Learning accounts

[ben-beaumont]

Hi i was just wondering if anyone has read any good books on accounts that will help me learn how to keep accounts correctly.

I am a complete beginner at accounts but definitely need to learn them.

any help would be highly appreciated!

thanks in advance.

 

[MyAccountantOnline]

Hi i was just wondering if anyone has read any good books on accounts that will help me learn how to keep accounts correctly.

I am a complete beginner at accounts but definitely need to learn them.

any help would be highly appreciated!

thanks in advance.

You have a huge amount of choice and it depends very much upon what aspect of accounting you want to learn.

You could try Frank Woods or maybe some of the AAT text books to get started.

 

[Deleted member 168359]

One thing you need to do is to work out how much to set aside from your turnover each month for tax and national insurance.

There's a calculator here: selfemployeduk.wordpress.com

 

[janet40wood]

There are many online resources available. Bookkeeping for dummies is a good starting point if you have no knowledge at all. You could find a bookkeeper/accountant who compiled the accounts for you and trained you as it is so important that every business owner understands what the numbers are saying and that they are put together in the right way.

 

[Philip Hoyle]

Hi i was just wondering if anyone has read any good books on accounts that will help me learn how to keep accounts correctly.

It depends on "why" you want them.

There's no point spending months learning all the intricacies of double entry book-keeping etc., if it's just to do simple accounts for your own small business. You can be up and running in just an hour or two with training on an off the shelf accounts software if that's all you need.

However, if you're planning on preparing accounts for a variety of businesses, i.e. working in an accountants office or being a self employed book-keeper, then it would make sense to learn it properly and in depth.

Also when you say "accounts", just what do you mean? Do you mean just the book-keeping and annual accounts, or do you also mean tax-related spin-offs, such as VAT, PAYE/CIS, income tax or corporation tax etc. Tax is a completely different dimension which needs separate study/training for each aspect.

 

[Ola1]

I am also a great fan of Frank Woods ,

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Business-Ac...F8&qid=1365507909&sr=8-3&keywords=frank+woods

man , prices have gone up since my time

 

[intercityuk]

I wouldn't even bother unless you want to be an accountant. I would get something like clearbooks complete accounts package from £29 per month through your local accountant.

You could get Clearbooks on it's own for £9 per month. Then you can concentrate on your business.

Good luck!

 

[ben-beaumont]

Hi, I highly appreciate all your positive feedback. I will be starting my business at some point within the next year. I understand accounts are a very important part of a business but just for now what accounts do I need to keep just to keep the tax man happy?

Thanks in advance.

 

[Scalloway]

The minimum is a list of payments and receipts plus the invoices for all your sales and purchases. Depending on the size of your business this might be better kept with accounting software.

 

[ben-beaumont]

So basically as long as I keep a note of all outgoing payments and payments received I can do nothing wrong? Even if the format is incorrect they can always be put in to the correct format later cant they?

 

[ben-beaumont]

Also eventually between me and my business partner there are hopefully going to be around 4 or 5 different businesses, trading in completely different sectors and will not have no similarities to the other. Are we able to register under one business name like a main company that all the others are run through so we can file our tax and other information through one business but for all of the businesses?

 

[Scalloway]

Keep a note at the time with plenty of detail and you should be ok.

 

[MyAccountantOnline]

Also eventually between me and my business partner there are hopefully going to be around 4 or 5 different businesses, trading in completely different sectors and will not have no similarities to the other. Are we able to register under one business name like a main company that all the others are run through so we can file our tax and other information through one business but for all of the businesses?

If you are looking at running 4 or 5 different businesses you really need to get some specific and proper professional advice from an accountant.

 

[MyAccountantOnline]

So basically as long as I keep a note of all outgoing payments and payments received I can do nothing wrong? Even if the format is incorrect they can always be put in to the correct format later cant they?

If you are trading as a sole trader you need to keep records which will enable you to accurately complete a tax return at the end of each tax year and calculate the correct amount of tax. If you are going to DIY this may help - HMRC website