Best software for recording expenses and VAT?

[Ewen]

I have been looking for a piece of software to record expenses in a way that reduces the data entry. I have tried 1tap receipts and had a play about with quickbooks. Essentially I am after something which will snap receipts in an app and record them into a spread sheet (if i have to enter the VAT separately thats fine).

I have a small restaurant which has about 30 receipts each week. I have an excellent POS system so recording sales is not an issue. Many thanks in advance for your advice!

 

[GLAbusiness]

I use Freeagent for bookkeeping. I capture receipts on phone with an app called Rydoo. This takes a photo of the rec and recognises the amount. does currency conversion etc. It can then export the data directly to freeagent

 

[HostXNow]

I recommend Kashflow. I've been using that for several years now.

 

[Taylor Heath]

I would recommend Xero, you may have to manually enter the receipts (however I am sure there is an app for this). It is extremely user friendly, adheres to MTD requirements and will help reduce your accounts bill if used properly. They also have an extremely useful help centre which shows you how to do almost everything that you will need to on their software (it is cloud based and is accessed through your web browser). I have used many different softwares however think that Xero is by far the most customer friendly especially for small/medium businesses.

 

[faradaykeynes]

Have you looked at Quickfile, its free to use for small and medium size data volume.

 

[jf-financial]

You don't have a business bank account with Natwest do you? If you do you should be able to ask them for a free FreeAgent license

 

[The Online Accountants]

We like Xero, it will record all your business expenditure and also business items paid personally, via its expenses app. You can just photograph invoices on your mobile and upload using the app if you wish. It can also be set up to record VAT and submit returns.

 

[Seb de Lemos]

Xero is excellent at this imo. Can just tie it to your bank account and track expenses that way; and with some banks (e.g. Tide) it categorises and creates the accounting entries automatically also.

 

[Jeremiah@RHJ Accountants]

Xero and Freeagent work best for most of my client form what they tell me.

The app is handy too.

 

[UK Contractor Accountant]

https://uk.pcmag.com/software/32761/guide/the-best-small-business-accounting-software-of-2018

 

[Alan]

Has KashFlow totally fallen out of favour? I been using it for 5 or 6 years now and it seems to do a good job for me, VAT returns, easy to use etc, tight integration with GoCardless and bank account etc. Have the others leap frogged. I was surprised it was even mentioned in UK PC Mag.

 

[GillespieBS]

I used to recommend Kashflow but it did fall behind quite quickly. Xero certainly overtook them quite quickly.

AutoEntry or Receipt bank is what the OP is after. But probably needs to integrate with any of the above systems as they are all effectively the same.

 

[Alan]

I did trial Xero a couple of years back, but it seems to be less intuitive ( more designed for accountants ) and didn't have out of the box integrations - has it improved over time?

p.s. and so much more expensive ..?

 

[GillespieBS]

Accountants get Xero a lot cheaper now so it is pretty much the same price as Kashflow but you are right that Kashflow was always about half the price. I did find Kashflow easier to use at first but bottom line is that Xero are spending far more on marketing and that means that clients come to you asking for Xero.

Freeagent is the next one as Natwest are giving it away for 'free'

 

[estwig]

My bean counter told me to use Xero, so whatever the lady wants, she gets!

 

[Alan]

Although I guess there is no compelling reason to switch from any to any as they all do a similar job. And transition is always painful.

 

[arnydnxluk]

Another vote for Xero, the best all around IMO.

I would recommend FreeAgent for one person businesses, e.g. freelancing.