Contractor Resources, books etc

[heyya99]

Can anyone point me towards good resources for contracting, anything from job seeking to Ltd company info to finance?

Any suggestions much appreciated.

[northernladuk]

Guides to the right --->

Google

Can't see what else you need really? Stuff changes so quickly books would become obsolete very quickly. Contractors also tend to be professionals in their field so don't often need a book to learn what to do, they are capable of researching each area as they need IMO.

[heyya99]

Guides to the right --->

Google

Can't see what else you need really? Stuff changes so quickly books would become obsolete very quickly. Contractors also tend to be professionals in their field so don't often need a book to learn what to do, they are capable of researching each area as they need IMO.

One area I need more info is my finances. I'm trying to find out how my contracting career is going. I want to analyse my business account and calculate, out of all my invoices, how much actually goes into my pocket.

Other areas as well.

[northernladuk]

One area I need more info is my finances. I'm trying to find out how my contracting career is going. I want to analyse my business account and calculate, out of all my invoices, how much actually goes into my pocket.

Other areas as well.

It is a bit worrying you are not doing this already. You are legally responsible for your accounts and sign them as correct at the end of the year so should be able to work this out by now. Your accountant works it all out for you anyway so you should have that information easily available.

Maybe your accountant should be explaining it better or have better (simpler) tools for you to use.

I would suggest you look at your finances, find out what bit you are struggling with then spend some time asking your accountant. It isn't 'that' difficult to work out.

The other option is to go with someone like SJD who have (IMO) a brilliant spread sheet allowing me to track every penny, telling me roughly how much CT I owe, how much dividend I have left and so on at any point in time. Either that or go for Freeagent which I haven't used yet but other posters seem to think it is a great piece of bookkeeping software.

Either way, judging by the questions and the fact you have been contracting awhile I think the guides will still help you. How do you know not to spend your CT and VAT if you can't work the basics?

Could also try AccountingWEB for individual questions or see if they have any resources.

I certainly don't think in this day and age you need to go get a book......

Other option which seems viable at this moment is to go brollie.....

[cojak]

One area I need more info is my finances. I'm trying to find out how my contracting career is going. I want to analyse my business account and calculate, out of all my invoices, how much actually goes into my pocket.

Other areas as well.

Buy this:

Finance on a Beermat: Amazon.co.uk: Chris West, Stephen King, Jeff Macklin: Books

Brilliant book.

[northernladuk]

Buy this:

Finance on a Beermat: Amazon.co.uk: Chris West, Stephen King, Jeff Macklin: Books

Brilliant book.

That is an expensive beermat!

[NimbleJackAccounting]

Try this.....

PCG the links goes directly to thier guides. Great resource!

[LisaContractorUmbrella]

One area I need more info is my finances. I'm trying to find out how my contracting career is going. I want to analyse my business account and calculate, out of all my invoices, how much actually goes into my pocket.

Other areas as well.

A good accountant would be useful (as NLUK says SJD have a great spreadsheet to help you keep track of everything) - would also suggest you read up on IR35

[heyya99]

Thanks all. I spent a while on the HMRC website and used the SJD spreadsheet. I'm feel more knowledgeable and am glad I took the time to research this.

Thanks all for your help.

[northernladuk]

Thanks all. I spent a while on the HMRC website and used the SJD spreadsheet. I'm feel more knowledgeable and am glad I took the time to research this.

Thanks all for your help.

Neither of which are any good to help you contracting. One is for tax issues, the other is for accounting... now to research something about your original topic...