[NotDeadYet]

I'm self-employed and trying to minimise my bills to accountants. My books are very simple, an invoice at the end of the week to the client, client pays. Accountant tells me how much goes to the taxman, VAT & NI which gets put aside, how much I can take as a wage and how much as a profit.

I'm looking for a bit of software that will do the calculations for me and leave the accountant to do the end of year returns. Any recommendations?

Cheers,

Stuart

 

[milldog]

I'm self-employed and trying to minimise my bills to accountants. My books are very simple, an invoice at the end of the week to the client, client pays. Accountant tells me how much goes to the taxman, VAT & NI which gets put aside, how much I can take as a wage and how much as a profit.

I'm looking for a bit of software that will do the calculations for me and leave the accountant to do the end of year returns. Any recommendations?

Cheers,

Stuart

Sage accounts package ?

 

[chrisch]

I have a similarly small number of transactions and use excel. I figure the cost of the software plus all the BS that goes with it probably outway the small extra bill at the accountants.

Chris

 

[NotDeadYet]

I have a similarly small number of transactions and use excel.

Problem is I need to know the figures, rules, etc., that go to make up the workings of the spreadsheet before I start entering figures. Firstly, that's a lot of reading and secondly, too much chance of me cocking up the forumlae.

Cheers,

Stuart

 

[Mark Chase]

I have aold version of sage accounts and frankly if your not an accountant or multiple invoicing the same client then I wouldent bother, its just too complex. (yes it is the simple version.)

I use Sage Payrole which is fantastic for errrr payrole

I use an excell spread sheet for income and outgoings. Its very simple and it works like electronic book keeping. It automaticly calculates the vat and it has two cross balance coloums to varifie inputs (very handy) and totals for criticle expendature, moter, phone, petrol, wages, materials, office etc.

If you do want a full on accounts package Sage is good it costs about £100 a year and the suport is excelent.

ATB

Mark Chase

 

[Mark Chase]

Problem is I need to know the figures, rules, etc., that go to make up the workings of the spreadsheet before I start entering figures. Firstly, that's a lot of reading and secondly, too much chance of me cocking up the forumlae.

Cheers,

Stuart

Naaa its easy for book keeping purposes unless you have complex transactions. My one you jut put a 1 in the box if its vatable and it cross calculates and totals automaticly then you read off the net figure and put it in the apropriate expenses coloumn and again it calculates and if both red coloumns balance you did it corectly. Simple.

ATB

Mark Chase

 

[NotDeadYet]

Naaa its easy for book keeping purposes unless you have complex transactions. My one you jut put a 1 in the box if its vatable and it cross calculates and totals automaticly then you read off the net figure and put it in the apropriate expenses coloumn and again it calculates and if both red coloumns balance you did it corectly. Simple.

ATB

Mark Chase

I should also add that my knowledge of Excel extends to knowing how to add two boxes together and display the result

I had a look at the Sage website and that was confusing enough so I doubt I'd be able to cope with the package!

Cheers,

Stuart

 

[gwilson]

I used Quickbooks simple start i think its called. It does invoices, payments in and out, and is dead easy to use. was about £30 or so out of pc world.

 

[Jenb]

Quick books is simple to use, Sage may be a bit too much for what you're looking for. It might be worth speaking to the bank as some of them do simple accounts packages for small businesses. I work for a firm of accountants and Barclays once came round and did a demo of their software, which looked simple to use.

 

[MCFastybloke]

i use excel and find it great if you need to alter things after the fact eg client pays cash or you need to masssage figures,move thing to the next month or past year end

 

[Jay]

For purely invoice purposes, we use Easy Invoicing and the I use another package to calculate corporation tax as we are a limited company.

 

[Sparky750]

Invoices i use excel i deduct 45% for tax etc into premium bonds end of the year my books go to the accountant he tells me what i owe the the fat cnut brown the rest is for shiny stuff. Vat i've managed to steer well clear of by various ways the day i'm told i need to be VAT Registered is the day my company folds again :embarassed:

 

[Jezza]

I'm in the business so PM me if you want advice offline (and I promise I will not try to sell you anything)

There are different packages available to suit different requirements,

Sage applications are by far the most common in the small business (generally single user, simple requirements) there are lots of different versions and each version has its own price. They will just about all calculate VAT requirements for you, plus you will find most accountants use a copy in the process of preparing your year end accounts so there are cost savings to be have as you can back up your data and send it to them so they don't have to rekey your information.

Once you grow out of the basic requirements the market place opens right up and there are lots of other options. (this is the market place I deal in)

When you start thinking about other forms of Tax calculations (Personal Tax, Business/Partnership Tax & Corporation Tax) there are also a range of systems available although it's unusual for an individual company to purchase these as these are normally used by your accountant to do your calculations for you.

You will also find that you can enter you own personal tax information in the government website and it will do all the calculations for you, the danger you run is that you end up paying more tax than you should as you fail to claim back tax that you are due. So my recommendation would be to use the services of a professional.

Hope this helps

Jezza

 

[Finless]

Quick Books is quite an intuitive, cheap and easy to use option.

Once set up it is easy to run (comes with pre set up companies ...... you choose the nearest to your option and adapt from there). There is a very good support option but that does cost (I pay £150 a year for a 5 user licence of the Pro version - as many calls as I like). I would assume it is cheaper for the "lesser option".

I like Quick Books (although I miss the structure of my old accounts software) and it produces accounts without you having to know how it's done. Any entry may be double clicked or "clicked on the history button" to delve into inter related antries (ie invoices and payments). It automatically produces VAT returns, if applicable.

I would give Quick Books a ring (Google for the name) and explain your requirements and see what they have on offer at the moment. Also, I would be happy to try and help if you get stuck.

I do know there are free accounts software packages (just Google for them) but I have no experience of using them - one I looked at, which says it is completely free (as opposed to "free use for now and then pay") is:-

Free Accounting SoftwareFree Accounting Software - Free Download! Powerfull multiuser free accounting software with inventory, customers, vendors, sales, purchasing, ...
www.freeaccountingsoftware.net/ - 9k - Cached - Similar pages

HTH.

 

[[email protected]]

Speak to your accountant

Personally I would use a spreadsheet to log your income and expenditure.
If you need this to produce a set of accounts then let me know. Depending on your income and expenditure I have a spreadsheet that might just do the trick Oh and it fits to the HMR&C layout

If in doubt chat to your accountant. S/he would rather have some revenue from you than none. A lot of accountants earn revenue from poor quality book-keeping.

I have used a lot of accounting software Quickbooks/Sage/Vista/Max/Hyperion/Echequer to name a few. I really don't think these will help. I use spreadsheets quite a bit.

Ian
Serial beancounter