Reply to: A business current account that does your accounting

[Paralytic]

They’re not a bank...

“PPS holds an amount equivalent to the money in Countingup current accounts in a safeguarding account with Barclays Bank PLC “

Nothing about your money being FSCS protected either...

I know, was just interesting after the first few disparaging replies a couple of years back. You can pretty much guarantee there will be no fun, FSCS protecting for each individual.

[BrilloPad]

I used to use QDOS and metro. Highly recommended.

[Lance]

Interestingly, something does seem to exist, though its not clear where its still vapourware.

Countingup - Business bank account for freelancers, startups, sole traders, contractors & self-employed

They’re not a bank...

“PPS holds an amount equivalent to the money in Countingup current accounts in a safeguarding account with Barclays Bank PLC “

Nothing about your money being FSCS protected either...

[cojak]

Dead thread resurrection alert!

Done to get a snarky dig in by the looks of it.

[Paralytic]

To start a challenger bank needs a few hundred million £ in capital. One would have thought that with this sort of backing, a business plan slightly more advanced than “HSBC+sage and ask around a few forums peopled by cynical gits” would be needed.
So can you share more details of the plan to get some interest?
Or do you not have a few hundred million yet?

Interestingly, something does seem to exist, though its not clear where its still vapourware.

Countingup - Business bank account for freelancers, startups, sole traders, contractors & self-employed

[ladymuck]

Honest reply, any company that has the registered address 20-22 wenlock rd would get a wide berth from me due to the bad press if that address. Just google the address and you will see what I mean.

I see you have won some CUK award. Might be an idea to change your business address.

Dead thread resurrection alert!

[LoanCharged]

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

Honest reply, any company that has the registered address 20-22 wenlock rd would get a wide berth from me due to the bad press if that address. Just google the address and you will see what I mean.

I see you have won some CUK award. Might be an idea to change your business address.

[Fred Bloggs]

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.

That app already exists. It is called FreeAgent. All leading edge contractor accounting firms use it. Sign up for the free trial and see what you're missing out on.

[malvolio]

So basically people want to work through a limited company but CBA to handle the minutes of work a month that it entails and want to hand it all over to someone else who will charge them less than an accountant that they can watch through their phone?

Perhaps they should go away and read the history and current state of the MSC legislation. Because all they will achieve is full PAYE and NICs on all TheirCo's income.

[Alan @ BroomeAffinity]

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.

You should use FreeAgent. Tide integrates with it.

[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.

[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.

[jamesbrown]

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

Oh, come on now.

[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?

[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.