somple accounting software??

[Kerrywerrywoo]

Hi
i have a very small online shop selling hair accessories. I took my first years accounts to new accountant and she has asked me to redo the lot in double entry booking format. She says this will save her charging me more and her current rate would be £350 if i do my bit....im used to doing really basic paperwork like this :

FYI :
I had listed each month like this :

outgoings by date : what it was ; description : amount paid out ; method of payment
eg : 5/7/11 / silver chain/ stock for resale / £100 /paid with paypal/ total £100

Then :
income by date ; amount : method of payment : total
eg : 5/7/11 / website sales / paypal / £100
6/7/11 / vintage fair XXX / cash / £100
monthly total £200

this was enough for my old accountant when i had a little shop, I handed him my accounts plus all the receipts etc filed neatly and he charged me £300 a year to do my accounts. Sadly he has moved away.

So if i have to do this her way perhaps some simple accounting software would help? I have no staff its just me and my business is based around paypal income/some cash at shows - thats it....can anyone advise x thanks

 

[MarkThomas51]

Hi,
I use Quickbooks, its easy to set up and customize to your business. You can buy a basic one or one that will track VAT, stock control and so on. I use Qucikbooks Pro 2011 and I have been using Quickbooks programs for the past 16 years. Don't get hooked in to the pay monthly one, buy the program out right.

 

[Kerrywerrywoo]

ill look into that appreciate the feedback x

 

[sanjiv]

I use VT Transaction+ which is brilliant (£125). VT Cash Book should be able to do what you want and its free.

 

[123Simples]

You probably might find it easier just to setup your own excel workbook - at least that way you can still itemise and get the workbook to add the columns of income and expenditure for you. Some software (I'm not saying it is all useless) tends to either have too much, or not enough, or is using dollars, vat columns, and lots of other stuff you probably won't even need. When it comes to actually filing the tax returns (although you probably would like to know how you paid for items, or how items were paid for) the basic fact is that the Inland Revenue only need to know how much in pound notes your income and expenditure was. Of course that is the simple answer

Check out this thread http://www.ukbusinessforums.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=204299

 

[Kerrywerrywoo]

thanks Sanj
i just tried to download but my computer warned me against it???

 

[Figurate]

I would not go with excel if your accountant has asked for full double entry bookkeeping , unless you are good with excel and also know the principles of double entry bookkeeping well.
If you are not buying or selling on credit, vt cashbook will probably be perfectly adequate. Online packages tend to be a little more user friendly but obviously you will have a monthly fee.
Have you asked for a software recommendation from your accountant? And will they offer some help, support and/or initial training?

 

[sanjiv]

thanks Sanj
i just tried to download but my computer warned me against it???

This one here:
http://www.vtsoftware.co.uk/tranplus/download.htm
?

 

[David A]

Quickbooks is not a 'simple' program.

For your sort of business you need something that you can use without spending a week learning the 'right' way of inputting information.

I have tried a number in recent years, and have come to regard Solar Accounts as the easiest to use. You get a 60 day free trial, so you can test it out without commitment. The link is:

http://www.solaraccounts.co.uk

Try VT as well - while it has the advantage of being free, Solar is easier to use and you can undo mistakes without having to do reverse transactions.

 

[BusinessM8]

Hi
i have a very small online shop selling hair accessories. I took my first years accounts to new accountant and she has asked me to redo the lot in double entry booking format. She says this will save her charging me more and her current rate would be £350 if i do my bit....im used to doing really basic paperwork like this :

FYI :
I had listed each month like this :

outgoings by date : what it was ; description : amount paid out ; method of payment
eg : 5/7/11 / silver chain/ stock for resale / £100 /paid with paypal/ total £100

Then :
income by date ; amount : method of payment : total
eg : 5/7/11 / website sales / paypal / £100
6/7/11 / vintage fair XXX / cash / £100
monthly total £200

this was enough for my old accountant when i had a little shop, I handed him my accounts plus all the receipts etc filed neatly and he charged me £300 a year to do my accounts. Sadly he has moved away.

So if i have to do this her way perhaps some simple accounting software would help? I have no staff its just me and my business is based around paypal income/some cash at shows - thats it....can anyone advise x thanks

You could try a free online (cloud) accounts package that I've come across: http://www.quickfile.co.uk .

All the best

Tim

 

[sanjiv]

Quickbooks is not a 'simple' program.

For your sort of business you need something that you can use without spending a week learning the 'right' way of inputting information.

I have tried a number in recent years, and have come to regard Solar Accounts as the easiest to use. You get a 60 day free trial, so you can test it out without commitment. The link is:

http://www.solaraccounts.co.uk

Try VT as well - while it has the advantage of being free, Solar is easier to use and you can undo mistakes without having to do reverse transactions.

You can simply delete transactions on VT Cash Book and all it does is payments, cheques and receipts, does the VAT element, will do the VAT return, can control different bank accounts and have different categories under the different ledgers.

I haven't used Solar Accounts. Does look very easy to use but from what the OP has said, a lot of its functions won't be used and there is also a fee to pay for it.

At the end of the day, its best to try both but I feel the simplicity and minimalism of VT will be best for you.

 

[MyAccountantOnline]

I would not go with excel if your accountant has asked for full double entry bookkeeping , unless you are good with excel and also know the principles of double entry bookkeeping well.
If you are not buying or selling on credit, vt cashbook will probably be perfectly adequate. Online packages tend to be a little more user friendly but obviously you will have a monthly fee.
Have you asked for a software recommendation from your accountant? And will they offer some help, support and/or initial training?

My thoughts entirely.

I would hope your accountant is willing to give you some help and support

 

[kjmcculloch]

Alternatively forget about the extra expense of buying a new package and taking the time to learn how to use it and hire the services of a good and qualified bookkeeper. They should actually help you save money.

Kris

 

[123Simples]

Hi
i have a very small online shop selling hair accessories. I took my first years accounts to new accountant and she has asked me to redo the lot in double entry booking format. She says this will save her charging me more and her current rate would be £350 if i do my bit....im used to doing really basic paperwork like this :

FYI :
I had listed each month like this :

outgoings by date : what it was ; description : amount paid out ; method of payment
eg : 5/7/11 / silver chain/ stock for resale / £100 /paid with paypal/ total £100

Then :
income by date ; amount : method of payment : total
eg : 5/7/11 / website sales / paypal / £100
6/7/11 / vintage fair XXX / cash / £100
monthly total £200

this was enough for my old accountant when i had a little shop, I handed him my accounts plus all the receipts etc filed neatly and he charged me £300 a year to do my accounts. Sadly he has moved away.

So if i have to do this her way perhaps some simple accounting software would help? I have no staff its just me and my business is based around paypal income/some cash at shows - thats it....can anyone advise x thanks

The OP's original point was as above, when looking at it again the OP says -"im used to doing really basic paperwork like this"

But yet her accountant now says to the OP "you need to do it this way"

new accountant and she has asked me to redo the lot in double entry booking format. She says this will save her charging me more and her current rate would be £350 if i do my bit

Kerry - just out of interest if I said what is your ballpark income figure would it be £15 to £20K or around that? Maybe more, maybe less?
Have you ever considered doing your own accounts and your own self assessment? Really it's not that difficult and assuming you have a average business income and expense, then it's not rocket science. Failing that kjmcculloch made a good point

 

[john.lee]

Hi,


How about "KashFlow", on line accounting software? It is about 20 pounds per month and I find it easy to use. You can also issue a guest user account for your accountant so it can be remotely managed. I use this and my accountant does his work from his office.

I don't have stock so cannot comment on its functionality.

Hope it helps!

Thanks

John

 

[ILilja]

I agree that your accountant must have some sort of recommendation as to what software package would serve your needs.

I work at E-conomic and I'm therefore all biased, but if you are checking out online accounting solutions, I hope you will trial E-conomic as well. This will give you a pretty good idea and basis for comparison with the other programs mentioned. You can give your accountant free access to your accounts in the software. You can also connect your webshop to it, if you wish.

If you're interested, I'd be happy to help you out.

 

[Blackberry]

from what you have described the info you are giving the accountant is perfectly adequate for whats needed to prepare the accounts and tax return for you.

if you go down the software road there are a few issues that you need to consider:

1. will the cost of the software be more than the increased accountancy fees?
2. are you confident that you can use the software properly? if not the time involved with correcting will greatly increase your accountancy fees

Talk to your accountant about what they actually want you to do and ask them to suggest the best method - which is going to be something you can use on a daily basis, not somehting to suit themselves.

Also agree ona fixed fee with the firm

if the accounant is not happy to do either of these things i'd suggest looking elsewhere

 

[David Griffiths]

from what you have described the info you are giving the accountant is perfectly adequate for whats needed to prepare the accounts and tax return for you.

But it seems to me that the accountant hasn't said that they can't prepare the accounts, merely suggested to the OP that an improvement in presentation would keep the fees down.

That seems eminently reasonable to me - a long list of payments with no analysis whatsoever does take time to sort out, and is going to cost more.