Setting up a company. Costs to expect in first year?

[password01]

Hello all,

I want to set up a company to contain the following business activity (I am a software engineer):
* Startup business idea 1
* Startup business idea 2
* Contracting myself out to businesses to provide revenue to bootstrap business 1 and 2.

I think I will go with a company like companies made simple to setup to company. Their privacy package costs (29.99 +VAT).

My biggest conundrum is accounting. How much does that typically cost and who do I even start to ask?

For reference, the contracting work will probably result in monthly invoices and some expenses. For the remainder of this year I imagine that the other two startup businesses will only have outgoing expense and no real income from clients.

Would an online platform like Crunch Accounting (crunch.co.uk) be suitable for me?

Thanks in advance.

 

[Mr D]

Accounting? Costs however much work you want doing. As for who to start to ask about it - try an accountant.

 

[password01]

Accounting? Costs however much work you want doing. As for who to start to ask about it - try an accountant.

Well yes, I could do that but I am just wondering from the community on typical costs. And maybe some comments on the minimum accounting that is required and typical costs etc.

I understand everything depends, but I am just trying to get a feel for costs. For example. In the first year, I do book keeping myself etc and generally keep things in order with the odd bit of advice from account and he/she making sure regulatory requirements are met. Would this thing cost me closer to £1k annually or closer to £5k?

 

[Mr D]

Anything from £150 to over a couple of grand is what I have seen. Per company.

 

[Bruce.D]

You have to think the cost of:
Accountant
Insurance
HR
Banking
Trademark if necessary
Legal for agreements and contracts
etc

 

[barryo]

And don't forget probably the most critical cost for a new business: how will you find your clients? It's natural for non-sales people to focus on their core skill when starting up, but more startups fail through running out of cash (usually by not having enough sales revenue) than ever did by not having accounting and bookkeeping bolted down.

 

[password01]

You have to think the cost of:
Accountant
Insurance
HR
Banking
Trademark if necessary
Legal for agreements and contracts
etc

Nice list, thanks.

And don't forget probably the most critical cost for a new business: how will you find your clients? It's natural for non-sales people to focus on their core skill when starting up, but more startups fail through running out of cash (usually by not having enough sales revenue) than ever did by not having accounting and bookkeeping bolted down.

Yes, very good point. While I have started kicking the tyres of my idea I realise the biggest challenge will be talking to human regularly to keep the sales funnel in operation.

 

[Paul Murray]

Look for local accountants and arrange a meeting with them to discuss your needs. There's online accountants (who will probably be cheaper) but I much prefer to be able to pop in and sit down with someone face to face to talk through my books.

Shop around, get quotes and go with the one you feel comfortable with. They'll likely have various accounting packages available too with different features and fees attached. You may just need them for VAT and end-of-year tax submissions which may just be a flat fee as and when it's required.

 

[barryo]

Totally agree with Cosmos - at the right time - but horses and carts come to mind. If you don't make any sales you won't need an accountant.

 

[password01]

I agree guys, thanks.

 

[LanaW]

Hey, guys. Maybe off the topic a little bit, but couldn't find the proper thread. It's my first website, so, I'm a newbie in the whole process. I want to buy an aged domain for better SEO on GoDaddy. But maybe you can advice a better place to look at?

 

[ethical PR]

Hey, guys. Maybe off the topic a little bit, but couldn't find the proper thread. It's my first website, so, I'm a newbie in the whole process. I want to buy an aged domain for better SEO on GoDaddy. But maybe you can advice a better place to look at?

You need to start your own thread, why not post in the General or IT forum.

 

[TODonnell]

Maybe too simple for you, but, when I was doing similar, on a very small scale, I found having a separate biz bank account, downloadable csv files (which you can import into Excel) and making all payments through PayPal (which lets you download .csv) meant it was fairly easy to tot up income and expenditure at the time when my returns were due.

i.e. Now, I would try to route all payments and income through an account which let me export them into a format like .csv which I could manipulate easily.

[Q to readers: do the major banks now let you do that, or do they put obstacles in your way?]

 

[Chris Ashdown]

For a new start-up I would suggest to do year end and any start up help for a limited company it is unlikely to exceed £1000 pa

The accountant will be familiar with a few accounting system and likely point to one they are used to and if you don't like their choice then QuickBooks seems a favourite for many

Many new businesses do not fully read the duties of a director and shareholders agreements, so worth a look on this forum about both

As others have said, Sales are normally the hardest to get and most people vastly overestimate how many sales they will get in one year

It would be a brave person to start one business yet alone two

You don't state if the plans include e-commerce, but if they do then sites alone don't generally sell because they are not ranked by search engines so other expensive means normally have to be employed like Pay Per Click or other forms of online marketing/ advertising

Get a book on starting a business and fully read it (there is one in the Dummy's range)

Good luck

 

[Scalloway]

[Q to readers: do the major banks now let you do that, or do they put obstacles in your way?]

Certainly the banks I use allow you to download CSVs of transactions. Also accounting software will allow you to import these.

 

[Paul Murray]

Certainly the banks I use allow you to download CSVs of transactions. Also accounting software will allow you to import these.

Likewise. I'm with Lloyds, I can export to CSV and import that into FreeAgent to track the account.

 

[TODonnell]

Ah, good, then.

I predate the internet and I forbade my bank to move me over to paperless statements and muck about with my account, generally. Paper statements can be handy, sometimes.