[CF Facilities]

Boring I know but I have just gone limited and need a bit of advice.

I currently use aworka which I great and will continue to use for scheduling etc  but I would like to use a a stand alone accounts package.  Preferably free but definitely cheap.

What do you all use?

Spreadsheet?
Software?  Cloud based? Quickbooks etc?

Thanks for your help.

[Kev Martin]

Boring I know but I have just gone limited and need a bit of advice.

I currently use aworka which I great and will continue to use for scheduling etc  but I would like to use a a stand alone accounts package.  Preferably free but definitely cheap.

What do you all use?

Spreadsheet?
Software?  Cloud based? Quickbooks etc?

Thanks for your help.

I use an accountant.  I simply don’t have the time or the inclination to do my own books, wages and VAT returns.  For the annual cost they are worth their weight in gold in my opinion.

[John Mart]

Boring I know but I have just gone limited and need a bit of advice.

I currently use aworka which I great and will continue to use for scheduling etc  but I would like to use a a stand alone accounts package.  Preferably free but definitely cheap.

What do you all use?

Spreadsheet?
Software?  Cloud based? Quickbooks etc?

Thanks for your help.

Why not just use Aworka? That’s what we use.

[John Mart]

Boring I know but I have just gone limited and need a bit of advice.

I currently use aworka which I great and will continue to use for scheduling etc  but I would like to use a a stand alone accounts package.  Preferably free but definitely cheap.

What do you all use?

Spreadsheet?
Software?  Cloud based? Quickbooks etc?

Thanks for your help.

I use an accountant.  I simply don’t have the time or the inclination.  For the annual cost they are worth their weight in gold in my opinion.

But surely you give him a spreadsheet? Not just a pile of receipts?

[Smudger]

All details are on cleaner planner - everything is handed to the accountant

That’s what they are paid to do

Darran

[Go]

Our accountant takes all the info off aworka.

[Kev Martin]

Boring I know but I have just gone limited and need a bit of advice.

I currently use aworka which I great and will continue to use for scheduling etc  but I would like to use a a stand alone accounts package.  Preferably free but definitely cheap.

What do you all use?

Spreadsheet?
Software?  Cloud based? Quickbooks etc?

Thanks for your help.

I use an accountant.  I simply don’t have the time or the inclination.  For the annual cost they are worth their weight in gold in my opinion.

But surely you give him a spreadsheet? Not just a pile of receipts?

Nope he deals with it himself.  Everything is on our main computer and I provided him with a MAC in his office with unique access to any programs he needs.  He also has a member of staff as a contact for anything he can’t resolve, then all other loose receipts, letters etc are scanned and placed in his box which he empties regularly. 

[John Mart]

Boring I know but I have just gone limited and need a bit of advice.

I currently use aworka which I great and will continue to use for scheduling etc  but I would like to use a a stand alone accounts package.  Preferably free but definitely cheap.

What do you all use?

Spreadsheet?
Software?  Cloud based? Quickbooks etc?

Thanks for your help.

I use an accountant.  I simply don’t have the time or the inclination.  For the annual cost they are worth their weight in gold in my opinion.

But surely you give him a spreadsheet? Not just a pile of receipts?

Nope he deals with it himself.  Everything is on our main computer and I provided him with a MAC in his office with unique access to any programs he needs.  He also has a member of staff as a contact for anything he can’t resolve, then all other loose receipts, letters etc are scanned and placed in his box which he empties regularly.

So effectively he is your book keeper as well as accountant. For a window cleaner using Aworka all sales are automatically recorded via the planner, it’s then just a case of entering expenses as they arise and bob’s your live in lover. Books booked! Your business is a little more complex than ours.

[Stoots]

I use cleaner planner then copy the info into an excel spreadsheet where I do my profit  and loss etc.

It's not as simple as just putting everything in cleaner planner or aworka there are other things you need to record, bank interest, loans, expenses,wages, costs, blah blah.

[John Mart]

I use cleaner planner then copy the info into an excel spreadsheet where I do my profit  and loss etc.

It's not as simple as just putting everything in cleaner planner or aworka there are other things you need to record, bank interest, loans, expenses,wages, costs, blah blah.

It is as simple as that because it contains everything your accountant needs to prepare year end accounts. All of the things in your list are expenses and you should record them. Aworka has the option to record them to there so why not use it then export to Excel for your accountant.

[Kev Martin]

Boring I know but I have just gone limited and need a bit of advice.

I currently use aworka which I great and will continue to use for scheduling etc  but I would like to use a a stand alone accounts package.  Preferably free but definitely cheap.

What do you all use?

Spreadsheet?
Software?  Cloud based? Quickbooks etc?

Thanks for your help.

I use an accountant.  I simply don’t have the time or the inclination.  For the annual cost they are worth their weight in gold in my opinion.

But surely you give him a spreadsheet? Not just a pile of receipts?

Nope he deals with it himself.  Everything is on our main computer and I provided him with a MAC in his office with unique access to any programs he needs.  He also has a member of staff as a contact for anything he can’t resolve, then all other loose receipts, letters etc are scanned and placed in his box which he empties regularly.

So effectively he is your book keeper as well as accountant. For a window cleaner using Aworka all sales are automatically recorded via the planner, it’s then just a case of entering expenses as they arise and bob’s your live in lover. Books booked! Your business is a little more complex than ours.

Does that mean you don't want to talk to me anymore?

[John Mart]

Boring I know but I have just gone limited and need a bit of advice.

I currently use aworka which I great and will continue to use for scheduling etc  but I would like to use a a stand alone accounts package.  Preferably free but definitely cheap.

What do you all use?

Spreadsheet?
Software?  Cloud based? Quickbooks etc?

Thanks for your help.

I use an accountant.  I simply don’t have the time or the inclination.  For the annual cost they are worth their weight in gold in my opinion.

But surely you give him a spreadsheet? Not just a pile of receipts?

Nope he deals with it himself.  Everything is on our main computer and I provided him with a MAC in his office with unique access to any programs he needs.  He also has a member of staff as a contact for anything he can’t resolve, then all other loose receipts, letters etc are scanned and placed in his box which he empties regularly.

So effectively he is your book keeper as well as accountant. For a window cleaner using Aworka all sales are automatically recorded via the planner, it’s then just a case of entering expenses as they arise and bob’s your live in lover. Books booked! Your business is a little more complex than ours.

Does that mean you don't want to talk to me anymore?

God forbid! 

I'm just saying that you have goods and services. You therefore have a more complicated business model and a simple system like Aworka that works fine for us, probably wouldn't work for you.

[Stoots]

I use cleaner planner then copy the info into an excel spreadsheet where I do my profit  and loss etc.

It's not as simple as just putting everything in cleaner planner or aworka there are other things you need to record, bank interest, loans, expenses,wages, costs, blah blah.

It is as simple as that because it contains everything your accountant needs to prepare year end accounts. All of the things in your list are expenses and you should record them. Aworka has the option to record them to there so why not use it then export to Excel for your accountant.

What about go cardless/PayPal fees? How do you track them ?

So how do you check all your books/company bank account balances through the year ?

I input all my data into an excel spreadsheet so I can see that everything is recorded and balanced at the year end before I send to the accountant.

If you are simply sending the lot over at the year end then your  our accountant is also your bookeeper.

[John Mart]

I use cleaner planner then copy the info into an excel spreadsheet where I do my profit  and loss etc.

It's not as simple as just putting everything in cleaner planner or aworka there are other things you need to record, bank interest, loans, expenses,wages, costs, blah blah.

It is as simple as that because it contains everything your accountant needs to prepare year end accounts. All of the things in your list are expenses and you should record them. Aworka has the option to record them to there so why not use it then export to Excel for your accountant.

What about go cardless/PayPal fees? How do you track them ?
I don't use Paypal, but Gocardless fees are assigned by Aworka.

So how do you check all your books/company bank account balances through the year ?
By books, do you mean P/L etc? If so it's all tracked by Aworka as all expenses are recorded. Re: bank, we don't touch that. We just give the statements to our accountant. We don't need to touch it.

I input all my data into an excel spreadsheet so I can see that everything is recorded and balanced at the year end before I send to the accountant.
We just export the Aworka file as .xls and give bank statements.

If you are simply sending the lot over at the year end then your  our accountant is also your bookeeper.
If you say so. We get charged around £600 + VAT a year so it's remarkably cheap in that case.

[Stoots]

I use cleaner planner then copy the info into an excel spreadsheet where I do my profit  and loss etc.

It's not as simple as just putting everything in cleaner planner or aworka there are other things you need to record, bank interest, loans, expenses,wages, costs, blah blah.

It is as simple as that because it contains everything your accountant needs to prepare year end accounts. All of the things in your list are expenses and you should record them. Aworka has the option to record them to there so why not use it then export to Excel for your accountant.

What about go cardless/PayPal fees? How do you track them ?
I don't use Paypal, but Gocardless fees are assigned by Aworka.

So how do you check all your books/company bank account balances through the year ?
By books, do you mean P/L etc? If so it's all tracked by Aworka as all expenses are recorded. Re: bank, we don't touch that. We just give the statements to our accountant. We don't need to touch it.

I input all my data into an excel spreadsheet so I can see that everything is recorded and balanced at the year end before I send to the accountant.
We just export the Aworka file as .xls and give bank statements.

If you are simply sending the lot over at the year end then your  our accountant is also your bookeeper.
If you say so. We get charged around £600 + VAT a year so it's remarkably cheap in that case.

Ok so essentially  you just record everything through aworka and send that off with your bank statements and your accountant does the rest.

That's good and it is cheap, mine is around the same price but wants reconciled bank/p+l accounts, any extra work that they would have to do to balance the books etc would be extra cost.

I can see the benefits time wise to how you do it but at the same time until the accountant has done there bit at the end of the year you don't actually know how much tax you will be paying etc, it's seems a bit like send it off and see what you get back whereas I like to see what's what each month.

I will be looking for a cheaper accountant next year though as mine is raising prices to £1100 Inc vat next year and ive had a few quotes for about half that, I'm probably overpaying considering I'm doing all the bookeeping for them.

[Soupy]

The problem is, there's no bank function, there's no chart of accounts, there's no asset register. How are you managing to do a vat return without even reconciling your bank account?

[John Mart]

The problem is, there's no bank function, there's no chart of accounts, there's no asset register. How are you managing to do a vat return without even reconciling your bank account?

Although it’s about to change, we’ve been on flat rate so it’s easy, just 12% of income which is all recorded on Aworka.

How will that get more complicated than subtracting VAT paid out on goods from 20% VAT received from income? That’s a genuine question? Am I missing some complexity?

Regarding the other things, asset register and tax to be paid on dividends and even actual profit after asset deductions and so on, I’m not really all that interested as long as I see that annual turnover and operating profit is improving. These things I can see at a glance on Aworka.

As a self employed window cleaner I never used an accountant and as a limited company, it’s still a simple business and all I really need is audited accounts. Actually this month I did call the accountant for tax advice on a lump sum pension payout. His advice was to issue class b shares to my wife to take the bulk of the dividends this year.

[John Mart]

I use cleaner planner then copy the info into an excel spreadsheet where I do my profit  and loss etc.

It's not as simple as just putting everything in cleaner planner or aworka there are other things you need to record, bank interest, loans, expenses,wages, costs, blah blah.

It is as simple as that because it contains everything your accountant needs to prepare year end accounts. All of the things in your list are expenses and you should record them. Aworka has the option to record them to there so why not use it then export to Excel for your accountant.

What about go cardless/PayPal fees? How do you track them ?
I don't use Paypal, but Gocardless fees are assigned by Aworka.

So how do you check all your books/company bank account balances through the year ?
By books, do you mean P/L etc? If so it's all tracked by Aworka as all expenses are recorded. Re: bank, we don't touch that. We just give the statements to our accountant. We don't need to touch it.

I input all my data into an excel spreadsheet so I can see that everything is recorded and balanced at the year end before I send to the accountant.
We just export the Aworka file as .xls and give bank statements.

If you are simply sending the lot over at the year end then your  our accountant is also your bookeeper.
If you say so. We get charged around £600 + VAT a year so it's remarkably cheap in that case.

Ok so essentially  you just record everything through aworka and send that off with your bank statements and your accountant does the rest.

That's good and it is cheap, mine is around the same price but wants reconciled bank/p+l accounts, any extra work that they would have to do to balance the books etc would be extra cost.

I can see the benefits time wise to how you do it but at the same time until the accountant has done there bit at the end of the year you don't actually know how much tax you will be paying etc, it's seems a bit like send it off and see what you get back whereas I like to see what's what each month.

I will be looking for a cheaper accountant next year though as mine is raising prices to £1100 Inc vat next year and ive had a few quotes for about half that, I'm probably overpaying considering I'm doing all the bookeeping for them.

That does seem expensive if you’re doing all the work.

Regarding tax payable, that’s correct. But it’s not very different than not knowing until I’ve submitted my tax return as a self employed person and I’m fine with it.

[John Mart]

Actually I'll go further, the only thing I'm really interested in is the number of regular 8 weekly customers and forecasted income from them. I know my costs and my operating profit. The rest is for the accountant.

[Go]

It’s the advice, as you said, that’s worth the money. Having an accountant to retrospectively look at a year and tell you how to play it, is great.

[Kev Martin]

Boring I know but I have just gone limited and need a bit of advice.

I currently use aworka which I great and will continue to use for scheduling etc  but I would like to use a a stand alone accounts package.  Preferably free but definitely cheap.

What do you all use?

Spreadsheet?
Software?  Cloud based? Quickbooks etc?

Thanks for your help.

I use an accountant.  I simply don’t have the time or the inclination.  For the annual cost they are worth their weight in gold in my opinion.

But surely you give him a spreadsheet? Not just a pile of receipts?

Nope he deals with it himself.  Everything is on our main computer and I provided him with a MAC in his office with unique access to any programs he needs.  He also has a member of staff as a contact for anything he can’t resolve, then all other loose receipts, letters etc are scanned and placed in his box which he empties regularly.

So effectively he is your book keeper as well as accountant. For a window cleaner using Aworka all sales are automatically recorded via the planner, it’s then just a case of entering expenses as they arise and bob’s your live in lover. Books booked! Your business is a little more complex than ours.

Does that mean you don't want to talk to me anymore?

God forbid! 

I'm just saying that you have goods and services. You therefore have a more complicated business model and a simple system like Aworka that works fine for us, probably wouldn't work for you.

OH!  That’s OK then I thought you were shunning me because you had joined the Motorhome Set and you weren’t talking to lowly Caravanners.

[John Mart]

Boring I know but I have just gone limited and need a bit of advice.

I currently use aworka which I great and will continue to use for scheduling etc  but I would like to use a a stand alone accounts package.  Preferably free but definitely cheap.

What do you all use?

Spreadsheet?
Software?  Cloud based? Quickbooks etc?

Thanks for your help.

I use an accountant.  I simply don’t have the time or the inclination.  For the annual cost they are worth their weight in gold in my opinion.

But surely you give him a spreadsheet? Not just a pile of receipts?

Nope he deals with it himself.  Everything is on our main computer and I provided him with a MAC in his office with unique access to any programs he needs.  He also has a member of staff as a contact for anything he can’t resolve, then all other loose receipts, letters etc are scanned and placed in his box which he empties regularly.

So effectively he is your book keeper as well as accountant. For a window cleaner using Aworka all sales are automatically recorded via the planner, it’s then just a case of entering expenses as they arise and bob’s your live in lover. Books booked! Your business is a little more complex than ours.

Does that mean you don't want to talk to me anymore?

God forbid! 

I'm just saying that you have goods and services. You therefore have a more complicated business model and a simple system like Aworka that works fine for us, probably wouldn't work for you.

OH!  That’s OK then I thought you were shunning me because you had joined the Motorhome Set and you weren’t talking to lowly Caravanners.

We're all pikeys together.

[֍Winp®oClean֍]

WOW. I just tot up my income from an A4 diary, tot up my expenses and then input the said values into the relevant boxes within online self assesment. Make a basic accounts satement in MS Word to accompany the figures. Takes about 3  to 4 hours and 2 cups of coffee every year! 
Oh, and it's free too!!
My previous accountant charged over £400 just to input MY figures into the online form!! Screw that!!👊👊

[John Mart]

WOW. I just tot up my income from an A4 diary, tot up my expenses and then input the said values into the relevant boxes within online self assesment. Make a basic accounts satement in MS Word to accompany the figures. Takes about 3  to 4 hours and 2 cups of coffee every year! 
Oh, and it's free too!!
My previous accountant charged over £400 just to input MY figures into the online form!! Screw that!!👊👊

Not an option for limited. You need audited accounts.

[Pete Thompson]

Not an option for limited. You need audited accounts.

You only need audit if 2 of the following apply:

- Your turnover exceeds £10.2 million
- You have assets exceeding £5.1 million
- You employ more than 50 people

Unless of course a bank or finance company that is lending to you requires them.

[֍Winp®oClean֍]

Not an option for limited. You need audited accounts.

You only need audit if 2 of the following apply:

- Your turnover exceeds £10.2 million
- You have assets exceeding £5.1 million
- You employ more than 50 people

Unless of course a bank or finance company that is lending to you requires them.

Most on here seem to meet those criteria!!

[John Mart]

Not an option for limited. You need audited accounts.

You only need audit if 2 of the following apply:

- Your turnover exceeds £10.2 million
- You have assets exceeding £5.1 million
- You employ more than 50 people

Unless of course a bank or finance company that is lending to you requires them.

I used the word "audit" loosely. Every limited company has to submit accounts and even if not a legal requirement for an accountant to prepare them (I thought it was) not many non accountants or specialists would be able to do it. So doing it yourself  isn't really an option and the cost of preparing these needs to be taken into account in deciding whether it's worthwhile to go limited. I always did my own tax returns incidentally.