Accounts Software

[brigzy]

BookKeeping / Accounting

[QUOTE=weinerburg;1099179]Hi, Thanks for update us. I too looking for the best accounting software, finally I got the best suggestion here.

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I think (edit : to be fair) you need to establish whether your requirements are for Bookkeeping or Accounting software?

[Wanderer]

This online accounting thing looks pretty wizzy, but what happens if the company goes out of business? Do I have a local copy of all this stuff or does it just disappear into the ether along with the company?

(Not suggesting that anyone is going bust, just wondering how my business would be protected in such an event)

[brigzy]

So far ...

This online accounting thing looks pretty wizzy, but what happens if the company goes out of business? Do I have a local copy of all this stuff or does it just disappear into the ether along with the company?

(Not suggesting that anyone is going bust, just wondering how my business would be protected in such an event)

Yes I would agree, I noticed (when I had a trial of FreeAgent) that you can export your data from the system to excel spreadsheets.

DIY Accounting Spreadsheets progress ...
So far I am pretty confident I will not need an accountant this year with DIY accounting. I am also confident I won't have the stress of waiting for my accountant to deal with stuff! - or the bill!

April aproaches here are my jobs:
online HMRC VAT submission will be simple.
online HMRC P11 PAYE return also looks straightforward.

I have all my assets & depreciation being calulated for me in the FixedAssets spreadsheet. All my payslips are being generated.
Bank transactions all tie in exactly with Sales & Purchaes & Expenses with built in error checking.

So far so good..

[brigzy]

Flat rate

By the way..
I have applied and been acccepted for the Flat Rate VAT scheme, which is better for me as I don't have that many purchases/expenses. This brings my VAT output down from 17.5% to 13%, probably saving me £400 a year or so.

[brigzy]

Quarterly Dividends

Learning a bit more ...

Here is how I am thinking of structuring payments & dividends
(and using directors loan within 5k limit) within software

MONTH 1
pay ~£500 salary (PAYE)
pay month 1 expenses claim
pay £3000 directors loan


MONTH 2
pay ~£500 salary (PAYE)
pay month 2 expenses claim
pay £2000 directors loan

MONTH 3 (end of quarter)
pay ~£500 salary (PAYE)
pay month 3 expenses claim
......accounts: declare dividend £9000
......accounts: payback director loan of £5000 from month 1&2 from dividend
pay remainer of dividend £4000

Does that look similar to the way you people handle things?
Or do you do monthly dividends?

[moorfield]

Does that look similar to the way you people handle things?
Or do you do monthly dividends?

Looks ok to me.

But I really wouldn't bother with the directors loan bit, many people seem to obsess about using it but IMO it causes more problems than it solves and at the end of the day it's still money that has to be paid back to the ltdco, or offset against future expense payments. Any savings a/c gains you might make on it elsewhere really are marginal at best.

I've switched to quarterly divis now, just personal preference really as I have enough cashflow elsewhere to survive 3 month gaps and less admin.

[brigzy]

Looks ok to me.

But I really wouldn't bother with the directors loan bit-------------
I've switched to quarterly divis now-------------

I see, so do you just pay yourself the small salary amount in months 1 2 & 3 and then a dividend in month 3.

[edit: like you say] just need to have enough funds in your personal account to carry you for the 3 months.

Thank you

[lje]

I see, so do you just pay yourself the small salary amount in months 1 2 & 3 and then a dividend in month 3.

I do things a little differently. I pay myself a salary of £15k. That gives me enough money (when combined with Mr LJE's income) to live comfortably throughout the year. I then take a dividend once a year - just before the end of the tax year so that I can adjust things to my best advantage tax wise. Doing this means that I pay quite a bit of extra tax / NI but it makes things much easier for me to manage.

[candyflipper]

I used MS Money for ~10 years, and strongly advise against it. Microsofts strategy is to hold your data hostage in their proprietary format to the max extent possible. MS Money cannot handle multiple currencies. Data corrupts easily because Money keeps the proprietary data file open and in a disassembled state while the tool is running, so if you have an unexpected crash, your data is corrupt. And because the data is in a proprietary format, a premium must be paid for recovery tools that understand the MNY file. And even though you paid a premium for the boxed software, you still get annoying popup ads thrown at you within their tool.

GNUCash is good. Working with multiple currencies is a little tedious, but at least it's possible.

[brigzy]

GNUCash?

GNUCash is good. Working with multiple currencies is a little tedious, but at least it's possible.

GNUCash appears to be US orientated open source software.

I looked at the documentation and could not find any reference to "Corporation Tax", I dont think this will be so good in UK tax system?