Income/Expenses tracker tips?

Loveacuppa

Hi everyone. I'm self-employed and anything to do with maths/numbers in general has never been my strong point to say the least! I know I need a way to keep track of my income and expenses, both for my business and personally, but I'm struggling to find a way that I can keep up with. All the apps I've seen are either far too basic, or so complicated they make my head hurt. I've tried making a spreadsheet myself but I don't really know how to put it together in a manageable way. Each time I try to create one I think I've finally done it ok, and then I come back to it a week later and don't understand what I've done. I'm my own worst enemy, I swear! I need something simple enough that I can remember how to fill it in at the end of the week, even when I've had a long day, but detailed enough so that I actually know where I'm at money-wise. Any advice or recommendations are welcome, because I'm a bit lost!
Thanks in advance!

SensibleSarah

My self employed business is fairly straightforward so I just created my own spreadsheet to keep track of everything. I have a tab for income (in my case, that's the invoices that I send to my clients) with info like the date the invoice was sent and who to, a unique ref number, the amount they owe, the date it's due, the date they actually paid it. I do also note here (for my own reference) what I have done with the money for each invoice i.e. how much of it goes towards what I pay myself and how much is set aside for tax/NI etc. 

A separate tab in the spreadsheet for expenses which just details the date of each expense, what it was, the amount, the category of expense e.g. mileage, office supplies etc and where the reciept is saved in case I need it down the line. 

Pennywise

There are lots of different book-keeping software options.  You just need to find one that suits you.  Personally, I still tend to recommend the desktop VT book-keeping system simply due to simplicity. There's nothing I've found quite so simple in the new breed of online systems.

Unfortunately, most of the online systems can appear daunting at first, you just have to learn to ignore most of the options as probably 99% of the functionality simply won't be needed by you.  The key, though, is to get through the pain barrier and set up the live bank feeds with auto explanations which massively reduces the amount of manual keying in and thus makes it easier in the long run.

Probably the best online system to keep things simple is Freeagent, which would be free if you have a Nat West business bank account.  It's very simple indeed and doesn't have all the unnecessary (for most people) bells and whistles of other software like Quickbooks and Xero.

Why not ask your accountant what they'd suggest?

Keedie

@Loveacuppa I've used Freeagent, Xero and Quickbooks and I find keeping a track of the transactions etc the easiest to do in Quickbooks. But I found the invoicing structure in Xero better. Quickbooks are always doing discounts, I'm paying £2 a month +VAT for 6 months on a deal, and the app is great. I have the Quickbooks Self Employed subscription (non VAT trader). The usual price is £8 +VAT a month.

I've not sent an invoice as yet, but in terms of expenses and income, Quickbooks is great as it gives you a running total of income and expenses to be able to estimate your self assesment too. And you can categorise a transaction as business, personal or split it as both types and you can disregard transactions altogether. I have automatic bank feeds and I can literally categorise everything within the app in a matter of seconds, and create rules so that it can recognise the same types of transactions and how to categorise them (such as bank fees etc).

I've just seen on another thread that there is an accounting system called Quick File which is similar to Quick Books and is free for under 1,000 transactions year https://www.quickfile.co.uk/home/pricing. Not heard of it before, but a few people on that thread seemed to be impressed by it. This is the thread if you are interested https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6219053/small-business-accounting-software#latest.

Neasy

I think Zoho Books is fantastic myself. 

skycatcher

I'm using Quickfile in my small business after previously using Quickbooks. Its free and i find it a real game changer. What used to take me about 2 hours a month now takes 15 .mins.