Tiny LTD company accounts help please

[Worzel]

Hi all, I hope somebody can help me with this please

I started my limited company in April 2013, so it's nearly time to produce my first year of accounts. GULP

I sell on eBay (60%), Amazon (%35) and my own website (%5) approx

eBay and website sale payments are all through PayPal, also all stock paid for is through PayPal.

I've kept logs (downloaded the entire PayPal activity each month, eBay invoice and Amazon logs)

But now I'm stuck. I don't have a huge amount of sales and I run this alone, I need to get this lot filed into monthly books I believe? then take them to an accountant or even produce the end of year myself?

Please advise, if using software I'd prefer to keep it on my computer and not online if possible. Also happy to pay for software, doesn't need to be free.. whichever is best

Huge thanks in advance

Worz

 

[faradaykeynes]

You can download FREE basic excel from my site, it is very good starting point for accountant to do accounts or use FREE online software quickfile which can take feed from paypal directly

 

[Anna Chandley]

If you are planning to use an accountant to produce the year end accounts and tax returns then it would be worth speaking to them before you do anything further. The accountant would be able to recommend the best way to get your bookkeeping records in order. You could spend a lot of time producing something that is of little use to the accountant otherwise.

 

[VanillaOnlineAccountancy]

It depends on how much you want to do / can do yourself. I would check with your accountant what they want.

 

[Worzel]

Thanks all, I'd like to do it all myself if possible. There isn't many transactions and it's nearly all done in PayPal. It's just knowing where to start..

 

[Scalloway]

You aren't sure how to set up your bookkeeping so I would question your ability to file your own accounts and tax return. Get the bookkeeping right and it will keep accounting fees down.

My recomendation for free software

http://www.vtsoftware.co.uk/cashbook/

 

[zenobialewis87]

I agree with the points highlighted over here. But I have heard a lot about online accounting softwares like Quickbooks, those are nowadays also available in cloud environment. How about using them? they prove really useful i believe.

 

[SBlundell]

so I would question your ability to file your own accounts and tax return. Get the bookkeeping right and it will keep accounting fees down

Agreed. @Worzel - quantity of transactions aren't the only thing that matters when preparing accounts - professionally qualified accountants train for a couple of years to learn everything (and that's only really the start). Just have a look at all the posts on here where people have difficulty balancing balance sheets or completing CT600s etc to see how difficult it can be. You'd be best to speak to your accountant about how you can make your bookkeeping as easy to use as possible and then focus your time on your business instead.

 

[Jeremiah@RHJ Accountants]

Agree to the above post.

When it comes time to service my car i take it the garage and let them do it or if the drain outside my house is blocked i call a drainage company to come unblock it.

Now these are all things i could learn maybe (although i think i will leave the drainage to someone else), but why would i want to waste my time and effort doing this when i can pay someone who is trained how to do this.

This leaves me with time to focus on my business, spend time with family and friends.

I really don't understand why people think they can just do accounts themselves you would not try and unblock your drain or service your car would you?

A good accountant will most likely save you time, and money, with the fee they charge compared to what tax they can potentially save you.

 

[Worzel]

Thanks guys, don't get me wrong.. I don't think for a second that it's the easiest thing in the world to do. Although it's in my nature to try and learn, I learned to plaster at a cost of £550 (2 day course and tools) and did a whole house which I was renting out, it saved me £8000. I have plenty of time on my hands so just thought it might be an idea to learn, book keeping at least.

Ideally I'd like to do my own book keeping and have an accountant file the end of year. I've spoke to 2 local ones, neither had heard of PayPal. Although one of them had heard of eBay. This is why I am getting to the point of thinking it might be better to do myself.

I really don't understand why people think they can just do accounts themselves you would not try and unblock your drain or service your car would you?

My father successfully did his own for 15 years. I've had 8 private messages from 'accountants' since starting this thread. This leads me to naively believe that it can't be so incredibly difficulty or there wouldn't be so many begging for work.

Also, most of them including you offer pre-prepared excel sheets which is great, but isn't that encouraging the thing you don't understand? DIY

 

[Jeremiah@RHJ Accountants]

Learning how to keep your books and doing your year end accounts, CT600, self assessment , Payroll, Dividend calculations and keeping up to date with the ever changing tax law are very different in my opinion. These are just a few of the thing an accountant will be able to do for you.

Now you can learn this it is not impossible but accountants train years to learn this!

I don't know if accountants are begging for work, however sending you a spreadsheet will not mean you can do your own accounts this is a bookkeeping tool which i think it is important for every business owner to understand.

I would advise having you year end accounts filed by an accountant as they can also advise on ways to help your company grow, save tax and spot any errors too.

 

[kevin.doran]

I learned to plaster at a cost of £550 (2 day course and tools) and did a whole house which I was renting out, it saved me £8000.

That must have big one biiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiig house!!!

 

[Worzel]

Thanks all, I might of got mixed up.. it's the bookkeeping I'd like to try and do not the end of year, but having looked at rhj's site I might call them up.

kevin.doran , not huge but is a 5 bed, the ceilings contained asbestos so the quote was to reboard every ceiling, fix any walls and skim every wall and ceiling. And any other prep that was needed. The quote was fair, I had 3 quotes

 

[SBlundell]

Although it's in my nature to try and learn

Nothing wrong with that of course

Ideally I'd like to do my own book keeping and have an accountant file the end of year. I've spoke to 2 local ones, neither had heard of PayPal. Although one of them had heard of eBay. This is why I am getting to the point of thinking it might be better to do myself.

Firstly - yes doing your own bookkeeping and then having an accountant finishing off the submissions is usually the best way to go about things. So long as everything is nice and tidy you shouldn't be paying a bomb to get things finished off.

Secondly - you get good plasterers and bad plasterers. If you search around on UKBF you'll find plenty of forward-thinking modern accountants who are more than up-to-speed on Paypal and eBay

 

[KM-Tiger]

Secondly - you get good plasterers and bad plasterers. If you search around on UKBF you'll find plenty of forward-thinking modern accountants who are more than up-to-speed on Paypal and eBay

Cue bad joke about plastering over cracks in the bookkeeping.

 

[Mitchells Bristol]

I've had 8 private messages from 'accountants' since starting this thread. This leads me to naively believe that it can't be so incredibly difficulty or there wouldn't be so many begging for work.

Interesting (but not surprising)....and it is interesting to compare to this thread:

http://www.ukbusinessforums.co.uk/threads/set-of-accounts-needed-how-much.321473/#post-2388305

where Kevin asked the question early on and only one PM was received, I wonder if the very mention of PMs deterred future accountants from making an approach.

Accountancy seems to be a competitive area these days if there are eight firms competing for one small client who has already said his intention is to prepare his own accounts

 

[David Griffiths]

I've had 8 private messages from 'accountants' since starting this thread.

You shouldn't be sent any private message unless you ask people to contact you that way. Nothing in your post suggested that you were looking for an accountant, so essentially the messages are spam.

It's possible to report unwanted PMs, and the people sending them will receive warnings.

 

[kevin.doran]

Here here David. Those reading this need to back off, this site is here for information purposes. How about sticking to those rules instead of constantly trying to flog your services both blatantly here and even worse behind closed doors. The amount of ppl I've spoken to about this very same issue is unreal.

 

[Worzel]

Thanks for all the replies. I'll need an accountant at some point but for now I'd like to get some books prepared and have an understanding of it. I'm doing this all alone, buying, selling, posting etc. So far so good but I'm clueless when it comes to the books. I've got everything ready to prepare (I've kept all the paypal logs, ebay invoices each month, a text file with notes on what I've spent etc) so the information is all here, I just need to file it into some kind of acceptable books

 

[JBlack]

I've managed for two years without an accountant. From scratch, with no experience. The annual returns were childsplay. Accounts to Companies House easy if a little time consuming. CT600 was more challenging, and took a good couple of hours, but no drama. However, I have seen friends try to copy me and fail. They ended up engaging accountants. I think it comes down to having the right type of mind for the job.

 

[datahound]

Are you using just one bank account for all business purposes.

All your Paypal receipts and all your purchases for stock?

 

[datahound]

I've managed for two years without an accountant. From scratch, with no experience. The annual returns were childsplay. Accounts to Companies House easy if a little time consuming. CT600 was more challenging, and took a good couple of hours, but no drama. However, I have seen friends try to copy me and fail. They ended up engaging accountants. I think it comes down to having the right type of mind for the job.

I did it for a while but I found the corp tax stuff just too complicated.

In the end was easier to pay an accountant to do that and the small payroll and my personal tax return.

 

[Middlers Accountants]

I would make sure you pick an accountant who is comfortable with ecommerce businesses. Some will punish you quote and service wise (not necessarily intentionally) if it's outside their comfort zone whereas others will reward you if they have the experience and systems in place to deal with it. Csv exports of paypal and Amazon are music to our ears these days compared to simplexD cash books!

 

[Worzel]

Thanks all, the whole business account thing was my first issue. I've got a business account but it doesn't see much money (only what comes in from amazon) as nearly all of my money comes through PayPal.. I have reinvested nearly all of the money into stock (via PayPal) so it would have been pointless to transfer it to the business account to then transfer it back to PayPal to pay for stock, fees etc..... this was and still is adding to the messiness of the situation as the accounts I spoke to kept talking about a business bank account even after me explaining that 99% of the money is in paypal.

 

[Scalloway]

Your paypal account is as much a part of the business accounts as the bank account is.

 

[Lentinus]

You can dump it all into Quickfile (quickfile.co.uk) - it makes it nice an easy to tag all the transactions, easy to learn and once up and running needs very little work once a month as it is driven by your bank accounts (VAT returns are a doddle for example) .
Then, if you like (completely optional) you can ask QF to do the year end and submit to Co. House and HMRC. for £200. - NB they just process the numbers and put the right bits in the right places, close off the accounts for the year etc. They do not do any of the other things you might expect from an accountant regards advice - if you need that you need an accountant.
I have no affiliation to QF but I am a happy user of the system and a customer of the submissions service.

Sorry posted before you mentioned your PP vs Bank accs see here for automated PP feed
http://help.quickfile.co.uk/main/1/setup_paypal_automated_feed.htm?searchTxt=pay pal&criteria=

 

[Worzel]

Quick file looks good, I will look into it more

I've managed for two years without an accountant. From scratch, with no experience. The annual returns were childsplay. Accounts to Companies House easy if a little time consuming. CT600 was more challenging, and took a good couple of hours, but no drama. However, I have seen friends try to copy me and fail. They ended up engaging accountants. I think it comes down to having the right type of mind for the job.

Any tips?

 

[VanillaOnlineAccountancy]

It's very time consuming to put each individual transaction from PayPal as they need to be reconciled. It's much easier to enter monthly totals.

 

[Worzel]

Yeah, I've downloaded the PayPal - ALL activity log each month. I've now been looking at PayPal Summary reports -Monthly financial summary. Which shows the start balance, end balance, refunds etc. I also print all eBay & website orders through PayPal so this all comes under my Online Payments Sent..