Reply to: Filing annual accounts help

[diesel]

Fek me, but I reckon your Accountant should be spelled ackowntint.

Net Current Assets = Current Assets less Current Liabilities

74 = 80 - 6

my accountant had it right; it was a quirk with the CH online filing fields....

[Scruff]

Fek me, but I reckon your Accountant should be spelled ackowntint.

Net Current Assets = Current Assets less Current Liabilities

74 = 80 - 6

[Jessica@WhiteFieldTax]

We are using a professional package for accountants, known as Compac. Produces a two page set of abbreviateds.

yes, it is your responsibility to understand whats going on, but you pay your accountant to deliver on the details and debits / credits!

[diesel]

Unless the accounts are strange, creditors is a negative so on facts given you should be balancing at £74k.

But, seriously, and this isn't criticism, why pay a dog and bark yourself?

no that is what I would have expected and concurs with my accountants methodology. Problem is understanding the CH online which I managed to suss out.

Good question on dogs? It is my company and as director I am responsible for all company affairs, am I correct? Hence I like to try and understand the systems and how they work. My accountant only uses the HMRC gateway method which files abbreviated accounts made up from the submitted accounts, but now I understand the accounts filing better, next year I hope to tackle this properly with just a summarised balance sheet. My accountant did prepare a 1page summary for me to post but I wanted to try the online route first.


Out of interest which software do you use for issuing the abbreviated accounts? is this produced as a 1 page summary or several pages?

[Jessica@WhiteFieldTax]

just about complete with online filing but either a calculation on the Co House abbreviated website does not agree with my accountant.

e.g
Total Current Assets 80,000

Creditors: amounts falling due within one year: 6,000 (note inc taxation & security and £1,000 directors loan)

Should the "Net Current Assets (liabilities)" be 86,000 or 74,000

as the values given by Co House and accountant differ in this section in terms of how calculated.

Edit - think problem is that Co House system needs a -ve sign added before for creditors amount, thought I had it sussed but find it confusing.
I get all figures to match the abbreviated balance sheet from my accountant.

Unless the accounts are strange, creditors is a negative so on facts given you should be balancing at £74k.

But, seriously, and this isn't criticism, why pay a dog and bark yourself?

[Jessica@WhiteFieldTax]

You can check whether the accounts have been accepted using the Companies House WebCheck service.

The majority of our clients post their accounts though we have experience filing the accounts online and have never encountered any problems. It is difficult for me to help you over this forum but your accountant should be able to support you or even file the accounts for you.

If the deadline is near and you are having trouble filing online, I would suggest you post the accounts using guaranteed next day delivery to avoid the possibility of a £150 fine.

Concur with this. Sensible electronic filing systems for Companies House are still in their infancy so we have clients post abbreviated accounts. We recommend recorded delivery etc, but track the filings and nag clients as necessary.

We are trialling e-filling of abbreviateds from our accounts software and will probably do this by default next year.

I'm surprised at OPs accountant using the joint filing imitative, as its not well regarded in accounting profession. I believe its only supported on HMRC web site, and I would have expected an accountant of any size to be using tax filing software for CT600s/ibxrl.

Running a set of abbreivateds off from accounts production software at the time of generating the full accounts should only be a few minutes work, so press your accountant to produce these.

[diesel]

just about complete with online filing but either a calculation on the Co House abbreviated website does not agree with my accountant.

e.g
Total Current Assets 80,000

Creditors: amounts falling due within one year: 6,000 (note inc taxation & security and £1,000 directors loan)

Should the "Net Current Assets (liabilities)" be 86,000 or 74,000

as the values given by Co House and accountant differ in this section in terms of how calculated.

Edit - think problem is that Co House system needs a -ve sign added before for creditors amount, thought I had it sussed but find it confusing.
I get all figures to match the abbreviated balance sheet from my accountant.

[Martin at NixonWilliams]

Thanks for advice, I will look again tonight as i should have more time.
My only concern is that the Co House abbreviated filing appears to ask for more information that my accountant prepared as a paper copy (as in my first post). i was reluctant to file full accounts, and prefer to limit company info in the public domain.
out of interest what do you recommend to your clients?
( i have suggested a PAYE contractor here thinking of going Ltd to look at your services for a quote).

They should only be asking for the figures from your balance sheet and certain notes to the accounts. These requirements are the same whether filed online. Once you have entered the balance sheet figures it should just be a case of copying the text from the notes to the paper accounts you have received onto the online form.

The majority of the time we ask that our clients send the paper version months in advance. If the deadline is near or they are out of the country, we will offer to file the accounts online with their permission.

Thanks for the recommendation

[diesel]

You can check whether the accounts have been accepted using the Companies House WebCheck service.

The majority of our clients post their accounts though we have experience filing the accounts online and have never encountered any problems. It is difficult for me to help you over this forum but your accountant should be able to support you or even file the accounts for you.

If the deadline is near and you are having trouble filing online, I would suggest you post the accounts using guaranteed next day delivery to avoid the possibility of a £150 fine.

Thanks for advice, I will look again tonight as i should have more time.
My only concern is that the Co House abbreviated filing appears to ask for more information that my accountant prepared as a paper copy (as in my first post). i was reluctant to file full accounts, and prefer to limit company info in the public domain.
out of interest what do you recommend to your clients?
( i have suggested a PAYE contractor here thinking of going Ltd to look at your services for a quote).

[Martin at NixonWilliams]

You can check whether the accounts have been accepted using the Companies House WebCheck service.

The majority of our clients post their accounts though we have experience filing the accounts online and have never encountered any problems. It is difficult for me to help you over this forum but your accountant should be able to support you or even file the accounts for you.

If the deadline is near and you are having trouble filing online, I would suggest you post the accounts using guaranteed next day delivery to avoid the possibility of a £150 fine.

[diesel]

The PROOF scheme does not cover the abbreviated accounts, a paper submission will therefore be acceptable.

thanks for that as it this information is not clear on the CH website with regards to accounts. If i post how will i know that they have been approved in time?

Have you had any luck with your clients submiiting abbreviated accounts online direct with CH web filing?

[Martin at NixonWilliams]

i cant file by post as i have accepted the Co House PROOF security for my company which does not allow annual accounts to be filed by post.

The PROOF scheme does not cover the abbreviated accounts, a paper submission will therefore be acceptable.

[diesel]

To make life easier I would suggest that you put the abbreviated accounts in an envelope and send them to Companies House!

There is no requirement to file online at this stage, unlike with the full accounts for HMRC.

i cant file by post as i have accepted the Co House PROOF security for my company which does not allow annual accounts to be filed by post.

[Martin at NixonWilliams]

To make life easier I would suggest that you put the abbreviated accounts in an envelope and send them to Companies House!

There is no requirement to file online at this stage, unlike with the full accounts for HMRC.

[Greg@CapitalCity]

The categories you mention in your first post should all be matched across to the fields Companies House request. Some of the CH fields will be blank, but I am surprised your accountants balance sheet differs so much from what CH ask for. What fields in particular are you struggling with? In general, if your business is a typical contractor one, you can would complete the following fields;

Current: Tangible assets Previous: Tangible assets
Current: Debtors Current: Debtors
Current: Cash at bank and in hand Previous: Cash at bank and in hand
Current: Creditors: amounts falling due within one year Previous: Creditors: amounts falling due within one year
Current: Called up share capital Previous: Called up share capital
Current: Profit and loss account Previous: Profit and loss account

All the rest are either calculation fields, or you can ignore.