freeagent from barclays any good?

[Karimbo]

Barclays offers an upgraded business banking services

a lot of the stuff I don't need like

business plan maker
data backup - hmmm, already have sugarsync
legal compliance - do I need that?
training - single director, (sole employee) business
website creation - hurrr durrr
finance - the only thing that looks good.

Now, they have a software called liveagent - is this any good? does it beat other accounting software, since I'll be payin 14.50 per month (£174 per year), is this value for money? (I will be paying that for liveagent as the other services are unlikely to be used)

I would need a accounting software that is easy to do the VAT returns and payroll. The Liveagent thing looked amazing when I spoke to my branch manager but now that I've taken the rose tinted glasses off I don't know what to thing.

Business is a multimedia equipment hire business, we're just focusing on one area, to hire out video rendering equipment to media companies to help with their rendering for peak uses.

We'll probably just have 20-30K worth of assets that we re rent. So our business is simple, initially we'll have a lot of purchases but then there's not going to be masses of transactions so accounting should be straight forward.


OTOH I do need a credit checking facility to look up businesses, make sure the companies we lend to are liquid and have good credit rating. Barclays only charge £10.50 a month which seems cheap.

 

[Karimbo]

Another question, what would the ball park estimate be for the above business if I use an accounting software that does the VAT returns and payro0ll.

I'm used to doing self assessment and studied accountancy at uni - I'm just trying to cut down on cost.

If I am legally allowed to do VAT returns all by myself and also do the payroll (for me only). Just go to the accountant for the year end - that's would be fine.

I got quoted £500 + VAT all inclusive, which is reasonable but I want to bring it down to £350 + VAT.

I feel like I'm being quoted for companies that are a lot more complex. Turnover is expected to be £34K - I decided to voluntarily register for VAT because all my customers are VAT registered businesses. Also because I can just buy all my equipment from the EU and have the VAT deducted from source which will be great for cash flow.

 

[Karimbo]

n.b. freeagent costs £25 for ltd companies per month, looks like if you want to use it you get a good discount if you do it through barclays

 

[StevensOnln1]

Most accounting software has VAT returns built in, even free ones like VT Cashbook. No reason you can't do the VAT returns yourself if you know what you're doing. There is also plenty of free and low cost payroll software out there.

Sent from my GT-P1000 using UK Business Forums

 

[MyAccountantOnline]

My firm acts for many small businesses and the two packages most used by our clients are -

VT cashbook - which is free, and
Accounts Portal

I rate both very highly and would certainly look at other options before signing up via Barclays.

I think Accounts Portal is one of the best value for money complete online packages.