Simplest, most economical accounting for small business?

[Deleted member 222666]

Hi guys!

Im a newbie here and just wondered if anyone could chime in with a spot of advice on accounting.

Im going to be selling pre-owned luxury watches (only online to begin with). Ive decided to use a company formations agent to setup the business for me.

Once thats done Im unclear of the simplest and most economical way to go about filing my tax returns or any other accounting Im under the obligation of doing.

Would really appreciate any tips, suggestions, advice from existing small business owners...

Thanks for reading!

 

[QuickFile]

Hi Matt,

You could take a look at our free accounting platform QuickFile. We have some recent testimonials here and we're available to answer on questions you may have on our support forum.

 

[broadex]

Depending on your kind of business...some business require you to focus and concentrate on front end of business- client management and leave the back office - accounting, admin etc to a third party. You can use your partner or hire an admin person to do this or get an accountant. The risk of DIY accounting is that you may loose out on tax advantages and focus too much time on back office stuff. Sites like www.find-accountants.com are usually good in getting competitive local accountants quotes. I would leave the accounting package to the accountant whenever possible.

(by the way i subcribe to www.find-accountants.com as an independent accountant).

 

[Bill1954]

Adminsoft accounts is a decent free accounts package.

 

[garyk]

Free is not better, what id you have an issue you need to resolve? There are plenty of low cost (£9-£15) a month accounting solutions on the market.

 

[MyAccountantOnline]

Hi guys!

Im a newbie here and just wondered if anyone could chime in with a spot of advice on accounting.

Im going to be selling pre-owned luxury watches (only online to begin with). Ive decided to use a company formations agent to setup the business for me.

Once thats done Im unclear of the simplest and most economical way to go about filing my tax returns or any other accounting Im under the obligation of doing.

Would really appreciate any tips, suggestions, advice from existing small business owners...

Thanks for reading!

First of all are you really sure a limited company is the right/best option for you? It isn't always, it depends on many factors.

If you use a company formation agent make sure you know what you are signing up for and what you are buying eg paying extra for a registered office address etc.

Assuming a limited company is the right option you have to decide whether you want to look after your company bookkeeping and deal with all of the accounting and taxation requirements.

The bookkeeping isnt too bad especially if you use a decent package but dealing with the accounting and taxation requirements is a very different ball game (yes I'm bias ) but I'd think long and hard before you decide to DIY on that.

Accountants take many years to learn what we do and you are going to have to spend a huge amount of time learning what is required to stand any chance of getting that right, ensuring you take advantage of all tax saving opportunities, comply with all legislation and dont end up with any nasty penalties when a decent accountant will do that for you for a relatively small fee if you keep good records.

You'll find several free packages which you can use for bookkeeping one of my personal favourites which I've used for years and which many of my firms clients use is VT cashbook but like all free packages it has limitations. If you are selling online maybe using PayPal I'd certainly look at a package such as Accounts Portal which enables you to import data - it can be a huge time saving.

Dont forget to register with HMRC when the company starts trading.

 

[MyAccountantOnline]

....Sites like www.find-accountants.com are usually good in getting competitive local accountants quotes. .....

Another option to ensure you use a qualified accountant are the professional bodies sites direct eg ACCA ICAEW etc.

Also bear in mind you dont have to have a local accountant online accountants work well for many businesses (not all) especially those who operate online themselves.

 

[Deleted member 222666]

Thanks everyone for your informative replies. Id like to expand by saying that Im only expecting about 15 - 20 sales per year to begin with, so it should be fairly straight forward to process. If I choose the accountant route, do I pay once yearly to process my tax info or is it necessary to pay a monthly fee? My concern of course is costs when Im only just starting out... thanks again.

 

[Deleted member 222666]

Free is not better, what id you have an issue you need to resolve? There are plenty of low cost (£9-£15) a month accounting solutions on the market.

Thanks, thats good to know. Are we talking software packages here, or actual accounting services? As you will see from my update, Im only looking at 15 - 20 sales per year in the beginning.

 

[Herandu]

For that sort of quantity of sales, would it make sense to get an accountant? I would look into preparing and filing my accounts by myself in that case. Loads of info on the net how to do that. HMRC even runs a couple of free training courses each year for small startups. That is how I started.

 

[Deleted member 222666]

For that sort of quantity of sales, would it make sense to get an accountant? I would look into preparing and filing my accounts by myself in that case. Loads of info on the net how to do that. HMRC even runs a couple of free training courses each year for small startups. That is how I started.

I doubt it makes sense to use an accountant, i just didnt know if it was possible to file the accounts, tax returns etc yourself. Id heard it was extremely complicated and hence employing a professional was advisable. Forgive my lack of knowledge - never actually had a business before in the UK

 

[MyAccountantOnline]

Thanks everyone for your informative replies. Id like to expand by saying that Im only expecting about 15 - 20 sales per year to begin with, so it should be fairly straight forward to process. If I choose the accountant route, do I pay once yearly to process my tax info or is it necessary to pay a monthly fee? My concern of course is costs when Im only just starting out... thanks again.

With a small scale business are you really sure a limited company is the best option??

To answer your question you dont have to pay a monthly fee for an accountant some accountants offer this some dont.

I really do appreciate what you say about costs but very often getting an accountant when you commence is actually when you need them most. I've spent years working as an accountant helping small and new businesses and so often people come to me a year after they've started as they have tried to save fees and end up paying totally unnecessary and avoidable tax and sometimes penalties because they didnt get proper advice when they started.