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Keeping your own books and accountants

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    Keeping your own books and accountants

    Hi Everyone,

    I am just starting up an Ltd again and whilst thinking about an accountant and their services, I just wondered if there is any reason why I couldn't use something like QuickBooks to do the accounts myself and then have a chartered accountant complete the year end for me.

    The reason I am thinking of this is because as well as using my company for my contract, I also want to generate other business through the company as well. This will not be other contract work but will be one off sales and consultancy.

    Most online specialists such as SJD etc charge a large monthly cost for an 'all inclusive' deal. Am I missing something here as running the books for a small company isn’t that hard?

    If there are genuine reasons why as a contractor I should stay away from doing the books myself then fair enough but ultimately I would like to do this myself and wondered what everyone else is doing these days?

    #2
    Originally posted by Ciscokiddy View Post
    Hi Everyone,

    I am just starting up an Ltd again and whilst thinking about an accountant and their services, I just wondered if there is any reason why I couldn't use something like QuickBooks to do the accounts myself and then have a chartered accountant complete the year end for me.

    The reason I am thinking of this is because as well as using my company for my contract, I also want to generate other business through the company as well. This will not be other contract work but will be one off sales and consultancy.

    Most online specialists such as SJD etc charge a large monthly cost for an 'all inclusive' deal. Am I missing something here as running the books for a small company isn’t that hard?

    If there are genuine reasons why as a contractor I should stay away from doing the books myself then fair enough but ultimately I would like to do this myself and wondered what everyone else is doing these days?

    No reason you can't do it yourself and you don't need a chartered accountant at year end.
    Older and ...well, just older!!

    Comment


      #3
      Originally posted by Ciscokiddy View Post
      Hi Everyone,

      I am just starting up an Ltd again and whilst thinking about an accountant and their services, I just wondered if there is any reason why I couldn't use something like QuickBooks to do the accounts myself and then have a chartered accountant complete the year end for me.

      The reason I am thinking of this is because as well as using my company for my contract, I also want to generate other business through the company as well. This will not be other contract work but will be one off sales and consultancy.

      Most online specialists such as SJD etc charge a large monthly cost for an 'all inclusive' deal. Am I missing something here as running the books for a small company isn’t that hard?

      If there are genuine reasons why as a contractor I should stay away from doing the books myself then fair enough but ultimately I would like to do this myself and wondered what everyone else is doing these days?
      No reason at all as long as you are happy you have a handle on the key accounting practices and are up to speed on the various parameters and assorted rules such as VAT, PAYE and depreciation. Plenty of people do it that way, after all.

      The main benefit in using a full service accountant is they tell you what needs doing when and if they get it wrong you can sue them for the losses. Most tax investigations are random, but you greatly increase the risk if you miss the deadline for something or file an inaccurate return.

      But as I keep saying, good accountants are effectively free, so the cost saving is immaterial. It's all about how much responsibility/risk you want to hand over to someone else.
      Blog? What blog...?

      Comment


        #4
        Originally posted by malvolio View Post
        No reason at all as long as you are happy you have a handle on the key accounting practices and are up to speed on the various parameters and assorted rules such as VAT, PAYE and depreciation. Plenty of people do it that way, after all.
        That's me to a tee, which is why I was unhappy initially contracting via an umbrella, and later (having incorporated) paying for a full-service accountant. What gives me peace of mind now is the outstanding software-as-a-service hosted web app I use for my bookkeeping: Free Agent Central.

        I need to write a full review really but their site has great videos and tours. It's intuitive, does 99% of what megabucks packages do, they have extremely responsive support staff and make frequent improvements. There are APIs, calendar feeds, automated invoicing, banking integrations, and add ons like a great (third party) iPhone app ("Out of Pocket") I use to enter expense and mileage receipts on the go. The only thing that still not perfect is its payroll module - this is a bit basic, but improvements are planned.

        There is a partnered-by-an-accountant version called Iris OpenBooks but I wanted it to be *my* data not theirs; plenty of accoutancy firms will work happily with your data in FreeAgent. I *might* use on of these at year end, but the instant Balance Sheets, P&L reports, VAT and CT return info mean I'm perfectly confident to do the works myself (mind you've I've done several years of my own accounts for a (admittedly, very small) non-contracting company.

        This link will give you ten percent off if you sign up (and I'll get the same at my renewal - I paid for a year up front, partly to save a few quid before the VAT rise). You get a 30 days free trial so what I did was sign up a test account first, have a good play with pretend money, and then cancel it and start from scratch with a pristine new account.

        Here's the referral link: [Mod snipped.]

        Matt
        Last edited by matzie; 2 February 2011, 11:13.

        Comment


          #5
          Originally posted by Ciscokiddy View Post
          Hi Everyone,

          Am I missing something here as running the books for a small company isn’t that hard?

          If there are genuine reasons why as a contractor I should stay away from doing the books myself then fair enough but ultimately I would like to do this myself and wondered what everyone else is doing these days?
          Accounts for a one-man company are very straightforward.

          You may wish to google zedAccounts to try a free accounting package.

          ZED.

          Comment


            #6
            You might find that what an accountant charges to "just" do the year-end accounts isn't much less than what they'd have charged to do the whole whack.

            I'm not using an accountant for my "other" company. It's not too onerous (mainly because there's no PAYE, which is where things get fiddly) and (thanks to New Labour public-sector bloat) it's pretty easy to speak to people in HMRC who can help you along.

            Comment


              #7
              Originally posted by matzie View Post
              There is a partnered-by-an-accountant version called Iris OpenBooks but I wanted it to be *my* data not theirs; plenty of accoutancy firms will work happily with your data in FreeAgent.
              Iris Open Books is exactly the same as FreeAgent, name changed since Iris invested in them for accountants use.

              We use this for our clients. The clients have their log in, we have access through a dashboard with all of our accounts. The data remains the clients, not ours, we have access as we pay the fees for the software.
              If the client wished to leave, they can have the account taken off our dashboard and pay FreeAgent directly the monthly fee.

              Comment


                #8
                There is a "third way" (not New Labour as someone said earlier!) between doing the books yourself and having an accountant do it all.
                People often just give their accountant a shoebox full of receipts and say "sort it out" which is really a waste of money.
                You don't need to pay accountant's fees for the first stage of getting the books in order. I offer an accounts service where I will do the books for you to a suitable standard for presenting them to your accountant.

                [Mod] Hi Ruth, welcome to CUK. Please read the T&Cs regarding advertising on these forums. You are more than welcome to help our posters through advice and with a modified ID such as [email protected] (for which you can ask Admin) you can promote your company while contributing to the boards. [/Mod]

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