Looking for FreeAgent Beta Testers

[NoddY]

"Gents..."

"...pukka..."


Oh dear!

[timh]

I remember Free Agent as a decent newsgroup reader, a few years ago.

(Just in case for some reason nobody's investigated possible trademark issues already.)

[Sockpuppet]

For me I'd want to see that cheaper. Maybe £10/month max. The payroll site is £5 which also does electronic filing at the end of the year.

Most of what you are offering cost me £80+VAT when I got a copy of accounting program.

An invoice took me 10 seconds to hit up in word, with an embedded spread sheet for the more complex stuff.

A folder with expenses and invoices month by month is also handy and keeps that in order.

I really like the look of that site but it would have to be a lot cheaper to tempt me.

[Cooperinliverp00l]

[QUOTE=
But the idea is FreeAgent will save both you and them time in entering information and communicating it with each other. Your accountant will be able to spend more time helping you and less time crunching numbers.[/QUOTE]

Less time spent doing things by accountants means less money for them.

[edmolyneux]

For me I'd want to see that cheaper. Maybe £10/month max. The payroll site is £5 which also does electronic filing at the end of the year.

Most of what you are offering cost me £80+VAT when I got a copy of accounting program.

An invoice took me 10 seconds to hit up in word, with an embedded spread sheet for the more complex stuff.

A folder with expenses and invoices month by month is also handy and keeps that in order.

I really like the look of that site but it would have to be a lot cheaper to tempt me.

..and I suspect many contractors feel the same right now. I guess it depends what needs to happen to all those bits of information to bring them together and tell you what is happening with your business.

I've been doing consulting work for a few years now. I never found an accounting program that was designed for the way I worked, and I never really knew what my tax position was - how much should I have put away for next year's Income Tax, what about the year after, when is that VAT return due again? How much of a dividend can I pay myself legally?

You just can't answer these questions accurately without someone, or something, knowing what your invoices and overheads are, IMO.

If it's not you spending the time pulling this stuff together, then your accountants are and you're paying them for the privilege. And you may only find the answers at the end of the year.

If you are spending time on this stuff, not only do you realise how dull it is trying to keep up with HMRC, but you also could be doing something else that pays money. Or is just more interesting.

I'm betting your accountant gets you to keep an analysed cashbook in spreadsheet form anyway. If he or she does, you're doing a lot of legwork (fill it in from your bank statement, anyway?). If not (carrier bag full of receipts at the end of the year) then you will be paying accordingly.

In some ways the invoicing part of what we're doing is the least interesting. It's the automatic statement analysis and tax calculation that really saves time and helps you sleep at night.

I think that's worth the £20/month premium above what you would pay right now. What's that in minutes at your hourly rate? Of course, I would say that, wouldn't I ;-?

[edmolyneux]

Less time spent doing things by accountants means less money for them.

...or, only slightly less cynically, being able to handle larger numbers of clients because of the reduced number-crunching time!

Seriously, we've chatted to quite a few accountants and some are really interested in the idea of being able to concentrate on really 'adding value' where they are able to do best: Tax planning, advice on expenses, help with starting up, producing proper accounts, etc.

They enjoy the number-crunching even less than you do, but it's been a necessary evil because you can't do any of the above without knowing the basic figures.

Most of these guys/gals are maxed-out, especially because of the recent surge in PSCs, and it's frustrating for them not being able to really help out because they're just chasing the figures all the time. That's where we can really help, and it will reflect in better service at your end if it's done right.

Of course, your view of Accountants may be slightly less charitable!

[tim123]

I'm afraid that I can't buy into this name FreeAgent???????

1) It's not (going to be) free.

2) It's got nothing to do with my relationship with my agency. It's my relationship with my accountant your are 'freeing' me from.

3) The name's already used by a well established product within the internet world.

I think you are giong to have to come up with something else

tim

[tim123]

Oh,

and my email still hasn't arrived.

tim

[tim123]

Well that was a quick response.

Feedback:

Should I do this here? What do people think?

1) It won't let me put a .co.uk email address into my client contact. (I changed it to .com, which was accepted, but it isn't right)

2) Having to add task hours on a per day basis is a PITA. Per week or per month options should be available. (Fully selectable start and end dates would be even better).

Can't go much further than this as I don't have online banking. I'm going to have to add the details manually later?

tim

[edmolyneux]

I'm afraid that I can't buy into this name FreeAgent???????

1) It's not (going to be) free.

2) It's got nothing to do with my relationship with my agency. It's my relationship with my accountant your are 'freeing' me from.

3) The name's already used by a well established product within the internet world.

I think you are giong to have to come up with something else

tim

Creating something new and naming it is always hard, isn't it?

Luckily just putting the word 'Free' in it doesn't always mean it's not paid for, it doesn't have the word 'Agency' actually in it, FreeAgent is a phrase that's been coined elsewhere, and there are no longer any established internet products with the same name.

Phew!

Just the Hard Drives to get confused with, now.

Oh,

and my email still hasn't arrived.

tim

Anyone else with activation problems - we're being squashed by some overzealous spam filters somewhere - if you don't get your activation within 1 minute of signup email me directly and I'll send the activation link myself.