Thinking of expanding our small business – Advice required please

geek84

Hi folks

A friend and myself run a (very) small business and most ofthe accounting records (sales & purchases) are done via spread sheets andmanual records are kept. We are thinking of expanding the business and wouldbe most grateful if any of you kind folks out there could offer us with someadvice on the following -

1. Ideally, what packages would you recommend for theefficient running of the accounts functions? We have thought of only Sage and Microsoft Office.

2. We are also thinking of eventually employing some morestaff to do the accounts work and eventually would like most of the processeswithin the accounts dept to be documented, by creating some type of manual,particularly regarding the level of access/responsibility etc of the accountsstaff. Could someone suggest how this can be done? Can it be done internally or would it need aprofessionally qualified person to create this manual? How much would it cost to do it?

3. Back-up copies would need to be kept of eachsales/purchase transaction within the dept at a separate location in case offire/theft. Can someone suggest whattype of storage medium could be used for this, together with an indication ofcosts?

4. If someone pays for goods by card over the phone, wewould ideally want the card holder to be present at the time of thetransaction. What checks could be madein order to establish this?

5. Finally, we onlyhave one supplier at the moment. Ideally, what is the most efficient process/procedurethat needs to be followed in order to get more than one supplier on our books?

I'm sorry that I seemed to have asked too many questions,but would be most grateful if you could provide any type of help.

Thanks in advance for you responses.

paddyrg

Was this post copied/pasted from elsewhere? The oddity of the regular missing spaces makes it feel that way!

1)Nothing wrong with Excel, but also consider something like Erply.com or maybe gnucash
2)You want clear job specs for accounts staff? Just do it as a part of their contracts, maybe? Fact is the roles will change over time, don't get too hung up on them.
3)With Erply it's all offsite anyway, or use google drive/skydrive/dropbox/sugarsync/box.com/ubuntu one/spideroak/some other similar service to keep a rolling offsite copy in sync.
4)By definition, it's a CNP transaction. Ask your merchant account provider what checks they suggest beyond CVV. I would in any case only post to the card address.
5)More than one supplier? Just go to the new supplier and buy a bunch of stuff, and sell it. Get and give receipts for everything and keep on recording it in Excel/wherever. Just like you do at the moment I assume.

Are you sure you're ready to be taking on staff? Some of these questions suggest you may be better off getting a part-time bookkeeper for a few hours a week as opposed to committing tens of thousands of pounds.

Hth

pelirocco

Sage

You should employ a qualified book keeper , probably on a self employed basis would be best , discuss with your accountant what he would want them to be able to do

Card machine , if the the customer is there they will have to enter their pin number , so thats the check

More then one supplier , do you mean customer?

nonnatus

A really great small business package is "Quickbooks" which deals with suppliers, customers, invoices, payments, statements, stock control etc etc. Check it out?

You do come across though, quite "novice-ish" to be thinking about taking on loads of extra staff and expanding your business so fast. I trust you have some good advisors somewhere? I'm not trying to put you down, but you must be realistic, walk before you can run and all that...

Good Luck!

Pennywise

Whilst it's good to think about the future, are you sure you're not running before you walk?

Most small businesses simply engage a self employed book-keeper at first for a few hours per week/month, when it gets too much for the proprietors to do it themselves. There's plenty of good, cheap software. I'd suggest https://www.vtsoftware.co.uk (they do a free cash book program) or if you want an online system, try https://www.kashflow.co.uk. Both Sage and Quickbooks are over-the-top for what you need at first in terms of cost, complexity and training needed.

When talking about credit cards etc., again, it's not very common for your first employee to be given that kind of power/responsibility to spend your business money or commit your business. Until you get much larger with several staff, you should be in sole control of your business finances and shouldn't be letting anyone else spend your money. If staff need petty cash or expenses, then you need to draw up some simple rules spelling out the procedure and control.

paddyrg

Marc - you need to sign up as an official company rep with the forum team (see the site terms). This actually protects you as otherwise anyone could claim to be from your company and make unpleasant comments bringing you into disrepute. However you also cannot tout for business on this site, so I have reported your post in the meantime until you get sorted out and official.

mildred1978

Isn't the OP a qualified accountant?

I wonder how he manages to tie his shoelaces with the level of the questions he asks!!!

frankchild

from personal experience i would suggest using Quickbooks. there are different versions and after a little research you should be able to find the one that fits your needs. It is a very simple program that works well.

Best of luck,
Frank

geek84

Hi Folks

Many thanks for your replies, so far.