Is the online portal better than having a local accountant do everything?

[autumnleaf]

Hi all,

I've been using a local accountant who takes care of my bookkeeping and accounts. But I was wondering is the online portal that many have mentioned here, better than having your accounts done by your local accountant?

How does the online portal work? Do you input your own transactions etc (that means you are doing your own bookkeeping), am I correct?

What are the points that tick in it's favour?

Thanks in advance for your replies

[SueEllen]

If you can't do your own bookkeeping then an online system won't help.

[DirtyDog]

Advantages of an online portal

• Should be able to spot mistakes easily
• Should be able to reconcile against bank accounts
• Should be able to calculate VAT correctly for you
• Should enable you to EASILY enter transaction details
• Should provide real-time information on your business
• Should provide a snapshot of your directors loan accounts
• Shouldn't make mistakes

How do you get the information from you to your current accountant? How reasonable are they? How many mistakes do they make?

Having an online portal won't reduce the mistakes, but it should be easier to spot them. Whether that is true or not depends on how vigilant you are, and how good / busy the accounting team who process the portal information are.

[blakeyuk]

Advantages of an online portal

• Should be able to spot mistakes easily
• Should be able to reconcile against bank accounts
• Should be able to calculate VAT correctly for you
• Should enable you to EASILY enter transaction details
• Should provide real-time information on your business
• Should provide a snapshot of your directors loan accounts
• Shouldn't make mistakes

How do you get the information from you to your current accountant? How reasonable are they? How many mistakes do they make?

Having an online portal won't reduce the mistakes, but it should be easier to spot them. Whether that is true or not depends on how vigilant you are, and how good / busy the accounting team who process the portal information are.

All the above. I use an accountant with a portal (not freeagent) that I realised very quickly wasn't giving me what I wanted - a real-time view of what we happening (eg, how much I'm still owed in out of pocket expenses). So now I double-enter into my own freeagent account. It's real-time, detailed, and ticks all the boxes.

Hope that helps,
Blakey

[inniAccounts]

Not all online software is created equally:

Some will give you a complete real-time view of your financial position, including tax forecasts, deadlines, directors loan tracking, payroll etc. You enter everything in once place and in return you get a complete and generally accurate view of your finances.

Some however are just glorified Excel spreadsheets which help with tracking, but won't give you a real-time view of your finances. It's certainly better than using Excel, but you won't get the full benefits of an integrated app and you'll probably still rely on rules of thumb ("hold back 20% of turnover") to make tax provisions.

You can normally spot the former as they'll use the words real-time or instant in their marketing bumf, whilst the latter won't. Be cautious of those that offer "overnight updates", often they're a hotch-potch of systems sellotaped together.

[TheCyclingProgrammer]

Couldn't imagine managing my company books without FreeAgent or equivalent. But it's still not a complete replacement for my accountant. It can only give me an estimate of my corporation tax liability for several reasons and it can't give me ad-hoc advice or prepare my end of year accounts for me.

That said, the amount of stuff it can do is increasing. FreeAgent have just announced the ability to submit self-assessments using their system for sole traders, with Directors/employees coming next year and it already does my VAT returns and RTI PAYE.

Probably the most valuable aspect of using a good online portal is having a real-time overview of your company's financial position, being able to declare dividends and be sure they are legal (i.e. that the company has enough retained profits to cover them) and it's liabilities etc.