Sole Trader and cash sales

FloFlo

cinderfella wrote: »

The stationery book you need is called a Simplex Book.
Cash differences are always adjusted to sales should there be no explanation for a shortage of cash. That is by your accountant, should you need one.

No accountant needed, teeny tiny 2nd income for OH. Thanks for the Simplex Book tip I have looked it up and will set up a spreadsheet based on it and what I need.

I was planning to keep weekly/monthly records print them each month and put them with invoices/expenses receipts for that month.

FloFlo

antrobus wrote: »

A Simplex Book! Please God no, not a Simplex Book!

Seriously, Simplex Books are wonderful in theory, if you complete the whole thing properly. Unfortunately, nobody every does that. The damn things are a nightmare.:)

What would you suggest?

CKhalvashi

zygurat789 wrote: »

Surely they do just that, they have a copy of the till roll and every shop that has a till should also keep their copy of the till rolls as part of their books of account.
After all your books are your defence against HMRC.

We are furnished (by iTunes/Google etc) a full list of what sold and when.

Makes doing our accounts a lot easier (as if not, we wouldn't be able to pay who we need to), but also gives a decent defence for the tax man.

When I was taxiing, I used to write down every job, fare paid, top paid etc, although now the computer system does that, and issues the driver with a detailed invoice at the end of the week (the meters are connected to the computer system, and it's useful for the office to collect the 15/40% + VAT that is owed)

zygurat789

FloFlo wrote: »

What would you suggest?

A spreadsheet, if you are in a weekly cycle business then weekly totals otherwise monthly totals. Always building up to an annual figure which will be the ones on your tax return.
Use columns for each analysis throughout the year and include lots of checks.

Pennywise

zygurat789 wrote: »

A spreadsheet, if you are in a weekly cycle business then weekly totals otherwise monthly totals. Always building up to an annual figure which will be the ones on your tax return.
Use columns for each analysis throughout the year and include lots of checks.

A Spreadsheet! Please God no, not a Spreadsheet!

Seriously, Spreadsheets are wonderful in theory, if you complete the whole thing properly. Unfortunately, nobody every does that. The damn things are a nightmare.

(Sorry Antrobus, I couldn't resist)

But more seriously, use proper software instead that will do the additions, analysis, etc., https://www.vtsoftware.co.uk do a free cash book software you can download.

Spreadsheets are a pain in the neck as people WILL enter new lines, columns and sheets without changing all the overall totals, people WILL enter numbers as text (i.e. enter a £ sign or a comma) so they appear in the sheet but aren't included in the totals, they WILL mess up the row/column calculations, the WILL "hide" rows or columns instead of deleting them so that the invisible numbers are still included in totals, they WILL format in red to mean a minus figure and then print it out in black and white!!!!

I've had 30 years of picking up amateur spreadsheets and fed up of the damn things. Less than 10% don't have serious errors, and many of them have come from qualified/experienced/intelligent people. They're a nightmare. Fine for modelling etc., but as a historic record keeping tool, they're awful.

zygurat789

Pennywise wrote: »

A Spreadsheet! Please God no, not a Spreadsheet!

Seriously, Spreadsheets are wonderful in theory, if you complete the whole thing properly. Unfortunately, nobody every does that. The damn things are a nightmare.

(Sorry Antrobus, I couldn't resist)

But more seriously, use proper software instead that will do the additions, analysis, etc., www.vtsoftware.co.uk do a free cash book software you can download.

Spreadsheets are a pain in the neck as people WILL enter new lines, columns and sheets without changing all the overall totals, people WILL enter numbers as text (i.e. enter a £ sign or a comma) so they appear in the sheet but aren't included in the totals, they WILL mess up the row/column calculations, the WILL "hide" rows or columns instead of deleting them so that the invisible numbers are still included in totals, they WILL format in red to mean a minus figure and then print it out in black and white!!!!

I've had 30 years of picking up amateur spreadsheets and fed up of the damn things. Less than 10% don't have serious errors, and many of them have come from qualified/experienced/intelligent people. They're a nightmare. Fine for modelling etc., but as a historic record keeping tool, they're awful.

I obviously know people who are more computer literate than you.
Oh I always give them a training session.
I have very little trouble sorting their few minor errors.

Mistral001

Pennywise wrote: »

A Spreadsheet! Please God no, not a Spreadsheet!

Seriously, Spreadsheets are wonderful in theory, if you complete the whole thing properly. Unfortunately, nobody every does that. The damn things are a nightmare.

(Sorry Antrobus, I couldn't resist)

But more seriously, use proper software instead that will do the additions, analysis, etc., www.vtsoftware.co.uk do a free cash book software you can download.

Spreadsheets are a pain in the neck as people WILL enter new lines, columns and sheets without changing all the overall totals, people WILL enter numbers as text (i.e. enter a £ sign or a comma) so they appear in the sheet but aren't included in the totals, they WILL mess up the row/column calculations, the WILL "hide" rows or columns instead of deleting them so that the invisible numbers are still included in totals, they WILL format in red to mean a minus figure and then print it out in black and white!!!!

I've had 30 years of picking up amateur spreadsheets and fed up of the damn things. Less than 10% don't have serious errors, and many of them have come from qualified/experienced/intelligent people. They're a nightmare. Fine for modelling etc., but as a historic record keeping tool, they're awful.

Ah an accountancy professional's view on spreadsheets!


I use excel a lot in my work, but for my bookkeeping I wish I didn't use it. As Pennywise says it is the small errors of say entering a coma instead of a decimal point or having a cell formatted as text (that one sends pivot tables crazy) that can create problems that take ages to sort out.


Unfortunately I have always used spreadsheets for my financial books so it would mean a big change to move to another system, but if I was starting my business tomorrow, I would probably do as Pennywise suggests and use a proper accountancy software package.

zygurat789

Mistral001 wrote: »

Ah an accountancy professional's view on spreadsheets!


I use excel a lot in my work, but for my bookkeeping I wish I didn't use it. As Pennywise says it is the small errors of say entering a coma instead of a decimal point or having a cell formatted as text (that one sends pivot tables crazy) that can create problems that take ages to sort out.


Unfortunately I have always used spreadsheets for my financial books so it would mean a big change to move to another system, but if I was starting my business tomorrow, I would probably do as Pennywise suggests and use a proper accountancy software package.

Do I take it that you've never actually used one before?

All the things Pennywise complained of were faults of a manual system. They were highlighted by techniques such as casting and crosscasting, the same philosophy can be applied to spreadsheets.

It's journal entries created by someone because they thought, at the time, that it would put things right. What things and what was wrong will always be a mystery because they were so pleased to have got it right that they thought they would never need to explain it. And now it's all forgotten leaving the pooor accountant to second guess it all again.

theesel1994

You know one thing I really hate about (other people's) spreadsheets is the refusal to do any formatting on them. Keeping the columns the same size rather than making them fit the contents.

I have set margins, usually 2cm left and right (to allow for punching holes for filing) and 2cm top and bottom but reducing it if necessary to keep everything on one page.

But the thing I hate the most is the refusal of people to format number columns as numbers or currency. By that I mean not having it formatted to two decimal points. So you could have
12.35
1.5
1456
14.56
1456.2

And formatting in red but printing in b/w - much better to format minus figures in brackets.

zygurat789

theesel1994 wrote: »

You know one thing I really hate about (other people's) spreadsheets is the refusal to do any formatting on them. Keeping the columns the same size rather than making them fit the contents.

I have set margins, usually 2cm left and right (to allow for punching holes for filing) and 2cm top and bottom but reducing it if necessary to keep everything on one page.

But the thing I hate the most is the refusal of people to format number columns as numbers or currency. By that I mean not having it formatted to two decimal points. So you could have
12.35
1.5
1456
14.56
1456.2

And formatting in red but printing in b/w - much better to format minus figures in brackets.

Selecting all cells: Firmat:Number:OK