.

HTH

Pennywise

Are you VAT registered? That makes a lot of difference. Assuming you aren't, then when someone pays the deposit, set a new customer account up for them and show it is a receipt from the customer in the "R-P" screen. It will stay there "on account" and won't yet appear in the P&L acccount which is right. When they come to stay, you raise a sales invoice against their account for the full amount, then enter their balancing payment in the "R-P" screen in the same way. You should now have two payments which equal a single invoice that you can allocate against eachother leaving the customer account tidy with a nil balance. The sales invoice is shown on the P&L in the right period, i.e. dated the same time as the customer stayed. If you're VAT registered, it's a lot more complicated as you have to raise a VAT invoice to cover the deposit which will need further entries to transfer it to the right period in the P&L.

EDIT - just noticed you say you've got VT cash book - that's no good for what you're trying to do- you need the full version VT transaction which I think may still be free for the next few months but which will eventually cost a one-off fee of about £100 - the full version has the ledgers whereas cash book is really nothing more than in's and out's.

an1179

Pennywise wrote: »

Are you VAT registered? That makes a lot of difference. Assuming you aren't, then when someone pays the deposit, set a new customer account up for them and show it is a receipt from the customer in the "R-P" screen. It will stay there "on account" and won't yet appear in the P&L acccount which is right. When they come to stay, you raise a sales invoice against their account for the full amount, then enter their balancing payment in the "R-P" screen in the same way. You should now have two payments which equal a single invoice that you can allocate against eachother leaving the customer account tidy with a nil balance. The sales invoice is shown on the P&L in the right period, i.e. dated the same time as the customer stayed. If you're VAT registered, it's a lot more complicated as you have to raise a VAT invoice to cover the deposit which will need further entries to transfer it to the right period in the P&L.

EDIT - just noticed you say you've got VT cash book - that's no good for what you're trying to do- you need the full version VT transaction which I think may still be free for the next few months but which will eventually cost a one-off fee of about £100 - the full version has the ledgers whereas cash book is really nothing more than in's and out's.

Thanks for your reply. Sorry for not replying earlier I've been on holiday in sunny Cyprus

I've just checked I down loaded both cash book and transaction+ and the items I have put on cash book are also on transaction+. So i will set up accounts when we receive deposits as suggested by both pennywise and debt-free-chick

We are not registered for VAT.

Also whilst brain picking. Can I just ask this

My OH is retired and has a company pension. So far to-date he has not drawn a wage

Our accountant advised that we have 3 companies for book-keeping purposes. a rental company a holiday letting company and a groundworks company. The groundworks company should charge the other 2 co's for work done in the maintenance department. But if OH is not drawing a wage and not employing anyone other than 'cash in hand mates' then surely there is no point in this operation and I am only making more work for myself? Or can anyone shine a light on the reasoning behind the project please

Debt_Free_Chick

an1179 wrote: »

Our accountant advised that we have 3 companies for book-keeping purposes. a rental company a holiday letting company and a groundworks company. The groundworks company should charge the other 2 co's for work done in the maintenance department. But if OH is not drawing a wage and not employing anyone other than 'cash in hand mates' then surely there is no point in this operation and I am only making more work for myself? Or can anyone shine a light on the reasoning behind the project please

Ideally, you would treat the GW company as though it were not your own - then, the GW company would do work for the letting company and issue an invoice. The letting company would claim the cost as an expense and the GW company would get income.

If you don't do this there's a danger that - on investigation - HMRC would kick up a stink, especially if it meant that more tax was due! :eek:

an1179

Debt_Free_Chick wrote: »

Ideally, you would treat the GW company as though it were not your own - then, the GW company would do work for the letting company and issue an invoice. The letting company would claim the cost as an expense and the GW company would get income.

If you don't do this there's a danger that - on investigation - HMRC would kick up a stink, especially if it meant that more tax was due! :eek:

Thanks for your reply

That is what I thought, all this is giving me a headache especially as OH thinks that I am making a fuss over nothing when I am trying to do things the correct way.