A business current account that does your accounting

[cojak]

No, sounds more like a deliberate omission, with someone trying to advertise his business hoping people will talk about it, then search and find it.

Well, we can always delete the thread.

I occasionally like to put this kind of thing in front of our regulars.

The feedback is often quite entertaining and not quite what the OP had in mind.

[SeanT]

No, sounds more like a deliberate omission, with someone trying to advertise his business hoping people will talk about it, then search and find it.

Well, if he needs any good contract DevOps work doing by someone with a strong Fintech background, that's fine by me

[northernladyuk]

Hello, I am seeking some friendly feedback on the idea of a challenger bank that is also your accounting software.

Think HSBC and Sage in one product.

I am the founder of a company, Countingup, and we’re building this at the moment.

As a contractor what do you use at the moment for accounting and banking and what do you think of the Countingup idea to combine them?

I’d really appreciate your comments, positive or negative. Thanks!

It is the worst non criminal idea ever floated on CUK. That takes some doing.

[WTFH]

Well, we can always delete the thread.

I occasionally like to put this kind of thing in front of our regulars.

The feedback is often quite entertaining and not quite what the OP had in mind.

Not yet, I think there's mileage in it. (comedy mileage)

[JonSmile]

There is a 2017 write up about his idea here
https://techcrunch.com/2017/10/23/countingup/

You could also look at their direct competition Coconut (Monizo Ltd)

https://getcoconut.com/terms/


It's interesting (well slightly) that counting up (Counting Ltd) are not in the finance business but business support (82990 - Other business support service activities not elsewhere classified)

[philip@wellwoodhoyle]

I think one of the big issues is with suppliers who sell a wide variety of products/services. We already see the same problem with bank data feeds and CSV imports. If you buy something from Amazon, just which account heading/category will the system use - it won't know whether you've bought a book, a computer, toner cartridge, toys for your child, etc., so it won't know whether it's capital (capital allowances claim), a legitimate expense (is it stationery, cost of goods sold, repairs, etc), drawings (non allowable), etc. I get a kind of summary with my business Barclaycard monthly statement which is completely useless as it just allocates supplier names to some generic analysis headings, so end up with a load of transactions included in "general" which is no help whatsoever.

Same with a meal at a restaurant - how would the system know if it was subsistence (a meal for you only and allowable), or entertaining (i.e. a meal with a client, not allowable), or an allowable meal (i.e. staff christmas meal, allowable).

I really don't see it as any meaningful "progress" above bank data feeds and CSV to be honest, as it will only ever be a "starting point" which will need a lot of adjustments etc., and certainly not some kind of automatic system that will do your accounts/taxes with no input from you.

[jamesbrown]

Excellent. Combining two things, of which one or both you're likely to hate at some point in your contracting career, into one thing.

What could possibly go wrong?

[jamesbrown]

It is the worst non criminal idea ever floated on CUK. That takes some doing.

Oh, come on now.

[Fred Bloggs]

I think one of the big issues is with suppliers who sell a wide variety of products/services. We already see the same problem with bank data feeds and CSV imports. If you buy something from Amazon, just which account heading/category will the system use - it won't know whether you've bought a book, a computer, toner cartridge, toys for your child, etc., so it won't know whether it's capital (capital allowances claim), a legitimate expense (is it stationery, cost of goods sold, repairs, etc), drawings (non allowable), etc. I get a kind of summary with my business Barclaycard monthly statement which is completely useless as it just allocates supplier names to some generic analysis headings, so end up with a load of transactions included in "general" which is no help whatsoever.

Same with a meal at a restaurant - how would the system know if it was subsistence (a meal for you only and allowable), or entertaining (i.e. a meal with a client, not allowable), or an allowable meal (i.e. staff christmas meal, allowable).

I really don't see it as any meaningful "progress" above bank data feeds and CSV to be honest, as it will only ever be a "starting point" which will need a lot of adjustments etc., and certainly not some kind of automatic system that will do your accounts/taxes with no input from you.

You are correct. Anyone using FreeAgent already does this. New advances like this are always welcome but I do fail to see the USP of this one. FreeAgent need to up their game if they are to stay as a market leader though. I think HMG/HMRC's MTD programme will drive this kind of thing in micro businesses.

[condon]

Sounds like a good idea to me, am i missing something?

I found this thread long after it was alive because I have been thinking how useful something like this would be and decided to do some research online.

I'm with Clearsky Accounting, for my sins, and use the online/app only Tide business bank account. The way Clearsky operate feels so antiquated, asking me for screenshots, csv files. If only there was a way that the Tide app could do what Clearsky does, surely I wouldn't need them or have to pay them exorbitant fees. It appears that much of what Clearsky does could be automated as part of the business bank account app. I use the word 'appear' as perhaps they're doing a lot more than I realise.

I'm fairly new to contracting so am yet to go through a whole cycle of tax paying in this way. Help me out though, am I missing some great value that these accountants are doing?

An app that can minimise accountancy fees and general admin faffing around sounds like a great idea to me.